GENERAL ALEXANDER MACOMB

Alexander Macomb
By Thomas Sully
Oil on canvas, 30" x 25", 1829
Alexander Macomb, Junior (3 April
1782 – 25 June 1841) was the commanding general of the United States Army from 29 May 1828
to 25 June 1841
Macomb was commissioned in the Army Corps of Engineers in 1802 and spent five
years in charge of coastal fortifications
in the Carolinas and Georgia. He won acclaim during the War of 1812 as brigadier-general in command of the frontier of northern New York.
At the Battle of Plattsburg on September 11, 1814 with only 1,500 regular troops and some detachments of militia, he was opposed by
a British force of 10,531 men under Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost. Macomb's heavily-outnumbered troops fell back before the
British columns in a series of skirmishes as Prevost advanced towards the American defensive works. The British were about to launch an
assault on the American defenses when the news came through of the defeat of the British naval squadron on Lake Champlain. Prevost
had needed the British Lake Champlain squadron to supply his planned advance into Vermont. Without it, he had no choice but to abandon
the Expedition: so the British invaders marched off back to Canada. Although Commodore Thomas Macdonough's sailors and not the Army
had been responsible for stopping the British invasion, Macomb was nevertheless showered with praise and styled "The Hero of Plattsburgh"
by some of the American press. He was promoted major-general for his conduct at this battle, receiving both the thanks of Congress and a
Congressional Gold Medal.
When Major General Jacob Brown, the Army’s commanding general, died in February
1828, President John Quincy Adams could have chosen
as Brown's successor one of the Army's two brigadier generals. But the two — Winfield Scott and Edmund P. Gaines — had denounced each
other publicly and for months had been contesting for the position. Their quarrels scandalized the Army and drove Adams to nominate
Alexander Macomb,
the Chief of Engineers, who by then had reverted rank to colonel, as the Army’s
top general.
A curious feature of Macomb's career is that, like Dwight Eisenhower, he became
a military hero without ever actually coming under
enemy fire in his life.

General Macomb during the Battle of Plattsburgh
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Alexander Macomb life mask age 27 Macomb Medal
