Military / City history
Alexander Macomb
1782–1841 · Commanding General of the US Army
Detroit-born general, hero of the Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814 and commanding general of the US Army from 1828 to 1841; Macomb County is named after him.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Washington, D.C.
aged 59- Also known as
- Hero of Plattsburgh
- Detroit years
- 1782–1780s
- Field
- Military, City history
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Alexander Macomb was born in Detroit on April 3, 1782, when the town was still under British control. His father was a wealthy fur trader, and his mother, Catherine Navarre, came from one of Detroit's old French families; her father Robert Navarre had helped defend the settlement during Pontiac's siege of 1763. The family moved east while he was a child; he grew up in New York and joined the army as a teenager. An engineer, he built coastal forts before 1812. On September 11, 1814, he held Plattsburgh, New York, with a much smaller force against a British invasion from Canada, a victory that made him a national hero, a major general and a Congressional Gold Medal recipient. From 1828 until his death in 1841 he was commanding general of the army. In 1826 he published a play about Pontiac's siege of his native town. Macomb County and a downtown street honor him, and a bronze statue of him stands in the heart of the city.
Highlights
- Born in Detroit on April 3, 1782
- Won the Battle of Plattsburgh on September 11, 1814
- Commanding General of the US Army, 1828–1841
- Macomb County, Michigan, is named after him
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Memorial · 1908–
Alexander Macomb statue
Bronze statue of the general by Adolph Alexander Weinman, dedicated in 1908, in the median of Washington Boulevard downtown.