In preparation for the 210th Commemoration of the Battle of Plattsburgh, we take a look at a gift to the Delord family from Major General Alexander Macomb.
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Hi everyone and welcome back to another artifact corner. In honor of the commemoration of the Battle of Plattsburgh, we will be looking at a book that was gifted to Henry Delord by none other than Major General Alexander Macomb. He was a brigadier general in the Northern army during the Battle of Plattsburgh, and knew Henry and Betsey Delord very well. This book by Voltaire about the life of Charles XII of Sweden, has the following inscription on the title page, “ Presented by Major General Alexander Macomb the 31st day of October 1822 to his old friend Henry Delord of Plattsburgh.” Let’s learn a bit more about the life of Alexander Macomb.
Alexander was born on April 3, 1782 in Detroit. His father Alexander was a merchant and fur trader from upstate NY, and his mother, Mary Catherine Navarre was of French decent. Alexander received a classical education at Newark Academy in New Jersey. In 1798, at the age of 16, Macomb joined a New York militia company. In February 1801, he was commissioned as a second
lieutenant, 2nd Infantry, serving as secretary to a commission that treated with the Native Americans of the Southeast. At the beginning of the War of 1812, in July 1812 Macomb was promoted at the age of 30 to colonel of the newly organized 3rd Artillery Regiment.
In the weeks leading up to the battle, Macomb, knowing full well he would be greatly outnumbered, worked with his men to move trees and create fake roads; in order to obscure the genuine roads and lead the British into dead-end traps far from the three nearby American forts (a maneuver Macomb called abattis). The British attack was diffused by these efforts. The long narrow lines of marching
soldiers were unable to easily stop and about-face. They became entangled in the narrow false road maze, where they became targets for American ambush. Macomb had only 1,500 troops, while the British had around 10,500 men. 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. Macomb was called “The Hero of Plattsburgh,” and was promoted to Major General for his actions during the Battle of Plattsburgh.
While Macomb was a hero of Plattsburgh, he also happened to be a good friend of the Delord family. He dined at their table, and spent many an evening chatting with Henry about the impending British Invasion. It’s remarkable to think that some of the key players of the Battle of Plattsburgh like Alexander Macomb and Thomas Macdonough spent many an evening relaxing with Henry and Betsey. This book is in good condition, and the inscription is very crisp. We are so lucky to have this book in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by, and we hope to see you this weekend for the 210th Battle of Plattsburgh commemoration.
The following music was used for this media project:
Music: Sunny Morning by MusicLFiles
Free download: filmmusic.io/s...
License (CC BY 4.0): filmmusic.io/s...
Artist website: cemmusicprojec...
3 окт 2024
