v. &. 
 
 

MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 ALEXANDER MACOMB, 
 
 THE MAJOR GENERAL 
 
 COMMANDING THE 
 
 ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BY GEORGE H. RICHARDS, Esa. 
 
 Captain of Mammb s Artillery, in the late War. 
 
 NEW-YORK M ELRATH, BAXttS & Co 
 
 MDCCCXXXtll. 
 

 
 Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hun 
 dred and thirty-lwo, by M ELRATH . BANGS, in thr ( lok ^ Office of the Court of 
 the United States, for the Southern District of New-York. 
 
 W. OSBORN AND CO., PRINTERS, 
 85 Chatham-street. 
 
New - York, November, 1832. 
 
 TO ALBERT GALLATIN : 
 
 SIR, 
 
 WILL you allow me to inscribe this little volume 
 to you, as an humble tribute of my respect and admi 
 ration, of my gratitude and esteem ? You being now 
 in private life, I feel the greater freedom in the expres 
 sion of my sentiments, and may, I trust, indulge this 
 expression, without an impugnment of motive. 
 
 Although you are a civilian, there can be no incon 
 gruity in dedicating this military memoir to him, from 
 whose intellectual grasp no branch of human art or 
 science is permitted to escape. You may feel, too, a 
 special interest in tracing the course of a soldier, whose 
 most signal exploit facilitated your own negotiations in 
 the Treaty of Ghent. 
 
 A Financier, Diplomatist, and Statesman, whose 
 mind, acquirements, and character, (it is within my 
 personal knowledge) are known and reverenced in the 
 political and scientific circles of Europe, and whose re 
 publican principles and public services have been em- 
 
 M210377 
 
IV 
 
 phatically avouched by one of our political Patriarchs, 
 Jefferson, in that pregnant phrase " he is the main 
 mast of the vessel of State" you may yet condescend 
 at some leisure moment, during the intervals of your 
 important avocations, to run over these sketches. It 
 has not been within the vanity, any more than the 
 ability of the writer, to emulate your own peculiar style 
 of thought and of expression, which, like a steam en 
 gine, accumulates a momentous power by compression, 
 and exerts it with a corresponding expansive effect 
 a resistless energy of propulsion : Still these pages, 
 though they can afford you no instruction, will present 
 you, in the subject of them, with a theme of national 
 pride and a source of patriotic gratulation. 
 
 GEORGE H. RICHARDS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE following pages were prepared some two or three 
 years ago, for Samuel F. Bradford, Esq., to be inserted in 
 his Annual "the Cabinet," which was published in con 
 junction with the Talisman. The memoir being too 
 long for publication in that work, and the task of abbre 
 viation being irksome, a personal friend of Gen. Macomb, 
 in my absence, kindly undertook the office of re-casting 
 it in his own mould, and produced it with great grace, 
 spirit, and elegance, as it appeared in the "Cabinet." 
 This was satisfactory to me ; but many of the friends 
 and connexions of the General, in this city, having been 
 desirous that it should appear in full, as originally writ 
 ten, I have yielded, however indiscreetly, to their request. 
 
 It is now, therefore, submitted to the Press, as a memo 
 randum for the historian as a grateful reminiscence for 
 the personal friends of the subject of the memoir and 
 as an humble, but honest record for those who love their 
 country and that country s glory and all who have 
 achieved it for those who, more of patriots than critics, 
 will excuse the imperfect delineation, while they contem 
 plate the features, and cheenngly hail the brilliant ca 
 reer, of virtue and valour, of learning and genius. 
 
 It is needless to say that these sheets, from a rough 
 soldier s rougher pen, advance no pretensions to the no- 
 
 1* 
 
VI 
 
 tice of criticism. It were idle to deprecate evils which 
 can not come. " Who would rack a fly upon the wheel?" 
 
 The reader, it is hoped, will deem me excusable in 
 having sprinkled this memoir with brief notices of those 
 actors in the scenes described, whom the narrative natu 
 rally and necessarily introduced. 
 
 The delay which has taken place in the publication, 
 occasioned by the pressure of my engagements, has not, 
 of course, affected, in any degree, the verity of its state 
 ments. Truth is the same, at Athens and at Rome, now 
 and forever; and the truths, especially, of History, like 
 Pyramidal Structures, tower through all time, and solidi 
 fy by the accumulation of ages. They stand, mid the 
 revolutions of human affairs, like fixed points in the hea 
 vens, toward which philosophers and statesmen point 
 their instruments of observation, and gather calculations 
 for the expansion of science and for the conduct of na 
 tions. 
 
 It is not the design nor the wish of this memoir to 
 elevate the glory of arms above that of letters. There 
 are different species of fame, and different species even 
 of military fame. True glory is in a compound ratio to 
 the exertion of intellectual power, and to the direction 
 which that power may take. Aside from its motives 
 and objects, whatever evinces the greatest power of in 
 tellect is the most glorious ; whether an epic poem or the 
 higher calculus. Whether, with Milton, to create and 
 people immaterial worlds or, with Shakspeare, to thread 
 the mazes of all possible modes of being and of action, 
 of feeling and of thought whether, with Newton, to 
 weigh the stars, to analyze the light, and pierce the ma 
 terial curtain which shuts us out from other spheres or, 
 
Vll 
 
 with Berkeley, looking through nature, to remove from 
 before the mental vision the barrier which divides time 
 from eternity : these, one and all, are glorious, immortal 
 conquests. They lift up human nature. They teach 
 man, that, though bodily present in this world, he has 
 capacities for higher scenes, superior enjoyments the 
 destined heir of a richer and eternal heritage. 
 
 The victories of Caesar are preserved imperishably in 
 his own commentaries. The triumphal arch, the aspi 
 ring column, the memorial statue, have mouldered into dust, 
 while his descriptions are fresh and verdant as when first 
 from the hand of their author. As the second orator of 
 Rome, he was undoubtedly more glorious, than when, at 
 the head of his flushed legions, he passed the rubicon, 
 and gave a master to the mistress of the world. The 
 modern Caesar, too, has erected, on the Code Napoleon, 
 the proudest pillar of his fame, more durable than the 
 bronze or marble of the Tuilleries, and which will survive 
 the names of Lodi, Austerlitz, and Marengo. These in 
 stances but serve to illustrate the position, that the ac 
 complished officer, the great general, those whom History 
 inscribes on her scroll, and who were not born to die, 
 must add, to the rich endowments of nature, the maturest 
 cultivations of art. 
 
 In the ages of barbarism, war was a royal pastime 
 the vagrant hunting game of Princes for spoil and do 
 minion. Scythia s desolating hordes, the ignorant move 
 ments of vast masses of physical force, of the wire-strung 
 automata of armies, for the purposes of violence and de 
 vastation, of lust, rapine, and insatiate ambition, long 
 drenched the earth with blood and tears, and rent the 
 sky with cries of anguish. We behold Bajazet in the 
 
Vlll 
 
 cage of Timur, and consider prisoner and gaoler alike 
 the object of disgust and horror, of scorn and execration. 
 Goth and Hun, Alaric and Attila, sweep, with their 
 besom, the land of Italy and Greece, of arts and of hu 
 manity ; Kouli and Gengis Khan pour like a torrent 
 upon Candahar and Cathany ; Bethlem Gabor, with 
 vulture talons, pounces upon Hungary ; the only me 
 morials they leave are ruins their only trophies are 
 rights violated and innocence profaned, the confiscated 
 palace and the desecrated temple, cities sacked and pro 
 vinces depopulated : They are immortalized in infamy : 
 Their march is the march of death all the Furies in their 
 train. The nineteenth century, in the spirit of true phi 
 losophy, looks down, pity softening its contempt, upon 
 these ignoble banditti, the royal robbers and princelj r 
 murderers of mankind. 
 
 Behold now, in contrast wide as zenith from the nadir, 
 the Genius of Modern War discarding all barbarities 
 retaining all refinements cherishing all the courtesies 
 displaying lofty sentiment and gallant action, the Chival 
 ry of Heroism. Examine the character, the objects, the 
 motives of the PATRIOT SOLDIER. No mercenary 
 he ! No despot s minion ! Looking to his country to pos 
 terity, to preserve his name, he plunges, like Curtius, a 
 voluntary victim, into the gulf which Anarchy may 
 have opened he offers himself up, in defence against 
 foreign aggression, a self-sacrifice on the altar of his 
 country. Take a generous youth, of noble aspirations, 
 his breast panting at the bright prospects which Hope 
 and Imagination present to him in burnished array, his 
 mind fraught with full knowledge of all the avenues 
 which lead to the Temple of Fame. Which path will he 
 
IX 
 
 pursue ? What course select ? How the blood thrills to 
 the heart, when we contemplate Gustavus issuing from 
 the mines of Dalecarlia to the rescue of his countrymen 
 when we barely pronounce the names of Bruce and Wal 
 lace when we recall the image of Pulaski when we 
 hear the child lisp the household word Lafayette when 
 we see, in the picture of the mind, Kosciusko unfurling 
 the banners of Independence from the walls of Warsaw ! 
 Look at the General, in the tented council, explaining to 
 his confidential officers the plan of the campaign, on the 
 issue of which the existence of his country, of liberty, 
 and its institutions, is suspended ! Again see him in the 
 field, quickly arranging the scientific combinations of 
 battle, cheering the wavering, and leading the brave! 
 Search the annals of States go to the Pantheon of the 
 Deified find him who wears the greenest chaplet, and 
 holds the highest niche in the Temple : His name will 
 be Washington, who lead the armies of his country to 
 victory, and conquered for Freedom and the Republic ! 
 The protection of hearths and altars, the repulsion of in 
 vasion, the overthrow of despotism, the establishment of 
 independence, the salvation of a country, which are the 
 proper feats of arms, have ever ranked, not only among 
 the clearest duties of patriotism, but also among the sub- 
 limest objects of man s ambition and glory. 
 
 In modern times, war has not merely grown into an art 
 it is ennobled into a science : and, from its ultimate per 
 fection, perhaps, as well as from the prophecies both of 
 religion and philosophy, Philanthropy may indulge the 
 hope of that Saturnian period, " when nations shall learn 
 war no more." Till this period come, and indeed in or 
 der to hasten it, we must neglect no instruction we 
 
use all appliances. We must cherish the science of war ; 
 and, as war itself is not an abstraction, we must also 
 cherish those who can practice it. 
 
 Preparation for it is proverbially its best preventive ; 
 and it is too tremendous in its trials to be wantonly in 
 curred by negligence: for war, like Minos, shakes the 
 Urn which holds the fates of men and nations. Every 
 country hitherto has been necessitated or seduced to launch 
 into the tempestuous waters of martial combat; but when 
 embarked on that ocean, not sage nor seer can tell what 
 storms may gather, in what clouds the beacon-lights be 
 lost, what hidden currents heave us from our course, 
 what time the arch again be spanned, or which bellige 
 rent be doomed to cry, in the language of Byron, " Renew 
 thy rainbow, God!" 
 
 GEORGE H. RICHARDS. 
 
MEMOIR, &c. 
 
 OUR national gallery of distinguished men, the 
 portrait of Alexander Macomb stands conspicuous. 
 The great men of this country, like the oaks of its 
 forests, are of spontaneous growth. The hot-house of 
 patronage, the adscititious aids of noble family and 
 illustrious alliance, are not necessary to bring them to 
 maturity. They invigorate and expand, as well amid 
 the storms, as beneath the sunshine, of fortune. 
 
 The subject of this Memoir will be found, like most 
 of his eminent countrymen, to have risen by the salient 
 and recuperative energies of his own genius. Although 
 born of respectable parents, and receiving, not an ela 
 borate and finished, though highly valuable education, 
 still he must be viewed as the architect of his own for 
 tunes, the arbiter of his own destiny. How many, even 
 in our own country, have enjoyed greater advantages, 
 had more powerful connexions, been educated at univer 
 sities, and perfected in their studies by foreign travel, who 
 
12 MEMOIR OF 
 
 yet have performed no deed of fame, and rendered no 
 service to society. The prominence of station, the wide 
 spread and enduring celebrity, which Macomb has ac 
 quired, have been fairly earned in the open field of ho 
 nourable competition and emulous prowess. He sowed 
 the harvest which he reaps. By his own right arm, 
 he plucked the laurels, with which a nation garlands 
 his brow, and which, in peace, like Harmodius, he 
 weaves into a wreath where his sword reposes. Such 
 a man seems always favoured by good fortune, because 
 he wins it by address, or commands it by boldness. 
 
 It is usual, in sketches like the present, to give some 
 account of the origin and family of the individual whose 
 life and character are portrayed. Although, in this free 
 and happy republic, no long line of patrician ancestry 
 is deemed a qualification for office, nor a passport to 
 power ; yet it is a theme, at once, of ingenious specu 
 lation and liberal curiosity, to trace, through the deriva 
 tion from different nations, the various sources of (he 
 blood which runs in the veins of our countrymen, and, 
 in every instance of a distinguished person, to Irani 
 something of his parentage and descent. 
 
 Alexander Macomb, the Major General commanding 
 the Army of the United States, is descended, on the 
 paternal side, from a respectable Irish family, and, on 
 the maternal, from an ancient French family of noble 
 
MACOMB. 13 
 
 extraction. The grandfather, John Macomb, emi 
 grated to this country, from Ireland, as early as the year 
 1742, and held an official station under the Colonial 
 government. He selected, for his place of residence, 
 the city of New- York. Here, too, his son Alexander 
 Macomb, the father of the General, was educated and 
 resided. He sustained the character of an useful and 
 highly public-spirited citizen ; had the honour of repre 
 senting that city in the Legislature of the State in the 
 years 1787-88; and, in the late war with Great Britain, 
 furnished five sons for the service of his country in the 
 regular Army and the Militia. 
 
 The grandfather, on the mother s side, was Robert 
 de Navarre. He came from. Paris to America, in the 
 year 1745, an officer under the French government, 
 and acted as Notaire Royal and Sub-Deligue of the 
 king of Prance, on the early establishment of Detroit, 
 where he remained and raised a large family, the de 
 scendants of which are spread through the greater por 
 tion of the French population of Michigan, and its im 
 mediate vicinity on the Canadian side. 
 
 The father of our Macomb, in the adventurous spirit 
 of the times before the revolution, established a mercan 
 tile house at Detroit, where he succeeded in amassing a 
 considerable estate, by means of those valuable furs and 
 peltries, then and since the rich staples of an extensive 
 
 2 
 
14 MEMOIR OF 
 
 commerce in the remote and unsettled parts of the 
 northwestern portion of America, bordering on the Ohio 
 and the Lakes. He married, at Detroit, Miss Catha 
 rine Navarre. He had a numerous and growing family ; 
 and, on the restoration of peace, with the acquisition of 
 a handsome fortune, he returned to New- York. He 
 made extensive purchases of land in the we?ter:i part 
 of the State, then a wilderness, now called " Macomb s 
 Purchase," and enjoyed the advantages of his industry 
 and enterprise, until misplaced confidence and the vi 
 cissitudes of trade snatched from him, as it were in a 
 moment, the accumulations of years, and reduced him 
 to comparative indigence and distress. 
 
 The subject of this memoir was born at Detroit, on the 
 3d of April, 1782. Though not, like one of the heroes 
 of antiquity, born on tapestry representing the scenes of 
 the Iliad, he may yet almost literally be said to have 
 been nursed in field and fortress, and rocked by the 
 storms of war. Detroit, at this time, w r as a military post. 
 The chubby boy became a favourite with the soldiers 
 of the garrison. He was dandled on the soldier s knee, 
 fed at the soldier s mess his eye wa.s dnxxlcd with 
 the gorgeous pageantry of military parade and his ear 
 delighted with the rousing strains of martial music. 
 He slept and awoke amid martial sounds and associa 
 tions. External objects so readily and deeply stamp 
 
MACOMB. 15 
 
 their impression on the mind just opening to the world, 
 it is not a matter of surprise that the dreams of his in 
 fancy and the visions of his youth were of military 
 glory. 
 
 He was yet an infant, when his father took up his 
 residence in the city of New- York. It was in that 
 city, he spent the early years of childhood. But when 
 only eight years of age, he was sent to the Academy 
 at Newark, in New- Jersey, and was placed under 
 the charge of the Rev. Doctor Uzual Ogden, who was 
 president of the institution^ pastor of the Episcopal 
 church in that town, and bishop elect of the Diocese 
 of New- Jersey. He there received the rudiments of 
 a classical, mathematical, and French education. The 
 eruption of the French revolution, at this period, 
 threw many of the unfortunate families of France and 
 the West Indies into our country, as an asylum where 
 the exiles of foreign oppression sought and found 
 a second home. A great many of the young gentlemen 
 of those families were sent to the Academy at Newark ; 
 and a number of the families themselves took up their 
 residence in the vicinity. This circumstance afforded 
 a fine opportunity to the American youths, by cultivating 
 intercourse with the French, to acquire a practical know 
 ledge of their language. The occasion was not ne 
 glected by young Macomb, who, both at school and in con 
 versation, became familiarized with that polite and use- 
 
16 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ful tongue : an acquisition which has proved itself of im 
 mense benefit to him, in his intercourse with the world, 
 and especially in the prosecution of his military profes 
 sion. 
 
 It is hardly less philosophical than amusing, to trace 
 the developments of greatness to their germ : to 
 mark even the earliest indications of character ; and 
 notice those little incidents which often, perhaps, have 
 a controlling, though unsuspected, agency in forming 
 the plastic mind of youth, that, subsequently, in the 
 maturity of its strength and in the vigour of manhood, 
 may guide the course, or mould the destinies, of em 
 pire. With this view, the reader will pardon a brief 
 recital of a passage or two, in the juvenile years of 
 Macomb. 
 
 The war of the French revolution raging at the 
 period he was at school in Newark, although a mere 
 lad, he could not but be influenced, more or less, like 
 " young Norval who had heard of battles," by the de 
 scriptions of the martial array, of defeats and victories 
 alternately lost and won by the aristocrats and demo 
 crats of France. These were, al that time, the con 
 stant topic of conversation and newspaper discussion. 
 At the commencement of that revolution, it is well 
 known with what fervid enthusiasm the feelings of 
 our countrymen, even to the children, entered into the 
 contest, then deemed the holy cause of freedom, (as 
 
MACOMB. 17 
 
 indeed it was in its incipiency,) against oppression and 
 (ism ! Every success which the French repub 
 licans gained was lauded throughout the country the 
 public prints related it with exultation and the Ame 
 rican people hailed it with rapturous joy ; identifying 
 the cause of France with that of universal liberty. 
 The Marcellois hymn" and other patriotic songs of 
 that revolution were " conn d by heart" by our youths, 
 and recited and sung witli an ardour bordering on 
 phrenzy. The French cockade was universally worn ; 
 indeed it was dangerous to appear without that emblem 
 of " civisin" and democracy ; even the cravats were 
 tamboured with the motto of " La liberte et L ? Egalitd 3 " 
 and the appropriate tricolour of the day. 
 
 During this period too, strong excitement prevailed 
 against the British Government, on account of its with 
 holding the posts within our acknowledged limits, on 
 the Canadian frontiers, and its impressment of our 
 citizens on the high seas. The approach of war with 
 Great Britain was now considered to be so near, that 
 the citizens commenced the fortification of Governor s 
 Island, and other positions in the vicinity, for the pro* 
 tection of the city of New- York ; and the very boys 
 at school joined in the welcome task of throwing up 
 the projected works. Small as he then was, our young 
 enthusiast partook of the fatigue, and was distinguished 
 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 for his assiduity in lending his little labors to the work 
 of defence. 
 
 The students at the Academy in Newark had 
 hecome quite numerous ; and some of them having 
 given umbrage to a young son of Crispin, the faculty, 
 feeling their " esprit du corps" touched, roused them 
 selves to the field, with their allies, and appeared en 
 masse before the students. The challenge could not 
 be declined ; and a combat ensued, in which, after a 
 severe struggle with fists, sticks, " arma furor niiuin- 
 strat" the Crispians retreated. In this affair, by that 
 sort of instinctive impulse and consent, which, in as 
 semblies, whether of boys or men, assumes and yields 
 the ascendant, young Macomb took and vigorously 
 exercised the command. In a subsequent affray be 
 tween the same parties, a similar illustration was 
 afforded. It was agreed that each party should select 
 its champion, and decide the contest according to the 
 laws of pugilism, then a fashionable accomplishment. 
 Young Macomb, about thirteen years of age, entered 
 the ring on the side of the students. The brawny 
 arms of his antagonist played with athletic strength 
 about his person, and would inevitably have gained 
 the day, had not fortunately our little champion been 
 schooled in the pugilistic art by a brother-in-law, who 
 had himself been regularly initiated by Mendoza, in 
 
MArOMB. 19 
 
 England. The ensuing winter furnished new occasions 
 for these miniature military operations. The students 
 agreed to erect a fort of snow, and to divide themselves 
 into two parties, one of which to garrison the fort, and 
 the other to attack it. The Latin and Greek Teacher 
 at the Academy was a Scotchman of the name of Ir- 
 quart, who possessed deep-rooted prejudices against the 
 French, and, finding that they were not so enthusias 
 tically admired as formerly by the Americans, sought 
 to create animosities among the students, who were 
 pretty equally divided in point of number. The fort 
 being completed, these little communities, as represen 
 tatives of their respective nations, determined to toss 
 up for the possession of the fort, and each choose a 
 commander. The French won ; and a day was fixed 
 on. for the siege and attack. The French boys secretly 
 repaired to the fort the previous night, with frozen 
 snow-balls, and arranged them in their magazines, and 
 along the parapets. At dawn of the appointed day, the 
 parties were at their respective stations, Macomb head 
 ing the Americans. The besieging party, before com 
 mencing the attack, threw up, under the fire of the fort, 
 a sort of epaulment, to cover themselves from the balls 
 of the besieged. The Scotch schoolmaster happened 
 that day to get into the Academy at an earlier hour 
 than usual, and watched, with intense eagerness, the 
 
20 MEMOIR OP 
 
 operations of the belligerents, which were going- on at 
 no great distance from his position. The assailants 
 having prepared a sufficient quantify of munitions for 
 the bombardment, the fire was opened on the fort, and 
 returned with great spirit and effect, several of the he- 
 sieging party having been struck with the ice-balls, 
 and brought to the ground. The Americans conceived 
 the use of this missile to be c ontrary to the laws of 
 war ; and their leader instantly proposed to assault the 
 fort, and carry it by storm. This proposal was hailed 
 with three cheers, and almost as immediately executed. 
 Under a tremendous and well-directed fire of the ice- 
 balls, the works were stormed, the magazines seized, 
 and the arms turned against the French. The Scotch 
 man now caused the bell to be rung for school ; and, 
 after severely upbraiding the besieged party for their 
 treachery, he applied his leathern throng to their leader, 
 calling him the domned French mo??, until our hero, 
 by his intercession, procured his release, and let him go 
 on parole. 
 
 In the year 1795, Macomb s eldest sister was mar 
 ried to the Honorable Robert Kennedy, a younger son 
 of the late Earl of Casselis, and brother of the present 
 Marquess of Ails, who, possessing a handsome property 
 near Newark, took up his residence at a neighboring 
 seat, called Petersboro, on the Passaic, and invited to his 
 
MACOMB. 21 
 
 house, his new brother-in-law, for whom he felt a strong 
 partiality, in order that his manners and education 
 might be more carefully attended to, while at the same 
 time he might continue his studies at the Newark Acade 
 my. Mr. Kennedy had just become of age ; and, in pos 
 session of an ample fortune, entertained all the agreea 
 ble and enlightened society in his neighbourhood. He fre 
 quently, also, had (distinguished individuals of our own 
 country and from abroad, to pass the more pleasant 
 seasons at his hospitable mansion. Besides, he was 
 fond of hunting, shooting, and fishing, and all the 
 sports of the field exercises well calculated to fit one 
 for the active duties of a soldier, and of which young 
 Macomb was permitted to partake, when they would 
 not interfere with his studies. 
 
 The intelligent and refined society which frequented 
 Petersboro, as well as that of Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy 
 themselves, \\howereboth highly accomplished, pre 
 senting in their own deportment good examples of po 
 lite life, afforded to young Macomb an early opportunity 
 of forming his manners on the best models ; and it is 
 but justice to those who then constituted the society of 
 that place and its vicinity, to say that they possessed, 
 in an eminent degree, all those acquirements and agre- 
 jnciin which, while they soften the manners, tend to 
 meliorate the heart and polish the mind, and conse- 
 
66 MEMOIR OF 
 
 quently to give a zest to friendly intercourse, and guard 
 the purity of social enjoyment. 
 
 Having now attained the age of fourteen, and mani 
 festing a decided predilection for a military life, he inti 
 mated to his father a desire to enter either the Army 
 or Navy, for some of his young associates had just 
 been appointed Midshipmen. His father, justly regard 
 ing a good education paramount to every other con 
 sideration, replied, that when he had completed his 
 studies and evinced competent ability, he might think 
 of a profession ; but that, if he were to launch into the 
 world with a mind uninformed and undisciplined, his 
 course of instruction unfinished, it would be idle to ex 
 pect the attainment of eminence in any pursuit. 
 
 Our difficulties with France continued to increase, 
 and volunteer corps in defence of the country be 
 gan, in the spirit of the day, to be raised and organ 
 ized. Notwithstanding the youth and careful tutor 
 age of Macomb, his propensity for a military life ex 
 hibited itself so strongly, that his father thought it a 
 duty to take him home, in order to confine his attention 
 more exclusively to his books. His father now caused 
 him to be particularly instructed in mathematics and 
 drawing, and engaged masters to perfect him in the arts 
 of fencing and riding. By being trained to athletic and 
 gymnastic exercises in his youth, the foundation \\ i 
 
MACOMB. 2D 
 
 laid for a hale, robust constitution, which he has ever 
 since uniformly enjoyed. 
 
 On the 2Sth of May, 1798, Macomb was proposed 
 and elected a member of the volunteer company, called 
 the " New-York Rangers," under Lieut. Commandant 
 Edward Laight, in the 3d Regiment of New- York 
 Militia, of which Jacob Morton, now Senior Major Ge 
 neral of the Militia of the State, was Colonel. This 
 company was exclusively composed of the young gen 
 tlemen of the city; and a single black ball denied ad 
 mission. Our Government was then engaged in making 
 preparations to meet any exigencies which might grow 
 out of the difficulties unhappily existing between the 
 United States and the French Republic. It was at 
 this time, that our Commissioners in France, on a de 
 mand by the Government of that country for money, 
 recommended to Congress the high-souled resolve, 
 " Millions for defence not a cent for tribute." On 
 the day that Macomb became a volunteer in deduce of 
 his injured country, an act was passed by Congr; ss, au 
 thorizing the President to accept volunteers. The com 
 pany to which he belonged, fired with a patriotic spirit; 
 unanimously offered their services to the President, and 
 were accepted accordingly. An act was soon afterwards 
 passed, to augment the Army by twelve new Regi 
 ments of Infantry and six Troops of Light Dragoons. 
 
MEMOIR OF 
 
 These troops, together with the two troops of Dra 
 goons already in service, were to be formed into a Regi 
 ment. The opportunity thus presented itself for those 
 who desired it, to enter the Army ; and young Macomb, 
 without the knowledge of his family, availed himself of 
 the opening, by tendering his services to the Secretary 
 of War. 
 
 He requested an appointment in any Regiment or 
 Corps about to be raised, but asked, in the event of his 
 success, if admissible, lo be placed in some Regiment 
 to be raised in his own State. His letter of applica 
 tion he handed, open, to the Colonel of his Regiment, 
 Jacob Morton, with a request (hat he would be pleased 
 to add whatever he thought proper, and forward it to 
 the Hon. John Lawrence, the then Senator from the 
 State of New-York, to be laid before the Secretary of 
 War. Colonel Morton had served in the regular Army 
 during the Revolution, and possessed a real military 
 tact and spirit. He gave great encouragement to the 
 volunteers who composed his elegant Regiment. This 
 Regiment attracted a marked notice by its high state 
 of discipline and soldierly appearance : no regular sol 
 diers could have been more carefully drilled. It was 
 composed of the elite of the city ; and a number of 
 its members were appointed in the Army and Navy. 
 
 The preparations for war with France were now 
 
MAC OMB. 
 
 25 
 
 urged with more and more activity. General Washington 
 was in vited to the chief command of the forces. The other 
 General officers were also named. They assembled at 
 the seat of Government to make preliminary arrange 
 ments for the defence of the country, to organize the 
 army, and select, from the numerous applicants, the 
 officers to be appointed from the several States. Gene 
 ral Hamilton, who was personally acquainted with 
 young Macomb, and had discovered the early presages 
 of his future eminence, with his usual insight into cha 
 racter, recommended him to the President for the ap 
 pointment of Cornet, with the remark that he was 
 "young, active, and ambitious." His name was ac 
 cordingly submitted to the Senate, on the 31st of De 
 cember, 1798. He was confirmed as a Cornet of Light 
 Dragoons, and commissioned to take rank on the 10th 
 of January, 1799, whence he dates his military service 
 in the Army of the United States. 
 
 The Army at this time, as actually raised, consisted 
 of four Regiments of Infantry, and two troops of Dra 
 goons, destined for the protection of our inland frontiers, 
 and stationed in the Indian country ; and of two Regi 
 ments of Artillerists and Engineers, forming the garri 
 sons of our maritime frontier and the principal forts on 
 the Lakes. 
 
 Although General Washington was appointed Com- 
 3 
 
26 MEMOIR OF 
 
 mander in Chief, the active command of the whole 
 Army was devolved by him on Major General Alexan 
 der Hamilton, who was next in rank to Washington. 
 The whole force, notwithstanding, was divided into 
 separate commands under the several Generals. The 
 troops north of the Potomac were the designated com 
 mand of General Hamilton ; those south of that liver, 
 of Major General Charles Cotsworth Pinckney ; and 
 those west of the mountains, being the old troops, of 
 Brig. General James Wilkinson. Brig. General "Wil 
 liam North was appointed Adjutant General, and sta 
 tioned in New- York, near the Head Quarters of Gene 
 ral Hamilton. In the organization of the Staff, young 
 Macomb, although now scarce seventeen years of age. 
 was appointed an Assistant Adjutant General, and at 
 tached to General North. 
 
 By this fortunate circumstance, was probably laid the 
 foundation of that familiar and accurate knowledge of 
 the principles and practice of his profession, of the du 
 ties both of officers and soldiers, in their minutest details 
 as well as in their most comprehensive scope, which 
 has ever distinguished his subsequent career in arms. 
 Beside the advantage of habitual, frequent intercourse 
 with that exalted character General Hamilton, General 
 North, Macomb s immediate master, was reputed one of 
 the most scientific and practical officers of the revolu- 
 
MACOMB. 27 
 
 tionary Army. He had been the Aide de Camp of that 
 excellent soldier Baron Steuben, and rendered him valu 
 able assistance in the introduction and establishment 
 of a regular system of police, tactics, discipline, and ac 
 countability. He was continued in the Army after the 
 Revolution, for the purpose of organizing the small 
 force retained for the protection of our infant settlements 
 and exposed frontiers against the inroads of the savages. 
 In addition to the duties which appertained to the 
 Adjt. General s oiFice, so well calculated to fami 
 the mind with all the varied operations of an Army, 
 affording the best school which a camp can offer to all 
 attached to that department. General North, who was 
 also, ex officio, Assistant Inspr. General, was required 
 to discharge other important functions ; being engaged, 
 in this latter capacity, with General Hamilton, the In 
 spector General, in forming and examining the several 
 corps, as also in compiling and adapting systems of 
 regulation for each arm of service. Discussions were 
 frequent between the Adjutant General and the Inspect 
 or General; and many principles were settled growing 
 out of command, courts martial, and other points of 
 duty, in the course of service, which were referred to the 
 Head Quarters of the Army. These gentlemen, school 
 ed in the Army of the Revolution, formed their opi 
 nions on the coolest judgment and the strictest military 
 
30 MEMOIR OF 
 
 principles. Justice to the officers of that Arrny, gene 
 rally, warrants the acknowledgment, that they not 
 only learned the theory of war, but reduced it to prac 
 tice, according to the then most approved rules of the art, 
 and in a manner worthy the imitation of all their suc 
 cessors. The Order Books of General Washington and 
 the military correspondence of the times will be found, 
 on recurrence to them, pregnant with lessons of wisdom 
 and experience. Subordination, a nice adjustment of du 
 ties, a rigid execution of those duties, a spirit of chivalry and 
 patriotism, untaught by other records, breathe through 
 the whole of them. An eulogy similar to that on the old 
 Congress, which, flowing from the eloquent lips of Chat 
 ham, immortalized both the speaker and his subject, 
 might well be pronounced on the achievements without 
 means, on the sufferings without parallel, on the un 
 sleeping eye and unwearied arm, the enduring constan 
 cy, the self-sacrificing devotedness, the Grecian genius, 
 and more than Roman hardihood, of THE ARMY OP 
 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 In order to their instruction, the troops were briga 
 ded and cantoned in different parts of the country, re 
 ference being had to their advantageous position for 
 the defence of the country in case of invasion. Gene 
 rals Hamilton and North personally superintended their 
 instruction, which further enabled Macomb, who al- 
 
MAC OMB. 
 
 29 
 
 ways accompanied them, to improve himself in his pro 
 fession. France having at length yielded to a satis 
 factory arrangement, the Army was reduced to the 
 number of Regiments which formed the establishment 
 prior to 1799. Macomb availed himself of the permission 
 of General Hamilton to go into Canada, and see the 
 British troops stationed at Montreal and in its vicinity, 
 in order to make himself acquainted with the mode of 
 discipline practised by the British Army. 
 
 He was kindly received by the British Commanding 
 General Napier Christie Burton, and the other officers of 
 that station. Every facility was granted him for visit 
 ing the troops in quarters and when under arms at 
 the frequent reviews of manoeuvre and inspection. He 
 was, besides, much favoured through the influence of 
 Sir John Johnson, the uncle of his brother-in-law, Mr. 
 Kennedy, whose invitation to reside at his mansion he 
 accepted during the period of his visit at that city. 
 
 On his return to the United States, he found himself 
 retained in the military establishment as a second Lieu 
 tenant in one of the old Troops of Dragoons, which 
 composed part of his former Regiment. This com 
 mission he received the 10th of February, 1801, from 
 the hand of President Jefferson. He was now ordered, 
 on the recruiting service, to Philadelphia. This city 
 offered many advantages to a young man of the age of 
 
30 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Macomb, then about nineteen years old. Accomplish 
 ed society, choice and extensive libraries, and public 
 institutions of almost every kind, were well calculated 
 to engage the attention, and improve the leisure, of 
 those who would frequent them. Instead of yielding 
 to the wonted dissipation or idle amusements of youth, 
 he devoted himself to sober employments, or indulged 
 in those refined pleasures of literary and social com 
 munion which the city of " brotherly love" presented. 
 He was particularly fortunate in meeting here an able 
 French officer of Engineers ; who, escaping the pro 
 scriptions of his own country, sought our shores, but, 
 like most of his exiled countrymen, brought no re 
 sources beyond his education, talent, and address. 
 Taken with the open air and vivacious spirit of Ma- 
 comb, he was delighted to find in him a companion 
 who spoke his own language ; and proposed to pass 
 him through a course of instruction in the science of 
 fortification and military topography. The proposition 
 was quickly accepted, as it tended to open to him a 
 further progress in important branches of his profession, 
 and to keep alive his knowledge of the French Lan 
 guage. He now also commenced a friendship, which 
 each subsequent year served only to confirm, with 
 Jonathan Williams, Esq., a gentleman of learning and 
 science, who had just been appointed Major of one of 
 
MACOMB. 31 
 
 the Battalions of the 2d Regiment of Artillerists and 
 Engineers, and Inspector of Fortifications, and who, 
 afterwards, was placed at the head of the Corps of En 
 gineers. 
 
 Having raised a handsome body of recruits, Macomb 
 marched them to join the Army under Gen. Wilkinson 
 at Pittsburg. Although, as a Dragoon Officer, entitled 
 to be mounted, yet having a number of Subaltern offi 
 cers of Infantry under his command, he declined any 
 exclusive personal indulgence, and proceeded with the 
 party on foot a distance, by the ancient route, of three 
 hundred and twenty miles. An humorous occurrence, 
 not devoid of interest in a military point of view, hap 
 pened to the detachment on the way, which is still 
 well remembered by the inhabitants near Turtle Creek. 
 An officer of superior rank, heading a small body of 
 recruits, overtook Macomb s, at Chambersburg, and, 
 uniting forces, assumed the command of the whole. 
 The party, now consisting of about 150 men, with the 
 usual complement of women, halted in the morning 
 on an island near the crossing place at Turtle Creek. 
 This was in the month of May, when heavy showers 
 are frequent in the mountains bordering the Creek. 
 Macomb, being officer of the day, and learning the in 
 tention of the Commanding Officer to encamp on the 
 island, remonstrated against the measure, alleging that 
 
32 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the island, lying under the mountains, was obviously 
 liable to be inundated, pointing out at the same time 
 the drift wood on the head of the island, as an evident 
 indication of that fact. The Commanding Officer, 
 disdaining the representations of his junior, authorita 
 tively ordered the tents to be pitched. The camp was 
 soon formed the men became busy in brushing up 
 their arms and accoutrements and the women in 
 washing their clothes. At tattoo, they retired to rest. 
 But the day had scarcely closed, when appalling thun 
 der indicated too clearly a coming flood. Pouring 
 down the sides of the mountains, the rain soon swelled 
 the water of the Creek, which at noon was nearly dry, 
 to a level with the island. Through the pitchy dark 
 ness of the night, the lightnings revealed the approach 
 ing danger. The torrents continued to pour, and the 
 floods to rise. The drums beat to arms the tents 
 were struck the wagons were made fast to any fix 
 ture the women scrambled into the wagons, and the 
 men up the trees and the horses were swum by their 
 drivers across the Creek. In this plight, so ludicrous 
 if it had not been dangerous, in which they remained 
 through the night, daylight both exposed and relieved 
 them. The inhabitants came to their rescue on floats, 
 from which, on returning, many were swept by the 
 force of the stream, and floated about like the fragments 
 
MACOMB. 33 
 
 of a wreck. On main land once more, from the disa- 
 gremen of accompanying a drenched and all but 
 drowned party, which a little while before had worn a 
 most soldier-like appearance, and which Macomb had 
 spared neither pains nor expense in equipping and or 
 namenting, he was extricated by his Commanding 
 Officer, who, having now dearly bought an useful les 
 son in the art of castrametation : and learned to appre 
 ciate Macomb s advice, despatched him to Gen. Wil 
 kinson for fresh supplies of provisions and clothing. 
 
 The detachment having at length arrived at the 
 Head Quarters of General Wilkinson, was marched 
 into a camp, which had been formed for the instruction 
 of recruits, destined to fill the several Regiments sta 
 tioned on the Lakes and other western waters. In 
 this camp, through a precaution of the utmost import 
 ance to an army, all recruits were inoculated to guard 
 them against the small-pox, previously to joining their 
 respective Regiments. While at Pittsburg, Macomb 
 met his friend Major Williams, who, as Inspector of 
 Fortifications, had been making an examination of the 
 Niagara frontier, and who was then engaged in project 
 ing a work to be erected on Black Rock, opposite Fort 
 Erie. The Major, in the press of business, required an 
 assistant, and knowing Macomb to have paid attention 
 to the study of fortification, obtained an order from the 
 
34 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Commanding General for his aid in preparing the draw 
 ings, calculations, estimates and memoirs, necessary to 
 illustrate the plans of the proposed work. As lie had 
 now been some time with the troops under General 
 Wilkinson, the latter mentioned to him that he had 
 received letters from Generals Hamilton and North, re 
 commending him to his care and protection. Although 
 Wilkinson had not thus far evinced any special regard 
 for him, yet he had not been unobservant of his con 
 duct in camp, and expressed himself pleased with his 
 attention to his duties. The General then directed 
 that the detachments in the camp of instruction should 
 join their Regiments, and invited Lieut. Mnromb to 
 become a member of his military family in the quality 
 of an extra Aide de Camp. 
 
 Shortly after Macomb had entered the encampment 
 beyond the Allegheny, an incident occurred which 
 came near doing him a serious injury. An officer 
 visited him in his tent, and in the course of convnva- 
 tion, broached the politics of the day, the principal 
 theme of which was the change of administration, Mr. 
 Jefferson having been not long before elected to the 
 Presidency. This officer was very abusive of the new 
 President, in terms not merely indecorous, but punish 
 able by the Articles of War. Disapproving of such in 
 temperance, Macomb begged him not to continue a 
 
MACOMB. 35 
 
 language, so disrespectful to the head of the Army and 
 the Nation, and which, used any where but in his own 
 tent, he would feel constrained to notice, as a breach of 
 discipline. The expressions were overheard, attributed 
 to Macomb, and reported to Head Quarters, for which 
 he received a severe reprimand. He, however, soon 
 succeeded in satisfying the General of his innocence of 
 the charge, though without exposing the officer guilty 
 of the indecorum. 
 
 The camp being broken up, he repaired to Head 
 Quarters, to take upon him the duties of Aide de Camp. 
 General Wilkinson had. for some time, been collecting 
 troops at the mouth of the Ohio, at a place called 
 AVilkiusonville, with a view to form a camp of instruc- 
 sion, on a scale sufficiently extensive to enable him to 
 practice the evolutions of the Line, and give the officers 
 a more practical knowledge of their duties. The 2d 
 Regiment of Infantry under Col. Strong, and the 4th 
 Regiment under Col. Thomas Butler, together with a 
 Battalion of Artillery, formed the assembled force. The 
 recruits destined to fill these corps were embarked at 
 Pittsburg, and acted as the crews to navigate the boats 
 down the river. The position selected for the encamp 
 ment proved unhealthy, especially to the Artillery Bat 
 talion, and the 2d Regiment composed principally of 
 recruits. But the 4th Regiment, filled with a hardy 
 
36 MEMOIR OP 
 
 set of old soldiers, long accustomed both to the camp 
 and the climate, suffered less. Their superior health 
 may also, probably, be attributed to their use of the 
 river water, there being no springs in the vicinity ; while 
 the other troops, at some distance from the 4th Regi 
 ment, derived their supply of water from springs, pro 
 bably rendered deleterious by some mineral impregna 
 tion. From this circumstance, it would seem expedient, 
 in stationary encampments, to subject the water for the 
 use of the soldiery, if previously untried, to a chymical 
 analysis. The prevailing sickness determined the Ge 
 neral to remove the troops further up the Ohio, to a 
 place near the mouth of the Cumberland, called Smith- 
 field. 
 
 General Wilkinson, General Pickens, and Colonel 
 Hawkins, were now appointed Commissioners to treat 
 with the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Creeks, 
 Tribes of Indians, then inhabiting what was called the 
 South Western Territory, a considerable tract of coun 
 try lying between the States of Georgia, South Caroli 
 na, and Tennessee, the Mississippi River, and the Flo- 
 ridas. This Commission was appointed to assemble at 
 South West Point, at the junction of the Clinch and 
 Tennessee Rivers, in the month of August, 1801. Ge 
 neral Wilkinson, taking with him Lieut. Macomb, who 
 was appointed Secretary to this commission, left Wil- 
 
MACOMB. 37 
 
 kinsonville, descended the Ohio to the mouth of the 
 Cumberland, thence to Eddyville, where he was met 
 by Mr. Matthew Lyon, a member of Congress, who 
 obligingly showed the General the way into the Bar 
 rens, which lie between that place and Nashville ; and 
 thence proceeded to South West Point. 
 
 The Commissioners failed to acquire new cessions of 
 land from the Cherokees, they having imbibed ideas 
 of individual property, and being advanced, far beyond 
 the other Tribes, in the arts of civilization. The Com 
 mission, therefore, on the llth of September returned, 
 descending the Tennessee ; and having their arks pre 
 pared at Wil kinsonville, continued to the Chickasaw 
 Bluff, where a satisfactory treaty was soon negociated 
 with the Chickasaws. Thence proceeding down the 
 Mississippi to Fort Adams, about thirty miles below 
 Natchez, a position taken by the United States to assert 
 their claim to the line of limits between the Floridas and 
 the 31st degree of North Latitude, the Commission, 
 after an inspection and review of the Troops, opened a 
 negociation with the Choctaws, who finally entered 
 into the arrangements sought by the Government. 
 Winter approaching, it being now the beginning of De 
 cember, the boats were abandoned, and the country 
 traversed from this point to Fort Wilkinson on the 
 Oconee in Georgia, near which Fort measures were to 
 
 4 
 
38 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 be adopted for the settlement of some disputes, and to 
 obtain all the country, as far as the Ocmulgee. Ma- 
 comb still accompanied the Commissioners, who set out 
 on horseback, with a small guard of Light Dragoons, 
 for Tuckabatche, the residence of the United States 
 Agent, Col. Hawkins. Here he spent the winter, in 
 the very heart of the Creek Nation, Wilkinson and 
 Pickens having returned. The Creeks assembled in 
 June, 1802, and the treaty was concluded the ensuing 
 month. This treaty was held on the identical spot, on 
 which Milledgeville is built, the present Capital of the 
 State of Georgia, It was now upwards of 300 days 
 that Macomb had been engaged in the Mission, all of 
 which time he spent, in the woods, among the Abori 
 gines. During this tour Macomb kept a minute jour 
 nal, in which he noted the courses and distances of 
 streams and positions, the productions of the soil, the 
 geological and geographical physiognomy of the country. 
 He also delineated with great care the Tennessee and 
 Mississippi rivers, and constructed a topographical map, 
 which was deposited in the War office and received the 
 marked approval of Mr. Jefferson. 
 
 The object for which the Commission was instituted 
 having been accomplished, as far as practicable, Ma 
 comb was despatched with the treaties and accounts 
 to Washington, by the way of Charleston. He spent 
 
MAC OMB. 39 
 
 a few days at this latter city, in the enjoyment of that 
 elegant hospitality for which it is so justly celebrated, and 
 thence proceeded to the seat of Government. While 
 he was engaged on the Commission, our little army had 
 been reduced. The four Regiments of Infantry were 
 formed into two Regiments, and the two Regiments of 
 Artillery and Engineers into one Regiment of Artillery. 
 The Dragoons were disbanded, and a Corps of Engi 
 neers was authorized to be raised, to consist of one Ma 
 jor, two Captains, two 1st and two 2d Lieutenants, and 
 ten Cadets, which Corps was to constitute, when or 
 ganized, the Military Academy ; the President being 
 empowered to augment the Corps and make promo 
 tions in it, with a view to particular merit, and without 
 regard to rank. Lieutenant Macomb found himself 
 among the number of officers retained, and arranged 
 to the 1st Regiment of Infantry. Feeling rather re 
 duced than advanced, in his relative rank, he remon 
 strated with the Secretary of War. The Secretary 
 replied that his general talents and merits as an officer, 
 especially as a Draftsman and Engineer, had not been 
 overlooked that Major Williams had made a highly 
 favourable report of him and that, in consequence, a 
 place in the Corps of Engineers, as 1st Lieutenant, had 
 been reserved for him, should it be agreeable to him to 
 accept it. Such a flattering mark of attention from the 
 
40 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Head of the Department must have been highly grati 
 fying to Macomb, who had always aimed to make him 
 self a proficient in that branch of service, to which he 
 was to be transferred ; and lie accordingly accepted the 
 commission, bearing date the 12th of October, 1802. 
 
 He now received orders to repair to West Point, and 
 report himself to Lieutenant Colonel Williams, Super 
 intendent of the Military Academy. That institution 
 was just then going into operation. The Field Officers 
 and Captains of the Corps of Engineers acted as Pro 
 fessors, with the addition of two Teachers, one of the 
 French Language and one of Drawing. The Lieu 
 tenants and Cadets were considered as students, and 
 were obliged to go through the established course, pre 
 paratory to being employed on the fortifications. At 
 the proper time, Lieutenant Macomb was examined, 
 and declared to have attained the requisite qualifications, 
 of which due report was made by the Superintendent 
 to the War Department. He may, therefore, be con 
 sidered the eldest graduate, now in the service, of that 
 institution. He was then appointed to do the duty of 
 Adjutant, and to instruct the Cadets in their military 
 exercises. He was the officer who first organized them 
 into a Corps, and put arms in their hands. 
 
 In the ensuing year, July 23d, 1803, he married his 
 cousin, Miss Catharine Macomb, of Belville, in New- 
 
MACOMB. 41 
 
 Jersey, a beautiful and highly accomplished young 
 Jady of sixteen. In the autumn of that year, he was 
 ordered to attend a General Court Martial, convened at 
 Fredericktown, in Maryland, for the trial of Colonel 
 Thomas Butler. The Colonel, it seems, had refused 
 to obey an order of General Wilkinson, requiring the 
 hair of the officers and soldiers to be cropped. The 
 old fashion queue, worn in the revolution, was still seen 
 appended to the venerable heads of those gallant men, 
 who yet remained in the service of their country. This 
 instance of disobedience in the brave veteran, although 
 undoubtedly a breach of rigid discipline, could not im 
 peach his character, nor impair his standing. While 
 his defence was reading and appeals were made to his 
 past services, every eye melted in sympathy and sor 
 row, or kindled with indignation at what some con 
 ceived an arbitrary exertion of authority. The Court, 
 however, sustained the validity of the regulation, and 
 sentenced the Colonel to be reprimanded in general or 
 ders. Macomb had been appointed Judge Advocate to 
 this Court, which continued its session for the trial of 
 several other officers. During the trials, Macomb ac 
 quitted himself so well, and exhibited so correct a know 
 ledge, both of military law and the mode of proceed 
 ings, that the members of the Court suggested to him 
 the advantage which would accrue to the service, if he 
 
 4* 
 
42 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 should compose a Treatise as a general guide for the 
 conduct of Courts Martial : a work which he subse 
 quently executed. 
 
 As a great proportion of the Field Officers of the 
 Army, representatives from every Regiment and Corps, 
 attended the General Court Martial, Lieut. Maconib, 
 young as he was, submitted to them the expediency of 
 forming all the officers of the Army into a society for the 
 purpose of affording protection to the superannuated 
 veteran, and to the widows and orphans of such officers 
 as might die in the service. In order to effect this 
 highly laudable object, he proposed that each officer 
 should subscribe a certain per-centage on his pay, and 
 that Congress be memorialized to grant a charter, to 
 gether with any endowment it might be pleased to 
 appropriate. The project was laid before the Secretary 
 of War, who gave it his sanction ; but, before any step 
 could be taken toward its accomplishment, the officers 
 had returned to their respective stations. It is to be 
 hoped, however, that so benevolent a plan of perma 
 nent utility may yet be realized. 
 
 Macomb returned to West Point, where he conti 
 nued his studies and military exercises, except when 
 called off, to act as Judge Advocate or member of Ge 
 neral Courts Martial, until some time in May, 1805, 
 when he repaired to Washington to make a final set- 
 
MAC OMB. 43 
 
 dement of his accounts, as late Secretary to the Com 
 missioners, which had not been closed, although ren 
 dered at the proper time. He availed himsef of this 
 opportunity to present a very strong letter, recommend 
 ing him for promotion, from his Colonel the Superin 
 tendent of the Military Academy, together with a letter 
 from the Commissioners, expressing their entire satis 
 faction with his services, and commending him warm 
 ly to the patronage of the Government. General Dear 
 born, the then Secretary of War, approved his accounts, 
 and ordered a letter of appointment to be issued to Ma- 
 comb as Captain in the Corps of Engineers, bearing rank 
 from the llth of June, 1805. 
 
 The works in the harbour of Portsmouth, in the 
 State of New-Hampshire, requiring repairs, Captain 
 Macomb was now ordered thither. Having satisfacto 
 rily finished this labour, he was next year appointed 
 Superintendent of the important public works then 
 being erected at Mount Dearborn, on the Cataba river 
 in South Carolina, about thirty-six miles above Cam- 
 den, where it was intended to establish a Depot and 
 national Armory for the Southern States. It was 
 during the period of his employment at this place, that 
 he compiled his treatise on Courts Martial, in conform 
 ity with the wishes formerly expressed by his brother 
 officers. He submitted it to the inspection of General 
 
44 
 
 MEMOIR OP 
 
 William R. Davie, a distinguished officer of the Revo 
 lution, a profound jurist, a gentleman who had approved 
 himself at once a scholar, statesman, and soldier. He 
 happened to be one of Macomb s nearest neighbours, 
 being settled on his farm called Tivoli, near Landsford, 
 almost eighteen miles distant from Mount Dearborn. 
 The isolated situation of Davie and Macomb rendered 
 an intercourse exceedingly agreeable, which soon ripen 
 ed into intimacy and friendship. Perhaps no man 
 could have been a better Mentor for an young soldier, 
 than General Davie ; for he had practiced the art of war 
 in the field, was conversant with the events of the 
 Revolution, familiar, by his political and historical stu 
 dies, with the theory and operation of governments, 
 and, having been Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 
 Plenipotentiary to France during the Consulate of Buo 
 naparte, he had witnessed the preparations for that 
 splendid campaign which brought on the battle of Ma- 
 rengo, and carefully acquainted himself with all the 
 military as well as political improvements which were 
 making in that country in those brilliant days of her 
 prowess and renown. Such was the exalted opinion 
 entertained of his character and capacity, that he was 
 offered in the late war the appointment of Major Gene 
 ral, although of the party opposed to the Administra 
 tion, but which appointment he declined only, however, 
 
MACOMB. 45 
 
 on account of his infirmities, the result of a severe 
 wound at the battle of Stono in the revolutionary war. 
 Maconib submitted his Treatise to the criticism, also, 
 of Major General Charles Cotsworth Pinckney, another 
 worthy of the Revolution, an associate of Davie in the 
 mission to France, and alike distinguished by his mili 
 tary acquirements and profound legal knowledge. 
 These gentlemen pruned it of what they considered of 
 a doubtful character, and suggested such improvements 
 as their judgment dictated. The work was then print 
 ed, and presented to the Government. It received the 
 approbation of the President and the Secretary of War, 
 was adopted as the standard for the guidance of Courts 
 Martial, and issued to the Army. It has ever since 
 retained its official character, well sustained by its in 
 trinsic merits. 
 
 Captain Macomb continued to conduct the works at 
 Mount Dearborn until the year 1807, when he was in* 
 structed to take the general direction, as Chief Engi 
 neer, of the fortifications and other works contemplated 
 for the defence of the harbours of the two Carolinas and 
 Georgia. The conduct, at this time, of certain British 
 vessels of war on our coast had been such as to oblige 
 President Jefferson to issue his proclamation, interdicting 
 them the waters of the United States. The Authori 
 ties of Charleston, finding their city much exposed 
 
16 MEMOIR OF 
 
 from the dilapidated condition into which the forts had 
 fallen, became alarmed for their safety in the case of a 
 rupture with Great Britain, especially as a vessel of war, 
 subsequently to the proclamation, had entered the har 
 bour, forcibly obtained a supply of water, and threatened 
 retaliation. At the request of the Commander of the 
 harbour, and to satisfy the citizens, Macomb repaired 
 to Charleston, erected some temporary batteries at 
 Fort Johnson, and mounted a sufficient number of 
 heavy guns to make it inexpedient for any vessel of 
 war to venture within reach of them. He then made 
 a reconnoisance of the whole coast from Occracock 
 Inlet to the River St. Mary s, which divided the United 
 States from the Floridas, and projected a system of 
 temporary works for the defence of all the principal har 
 bours and inlets. 
 
 The attack upon the Frigate Chesapeake by the 
 Leopard, a British ship of war, in June, 1807, roused 
 the people to a sense of their violated sovereignty. All 
 parties exclaimed, with one voice, that instant measures 
 should be adopted to redress our injured honour, and 
 vindicate our flag on land and water. Congress, 
 almost always lagging behind the people, yet yielded 
 appropriations for fortifying the principal points on our 
 coasts ; and augmented the Army, by one Regiment 
 of Riflemen, and one Regiment of Light Artillery, one 
 
.MACOMB. 47 
 
 Regiment of Light Dragoons, and five Regiments of 
 Infantry. They also provided for an increase of the 
 naval force, and for calling out the Militia and Volun 
 teers. 
 
 Previously to the raising of this additional force, Ma- 
 comb had been promoted to be Major of the Corps of 
 Engineers, taking rank from the 3d of February, 1808. 
 Arrangements having been made for the com 
 mencement of the works along the coast, Major Ma- 
 comb began those intended for the defence of Charles 
 ton, and superintended them until the spring of 1812. 
 On the 25th of February, 1811, Macomb had been 
 promoted to be Lieutenant Colonel of the same Corps. 
 In the month of September ensuing, he was detailed 
 to sit as a member of a General Court Martial, assem 
 bled at Fredericktown, in Maryland, for the trial of 
 Major General Wilkinson, his old Commander and 
 friend. The General, however, was honourably acquit 
 ted of all the articles of accusation. The sympathy, 
 formerly exhibited by the generous-hearted inhabitants 
 of this town on the trial of Butler, was now, in an 
 equal degree, extended toward Wilkinson, a man of 
 genius and courage, of military experience, learning, 
 and resources, and yet the victim of misfortune. The 
 American People instinctively repel the idea of oppres- 
 
48 
 
 MEMOIR OP 
 
 sion, assume what guise it may ; and hence are predis 
 posed to shield the persecuted and the unfortunate. 
 
 Parties in the United States, at this time, were in 
 fearful collision. The distracted and conflicting opi 
 nions in Congress rendered the course it would pursue, 
 impossible to conjecture. Between the English Orders 
 in Council, and the Berlin and Milan Decrees, our com 
 merce was all but annihilated, and our resources pro 
 portionally diminished. In this crisis of affairs, finding 
 peace for themselves impracticable between the two 
 belligerents, the United States were compelled, once 
 more, to appeal to the sword, as the final arbiter of dis 
 putes which negociation had failed to reach. The mili 
 tary and naval establishments, by successive legislation, 
 were increased. The Secretary of War Eustis, desiring 
 Lieut. Col. Macomb, to assist him in organizing the new 
 Army, called him from his duties as Chief Engineer for 
 the Southern States, and appointed him, on the 28th 
 April, 1812, Adjutant General at the seat of Government. 
 In this momentous exigency, lie was charged with the 
 most important trusts. Every thing was to be remoulded 
 and cast into a warlike frame. The defects of the former 
 system, growing up through a long period of peace, 
 were palpable and manifold. The want of a w r ell ar 
 ranged Staff, susceptible of expansion to suit the emer 
 gencies of active service ; of general, regimental, com- 
 
MACOMB. 
 
 49 
 
 pany, and garrison regulations ; of local arrangements 
 into departments and districts ; of an uniform course of 
 tactics ; of a regular, rigid system of disbursements and 
 accountability ; was to be supplied. The Regiments, 
 raised under the several acts of Congress, were differ 
 ently constituted, both as to the strength of companies, 
 and the number of companies in a Regiment, although 
 of the same Corps some conforming to the English, 
 others to the French model. All these irregularities, he 
 perceived, at once, with a keen military ken, could be 
 productive only of confusion, extravagance, and ineffi 
 ciency, and consequent disaster and disgrace. He, there 
 fore, with wonted zeal and persevering energy, bent 
 himself down to the task of their reformation. He ex 
 erted his best capacity to establish an uniform organ 
 ization through the army, and to introduce appropriate 
 instructions for the respective arms of service. He also 
 proceeded, in conjunction with General Smyth the In 
 spector General, and Colonel Pike the Acting Quarter 
 Master General, to designate and define the duties of 
 the General Staff, to create depots of recruits, and in 
 fuse a spirit of activity into the preparations for the 
 coming conflict. These arduous duties he effectually 
 discharged, as far as limited time ami means, and the 
 pressure of the occasion, would permit. 
 
 While thus employed, Colonel Williams, finding him- 
 5 
 
50 MEMOIR OF 
 
 self incompetent, from the infirmities of advancing age, 
 to the personal performance of his functions as Com 
 mander of the Corps of Engineers, offered to resign in 
 favour of Lieut. Col. Macomb ; but Macomb, in com 
 mon with the other members of the Corps, cherishing 
 a high regard for Williams, both as a valuable officer, 
 and an estimable man, begged him to remain at the 
 head of the Corps and the Academy, as their Parent 
 and Patron, " decusque ornamentum ;" while Macomb, 
 though stationed at the Seat of Government, charged 
 himself with the duties and responsibility of the imme 
 diate command. This arrangement, so generous in 
 Macomb, as well as honourable to the character, and 
 gratifying to the feelings of Col. Williams, was accepted 
 by him with the liveliest sensibility and gratitude. 
 
 War was, at length, determined on. It was not for a 
 man like Macomb to linger among the bureaux and in 
 the coteries of Washington, when the star-studded ban 
 ner, emblem of freedom and the Republic, was unfurled 
 upon our ramparts, and floating in the camp. Our 
 republican Court could present no allurements to him, 
 while the laurelled field of war was outspread before 
 him victory, with her palmy honours, beckoning him 
 to her embrace and a nation s wrongs crying to her 
 champions for redress. He immediately sought a com 
 mand in the line of the Army. This, as an officer of 
 
MACOMB. 51 
 
 the Engineers, under the existing rules of service, he 
 could not receive. 
 
 In a conversation with Calhoun and Lowndes, mem 
 bers of Congress, from South Carolina, on the disad 
 vantage and injustice of depriving the Engineers of 
 the right of command, because their functions apper 
 tained to the higher branches of military science, Ma- 
 comb urged that the avowed motive of their exclusion 
 from the common privilege of officers was the strongest 
 possible argument for their possession of it ; and, to 
 illustrate this position, stated, by way of example, that 
 if the city of Washington should be attacked, and an 
 officer of the Engineers be present, he, although possi 
 bly the fittest person both to plan and to execute the 
 means of its defence, could not exercise command, in 
 accordance with his rank. Macomb, also, with his ac 
 customed forecast, predicted to these gentlemen, that, 
 in the event of war, the Capital would, in all propabi- 
 lity. be attempted ; and, unless the necessary measures 
 of defence were adopted, would be carried by a coup de 
 main, there being so many avenues, on which it might 
 be approached by an enemy arriving in the Chesapeake, 
 Sacrificing ROW, without hesitation, his permanent 
 and most honuorable situation as Chief of the Engineer 
 Corps, Macomb asked to be appointed to one of the new 
 Regiments of Artillery. New- York being considered 
 
52 MEMOIR OF 
 
 as entitled by allotment to that appointment, it was 
 promised to him, if the Delegation of his State would 
 agree to recommend him for it. He hinted this decla 
 ration of the Secretary of War, to the Hon. Samuel L. 
 Mitchell, the Senator from New- York, who, with 
 cheerfulness and alacrity, procured the assent of all 
 the Delegation. Macomb was accordingly commission 
 ed on the 6th of July. 1812, Colonel of the 3d Regi 
 ment of Artillery, to consist of twenty companies, of 
 118 men each. Colonel Macomb forthwith repaired to 
 New- York and commenced the raising of his Regiment. 
 Raised, equipped, organized, and disciplined, under his 
 auspices, it soon constituted one of the finest, if not the 
 very best, body of soldiers, in the American service. 
 The air, esprit du corps, and efficiency of the Regi 
 ment, the character and intelligence of its officers, the 
 strict subordination, soldierly deportment, and practiced 
 tactics of the men, were universally admired, and be 
 came a model for the imitation of the Army. The ex 
 ample diffused a fine impulse, and stimulated the emu 
 lation of the less perfect troops. 
 
 He assembled his Regiment at Greenbush ; and in 
 November, 1812, marched it, by forced stages, to Sack- 
 ett s Harbour, in order to embark it on board Commo 
 dore Chauncey s fleet, for the purpose of making an 
 attack on Kingston. But, on the arrival of the Regi- 
 
MACOMB. 
 
 53 
 
 mentj Chauncey had sailed ; and the winter prema 
 turely setting in, it was decided, in a council of war, in 
 consequence of the liability of the Lake to be suddenly 
 frozen over, that the contemplated enterprise must be 
 deferred until the Spring. Macomb was compelled, 
 therefore, to erect a cantonment at Sackett s Harbour, 
 when the troops went into quarters, the 1st of January 
 ensuing, necessarily exposed, until that time, to dwell, 
 in that most inclement climate and season, in houses 
 of canvass amid banks of snow. Colonel Macomb was 
 authorized to assume the command of Sackett s Har 
 bour and the adjacent country, and also to convene 
 General Courts Martial, and decide on their proceed 
 ings so that he was now invested with a complete and 
 independent command, except as to General Dearborn 
 the Major General Commanding in Chief. There 
 were assembled at this station, beside sailors and ma 
 rines for the fleet, a considerable number of militia, 
 and volunteers. Such were the conciliatory manners 
 and Address of Colonel Macomb, that an entire harmony 
 of feeling and co-operation prevailed throughout his 
 command, notwithstanding the contrariety of characters 
 and variety of interests composing it. The troops being 
 settled in winter quarters, he was indefatigable in per 
 sonally attending the company and batallion drills and 
 the evolutions of the line. Being for the most part in 
 
54 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the immediate command of the troops at this station, it 
 was his habit and delight to practice them in all the 
 varied combinations and manoeuvres of tactical science 
 and skill, the amount of force being sufficient to illus 
 trate, practically, all the movements of an army, with 
 the different arms proper to its composition. He fre 
 quently exercised them also on the ice of the Lakes, to 
 inure them to the rigours of the cold and the fatigues 
 of marching. 
 
 Toward the close of the winter of 1812-13, he re 
 vived the design of attacking Kingston, principally with 
 the view of destroying the enemy s vessels of war 
 moored in the ice of that harbour. As some irregu 
 larities had taken place along the frontier, disturbing 
 the peaceful inhabitants on either border, he availed 
 himself of that circumstance as a pretext for sending a 
 flag of truce across the Lake, ostensibly to bear a com 
 plaint against these marauding parties, and the propo 
 sal of an arrangement for putting a stop to such grie 
 vances in future ; but really to ascertain whethe * the 
 ice was sufficiently sound, and free from crevices, in 
 the whole direction to Kingston. This mission was 
 intrusted to Captain, now Colonel Crane, of the Artil 
 lery. The flag was borne on a Cariole, which entered 
 the town unobserved, proceeded to the Quarters of the 
 British General, and returned without interruption, 
 
MAC OMB 55 
 
 bringing the desired intelligence. The troops, mean 
 while, were duly prepared : and the sailors, under Cap 
 tain Leonard of the Navy, were furnished with ladders 
 for scaling the sides of the Birtish ships. To cover 
 the design, an alarm was circulated, that Sir George 
 Provost was about to attack Sackett s Harbour, and 
 that he was collecting troops at Kingston for the pur 
 pose. The rumour, spreading on the wings of the 
 wind, reached the ears of General Dearborn, at Alba 
 ny, who, taking it for a real alarm, set out forthwith in 
 a sleigh and four horses, and reached Sackett s Har 
 bour in 48 hours. To convince the General that the 
 whole was a mere device to deceive the enemy was found 
 impossible. No he had received credible reports from 
 various quarters of the meditated attack. Under this 
 conviction, he ordered all our troops at Pittsburgh to 
 hasten to the succour of the threatened post. The 
 deep snows prevented their march on foot ; and, con 
 sequently, sleighs were hired or pressed to bring on 
 Chandler s and Pike s Brigades, by the St. Lawrence 
 route. Instead of an attack, the troops were now put 
 on the defensive. Thus the incipient project was 
 nipped in the bud : a sore disappointment, not only to 
 Macomb, but to the officers of his command, who were 
 panting for victory, and who, in imagination, had 
 already reaped promotion. 
 
56 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Commodore Chaunce}^ who had been absent at 
 New- York, during the early part of the winter, after 
 his ^squadron was laid up, on hearing the alarm, had 
 also repaired to the Harbour. General Dearborn, 
 always circumspect, yet firm, soon afterward held a 
 council of war, consisting of himself, Commodore 
 Chauncey, and Colonel Macomb, when it was decided, 
 that the season was too far advanced, to justify the 
 attack of Kingston on the ice ; but that preparations 
 should be made for an attack by land and sea, on either 
 Kingston or York as might be deemed most expedient, 
 for the expulsion of the British forces from Lake On 
 tario, and, subsequently, from Fort George and the 
 Niagara frontier. General Pike, who was just then 
 promoted to the rank of a Brigadier, was to conduct the 
 contemplated expedition, and Colonel Macomb to con 
 tinue in command of Sackett s Harbour. York was 
 the point selected for attack. Though bravely defended, 
 it was still more bravely captured, by many feats of 
 heroism ; yet with great loss on the American side, from 
 the explosion of a magazine. The ruins of York were 
 the mausoleum for some of our finest soldiers ; and here 
 the gallant Pike breathed out his spirit into the arms of 
 victory. 
 
 The attack on Fort George was to be the next en 
 terprise. Macomb s Regiment, both from its established 
 
MACOMB. 67 
 
 discipline and the nature of its arm, was regarded by 
 General Dearborn as the most suitable for the defence 
 of Sackett s Harbour, and was reluctant to withdraw it 
 from that important post. Yet as the officers of that 
 Regiment could ill restrain their impatience to partici 
 pate in the movements of the field and the honours of 
 conquest, and earnestly petitioned to join the enterprise, 
 the Commander in Chief yielded up, in a degree, the 
 dictates of his own judgment to the gratification of their 
 ambition, and permitted a part of the Regiment to em 
 bark with the fleet ; but, justly weighing the vast im 
 portance of the safety of that Harbour, peremptorily 
 ordered Macomb to remain with the residue of the 
 troops, for its protection ; and, especially to concert 
 and execute, in conjunction with Commodore Chauncey, 
 the necessary measures for the security of the naval 
 stores and of the shipping then building, which were 
 essential to give the American fleet the ascendancy on 
 the Lakes. 
 
 In submitting to a separation, in this instance, from 
 a part of his Regiment, Macomb acted on those pure 
 exalted principles, which lose sight of all personal con 
 siderations, in unbounded devotion to the interests of 
 the service and of the country ; like Washington, 
 whose love of glory was always subordinate to his sense 
 of duty and of patriotism. Indeed Macomb s avowed 
 
58 MEMOIR OF 
 
 maxim has always been, that the first duty of a soldier, 
 next to his obligations to his country, is obedience to 
 orders. Macomb now employed himself in strengthen 
 ing the defences, and obstructing every avenue of ap 
 proach. On his own responsibility, he stopped the 
 troops ordered for the Niagara frontier, and directed 
 them to march to the Harbour. Having executed every 
 practicable measure, for the security of the place, he put 
 Colonel Backus of the Light Dragoons in the command, 
 and gave him a letter from General Dearborn calling 
 out the Militia of the vicinity, to be presented to Gene 
 ral Brown then commanding the Militia, in case the 
 enemy should appear on the Lake in a threatening 
 attitude toward that point. He also left with Colonel 
 Backus a plan of the Harbour, with his own opinion 
 of the best mode of stationing the troops in case of at 
 tack, indicating on the map the only points assailable. 
 
 Macomb having satisfied that excellent officer Com 
 modore Chauncey, that every thing was done which 
 lay in his power, and that, if his directions were follow 
 ed, the Harbour in all human probability would be safe 
 until the fleet could return, they embarked together, 
 and joined the army and fleet at the Four Mile Creek, 
 a short distance from the mouth of the Niagara on the 
 American side. Their arrival was on the 1 1th of May, 
 when every preparation for the attack was already 
 
MACOMB. 59 
 
 made, waiting only for Commodore Chauncey. Gene 
 ral Dearborn, regretting the anticipated departure of 
 Macomb from Sackett s Harbour, had despatched a 
 fast sailing Schooner " The Lady of the Lake," to 
 meet him, and direct him to return, the General s ap 
 prehensions for the safety of that place having greatly 
 increased. The Schooner, however, missed Macomb in 
 the night ; and he reported himself the next morning 
 to the General. The commands having been all as 
 signed to the General and other principal officers 3 Ge 
 neral Dearborn formed a sort of second reserve of Ma- 
 comb s Regiment and the Marines. The force debark 
 ed in the morning of the 13th of May, and, after a brisk 
 fire with the enemy, who soon gave way, gained quiet 
 possession of the town of Niagara and Fort George. 
 The resistance to our arms was too quickly subdued, 
 and the flight too precipitate, to allow much scope 
 for the display of generalship. The enemy having been 
 completely routed in all directions, Colonel Macomb re 
 ceived orders to return with four companies of his Regi 
 ment, with all despatch, to Sackett s Harbour. Com 
 modore Chauncey received the Colonel and his troops 
 on board his fleet and returned ; but, on his way, sailed 
 over toward Kingston, to ascertain whether the enemy 
 was in port if so, to give him an opportunity of co 
 ming out for an engagement ; and if not, to meet him on 
 
60 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the Lake. He found the enemy snugly moored under 
 the batteries of Kingston, who manifested no desire to 
 change his position. Chauncey, then, steered for our 
 Harbour, on approaching which it was evident that the 
 enemy had visited it. The magazine of stores, fired 
 by our own officers to prevent its falling into the ene 
 my s hands, was still smoking. But the precautions 
 taken, and the instructions given, by Colonel Macomb, 
 prior to his departure for Fort George, had produced 
 their desired effect, and the enemy was defeated. 
 Colonel Macomb relieved General Brown, then Bri 
 gadier General of the Militia. Colonel Backus he 
 found in his quarters, who was suffering from a wound 
 in the action, and died a few days after. To this 
 affair, General Brown owed his first appointment in 
 the Army, the President conferring on him the rank 
 of Brigadier General in the regular service. This ap 
 pointment at the time excited much dissatisfaction. It 
 was considered, by some, as a flagrant violation of the 
 rights of the regular officers, and more particularly of 
 Macomb himself. A cabal was getting up, by tho?e 
 who had erroneously imbibed unfavorable impressions 
 arainst Brown, from the slanders which the opponents 
 of the Administration had heaped upon him. But 
 Macomb used every exertion to allay the ferment. He 
 always exhibited the greatest respect for General Brown. 
 
MACOMB, 
 
 61 
 
 and hoped, by the influence of his personal example, 
 to re-establish that harmony, without which the Army 
 can be neither useful to the State, nor honourable to 
 itself. He represented, and strongly impressed upon 
 the officers, the rights of the Government, and their 
 duty of obedience. General Brown s subsequent valu 
 able services, his sound common sense, his undaunted 
 firmness and energy, and the many good qualities of 
 his character, as well as his former political standing 
 and popular influence, sufficiently indicate the proprie 
 ty of his appointment. 
 
 In the summer of 1813, General Wilkinson took 
 command of the Northern Army, and arrangements 
 were made for the invasion of Canada. Macomb was 
 first assigned to the command of the Artillery, amount 
 ing to 45 pieces of all calibers and descriptions. This 
 quantity of ordnance he conceived to be unnecessarily 
 great, and too ponderous for the expedition on foot. 
 He, therefore, recommended to General Wilkinson to 
 reduce it to two 18 pounders, four 8 inch howitzers, and 
 four 6 pounders, as the country in which the Army 
 was to operate would not admit of, nor the occasion re 
 quire, a larger complement of field artillery there being 
 nothing to be besieged, except some field-works, block 
 houses, and perhaps strong stone-buildings. As this 
 opinion was in direct opposition to Wilkinson s, he pro- 
 
 6 
 
62 MEMOIR OF 
 
 posed to Macomb to take command of the Elite, com 
 posed of his own Regiment, the 20th Regiment, For- 
 eyth s Riflemen, and Major Herkimer s New- York Vo 
 lunteers, amounting in all to about 1600 men. This 
 command was, in the order of battle, called the Reserve; 
 and was to be disposed of under the special orders of 
 the Commander in Chief. The proposition was readily 
 accepted by Macomb, as he foresaw that there would be 
 little use for Artillery in the contemplated expedition. 
 The Artillery was then transferred to Brevet Brigadier 
 General Porter, who had just arrived from the Niagara 
 frontier. The batteaux being provided and distributed, 
 and every practicable preparation made for the cam 
 paign, the whole army was ordered to rendezvous at 
 Grenadier Island, near the mouth of the St. Lawrence, 
 and nearly opposite Kingston. To this place the 
 Division, which had been serving on the Niagara, re 
 paired, under Brig. Gen. Boyd. Brig. Gen. Brown, 
 also, availing himself of a good wind, arrived thither 
 from Sackett s Harbour. The Reserve and the Artil 
 lery were kept back by the want of necessary trans 
 ports. Violent storms, so peculiarly dangerous on the 
 Lakes, prevailed at this time, it being about the middle 
 of October ; but General Wilkinson, impatient of delay, 
 directed the boats to set out, and try the Lake at all 
 hazards. The boats, crammed with men, provisions, 
 
MACOMB. 63 
 
 artillery, and munitions, were difficult of management ; 
 and the wind rising into a tempest on that turbulent 
 sea, endangered the whole flotilla, rendering the navi 
 gation of it impracticable. Macomb. with his Corps, 
 succeeded in reaching Chaumont Bay, while the greater 
 part of the boats was dispersed, some luckily escaping 
 to the shore, some filled with the billows, and others 
 dashed upon the rocks. On the subsiding of the storm, 
 the boats were repaired, and pursued their destination. 
 One of the boats, with an officer and thirty men, was 
 driven into Kingston : which circumstance apprized the 
 enemy of the movement of the army, and prompted 
 him to send out his gun-brigs to watch our further 
 progress. 
 
 The force collected on Grenadier Island amounted to 
 something like 8000 men. On the 1st of November 
 the army proceeded in their beatteaux to French Creek, 
 where an order was issued, assigning the relative posi 
 tions to be observed, in sailing, by the several Corps and 
 Brigades, and by the store-vessels. The enemy ap 
 peared from behind the Islands, with two gun-brigs, 
 two schooners and ten gun-boats ; and opened a fire 
 on the camp, doing some execution, but was soon re 
 pelled with loss by our cannon. The American fleet 
 heaving in sight, the hostile flotilla effected its escape 
 among the numerous islands. The climate now wore 
 
64 MEMOIR OF 
 
 its serenest aspect. The surrounding scenery, under our 
 autumnal sky so justly praised for its unrivalled beau 
 ties, was clothed with robes of mellow richness which pre 
 sented a thousand vivid and ever varying hues, and in 
 vested the objects of the landscape, sky, water and foliage 
 and the clustered islands, in prismatic splendour. The 
 troops re-embarked in the various boats and barges, 
 each bearing a flag to designate the particular Brigade, 
 Corps, or department, to which it belonged the Gene 
 ral in Chief carrying the American ensign at his mast 
 head the others, red, blue, white, green, yellow, or 
 black badges and banners, according to order. Three 
 hundred boats of different sizes, accompanied by the 
 fleet under Chauncey, combining the pegeantry of war 
 with the safety of peace, quietly floating along, like 
 gondolas of a gala day, on the beautiful bosom of the 
 majestic St. Lawrence, afforded a spectacle entirely 
 novel, enrapturing, and grand. 
 
 The fleet returned in search of the enemy. The 
 troops were disembarked near Ogdensburgh, and placed 
 under the direction of Colonel Macomb, who was to 
 lead them through that town in the evening, so as not 
 to attract the notice of the enemy, who had a strong 
 battery at Fort Wellington, opposite Ogdensburgh. 
 The boats, also, were ordered to descend the river in the 
 night, having only a sufficient number of men to row 
 
MACOMB. 65 
 
 them, with muffled oars. As the head of the column 
 on its march rose the bank on the opposite side of the 
 Oswegatche, their bright arms, glittering in the moon 
 light, disclosed them to the enemy. The battery of 
 Fort Wellington opened on the column ; but the shower 
 of shot and shell, being too elevated, passed over harm 
 less and unheeded. The boats were less fortunate, 
 suffering some, though slight damage. Fort Welling 
 ton being passed, the Commanding General directed 
 Colonel Macomb to cross the St. Lawrence, and clear 
 the Canadian bank of batteries or troops, which might 
 obstruct the passage of the army down the river. About 
 this time, Colonel Winfield Scott, of the 2d Regiment 
 of Artillery, arrived at Macomb s position, and, stating 
 that he was without a command, asked him for a place 
 in his Corps d elite. Macomb, always the friend of the 
 chivairic Scott, offered him the command of the parti 
 cular battalion of his own Regiment, which he had re 
 served for himself. Scott, with his usual alacrity when 
 ever honour was to be courted, and whereever danger 
 awaited him, readily accepted, and joined in the expedi 
 tion. Macomb crossed with his Corps into Canada, re 
 moved the obstacles in his progress, and took possession 
 of a small work called Fort Matilda. 
 
 The whole army now followed and pursued its march 
 on the enemy s territory. The Elite was ordered to be- 
 
66 MEMOIR Of 
 
 come the advance. Brown s Brigade joining with it, 
 it, marched down to Cornwall. On the way a consi 
 derable body of militia, under a regular Colonel, at a 
 place called Hoop-pole Creek, occupied a Block House 
 on the right bank of the Creek, and a hill on the oppo 
 site side. On the approach to this place, they fired a 
 few shot, and fled. They then opened a fire from the 
 thickets ; but, as soon as our artillery began to play, 
 they fled again. The advance marched on till dark, 
 when they encamped at Barnhart s, near Cornwall. 
 The next day brought about the battle of Chrislers 
 Field. 
 
 It was a politic movement on the part of the British, 
 when they found our Army pushing its progress down 
 the St. Lawrence, in order to make a descent on Mon 
 treal, to detach parties to hang upon our rear and har- 
 rass our flanks. The delay on our part, occasioned 
 by useless halts and complicated arrangements as to 
 the order of march, enabled the British to collect their 
 troops from Kingston and other points along the river, 
 and to press upon our movements. They watched 
 their opportunity to fall upon our rear, in the hope, pro 
 bably, of causing the army to retrograde, if not to bring 
 on a general action thus to gain time to strengthen 
 the defences of Montreal, and to concentrate at that 
 post from below all their disposable troops for the pur- 
 
MACOMB. 
 
 67 
 
 j>ose of meeting our attack. With this view. Captain 
 Mulcaster of the British Navy, with nine or ten gun 
 boats, carrying heavy pieces of ordnance, had been sent 
 in pursuit ; and Colonel Morrison of their Army, with 
 the land forces at his command, was intrusted with the 
 conduct of the expedition, Our Army unfortunately 
 halted to oppose him first by small detachments 
 then by a considerable portion of the whole force un 
 til the main body became retarded, and, in some degree, 
 engaged in the conflict. The opposing parties were 
 about equal in number. The British, however, had 
 the advantage of position : and were attacked under 
 circumstances most unpropitious to us. Their line ex 
 tended from the river to the woods their right resting 
 on the St. Lawrence, covered by the gun-boats under 
 Captain Mulcaster their left extending to the woods, 
 protected by numerous bands of Savages and Militia 
 and their front fortified by a strong log fence, behind 
 which they formed for action. Our troops attacked 
 them bravely, but unskilfully. Avoiding their fortified 
 front, our whole force should have been brought to bear 
 upon their left flank, which being turned, their gun 
 boats would have been rendered inoperative we should 
 have obtained possession of the woods and they, in 
 the open field, would have been exposed to our fire, the 
 distance between the woods and river being within 
 
68 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the range of musketry. After a hard-fought action, in 
 which gallant feats were performed on either side, the 
 firing was mutually suspended. Here our impetuous 
 General Boyd, of romantic enthusiasm and patriotic 
 fire, displayed his wonted spirit of audacious ambition 
 which laughed at obstacles, and coveted perils as a 
 pastime ; and here the estimable Covington breathed 
 out his last. Colonel Macomb, being in the advance, 
 could not participate in this affair ; but succeeded to the 
 command of Covington s Brigade. The Americans 
 at night slept on the battle-ground ; and the next day 
 continued their march. The British gave up the pur 
 suit. The season being considered too far advanced 
 for the troops to remain longer in the field, they re- 
 crossed the St. Lawrence, and went into winter quarters 
 at French Mills on the Salmon River, the 13th Novem 
 ber, 1813. 
 
 Thus terminated this campaign, which, however 
 well matured, was, from defective execution, so disas 
 trous and discreditable in its results. It is not the part 
 of this memoir to discuss its merits ; but it is an act of 
 justice to history and to Wilkinson to state, that a mis 
 understanding existed between him and General Hamp 
 ton the former charging the latter with disobedience 
 of orders and consequent responsibility for the failure of 
 the enterprise. 
 
MACOMB, 69 
 
 In the preceding September, General John Arm 
 strong, the Secretary of War, had come on to Sackett s 
 Harbour, personally to inspect, personally to direct, the 
 department of war in that sphere of its then most vital 
 operations. He conceived and delineated the campaign 
 of 1813, which, if executed with the ability with which 
 it was planned, would probably have placed its origi 
 nator in the executive chair of these States. In the 
 general conduct of the department and, especially, of 
 the Army, he created a new spirit. He increased the 
 efficiency of the latter, by throwing aside its cumber 
 some lumber of ignorance, stupidity, and dissipation. 
 Though himself of undaunted valour, and capable of 
 skilful and profound combinations, yet he had to depend 
 on imperfect instrumentality ; and, from want of expe 
 rieuce, was greater in the theory than in the practice of 
 war. His pen, perhaps, is his forte. This alone is 
 terrible, " as an army with banners." The pen is the 
 author s sword and his is a Damascus blade, of finest 
 temper, with ground edge, and polished point. His is 
 not the Ciceronian flow, but the Demosthenian force 
 not the effulgence of Burke nor the majesty of Johnson, 
 but the raciness and poignancy of Junius and Juvenal. 
 
 The ensuing December, General Wilkinson des 
 patched Colonel Macomb from Milone with a flag of 
 truce to the Head Quarters of Sir George Provost, bear- 
 
70 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ing a communication relative to hostages. He was not 
 permitted to proceed further than Chateaugay, where 
 he was conducted to the Quarters of General De Wal- 
 tenville ; and, after the despatch was read by Sir George, 
 he was reconducted out of the country by the way of 
 St. John s and St. Armand s, and thence was obliged 
 to go by Burlington before he could return to Melone. 
 This route was prescribed, no doubt, with a view to 
 prevent Macomb from acquiring any intelligence of the 
 country, and to gain time, that winter might set in, be 
 fore Wilkinson could have another chance to operate 
 against Sir George. 
 
 Macomb resumed the command of the Artillery, and 
 continued in it until the 24th of January, 1814, when 
 he w^is promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, and 
 assigned to the Brigade of the late Covington, com 
 posed of the 9th Regiment under Aspinwall, of the 16th 
 under Pierce, and the 25th under Gaines. The cam 
 paign having closed in a manner so unsatisfactory to the 
 Government and Nation, orders were given by the War 
 Department to break up the quarters at French Mills, 
 and for the Army to retire to Sackett s Harbour, Platts- 
 burgh, and Burlington, where barracks had been pro 
 vided. Wilkinson removed his head quarters to Platts- 
 burgh. Brigadier General Macomb conducted the 
 troops destined to that place, and Major General Brown 
 
MACOMB. 7 i 
 
 the other division to Sackett s Harbour. Macomb was 
 then appointed to the command of the troops on the East 
 side of Lake Champlain, and took up his quarters at 
 Burlington. To guard against the smuggling carried 
 on along the lines, Macomb was ordered to detach 
 Colonel Isaac Clarke with his Regiment : He was 
 afterward instructed to proceed with his command and 
 take possession of the town of St. Armand. As there 
 was no force in that quarter, except the local militia, 
 the place made no resistance. Macomb now received 
 orders to join Wilkinson at Champlain, a village on the 
 frontiers of New- York. He forthwith marched his 
 Brigade, with four pieces of Artillery, to that place. 
 The season being far advanced, "Wilkinson designed, 
 as soon as he had collected the troops from Plattsburgh, 
 to attack La Cole Mills, a fortified position on the St. 
 John s, and also carry the outposts in its vicinity, in 
 order to bring on a general action. Having received an 
 intimation that he would be relieved in the command 
 of the Northern Army the ensuing spring, Wilkinson 
 was desirous, by the present enterprise, to retrieve his 
 military reputation, to cover the disappointment of the 
 campaign on the St. Lawrence, and secure the popular 
 favour against the manifest displeasure of the War 
 Department. The time, unfortunately selected, was 
 too late in the winter, and too early in the spring. 
 
72 
 
 MEMOIR OP 
 
 Macomb objected to the plan of engaging the whole 
 force, amounting to about 4000 effective soldiers, in 
 such an affair the opposing garrison consisting pro 
 bably of not more than 200 or 300 men at most ; but 
 he recommended that one Brigade should make the 
 attack on the Fort, or, with hot shot, set fire to the 
 roof and burn out the garrison. The rest of the force 
 might move forward to render any assistance, should it 
 be found necessary ; but it was evident, from the depth 
 of the snow, the condition of the roads, and the im 
 penetrable character of the surrounding woods, that a 
 large force could not operate so promptly, nor be so 
 well directed, as a smaller body of men. It was, how 
 ever, an object on which General Wilkinson s mind 
 was bent. A council of war was called ; and, after 
 much consultation, they reluctantly yielded to his de 
 sires. The attack was made on the 30th of March, 
 1814. The event verified Macomb s prediction, being 
 completely abortive. In this affair, Macomb commanded 
 the Reserve. The conduct of our troops was highly 
 evincive of their discipline and firmness ; and the Bri 
 tish Commander also signalized himself by a gallant 
 defence of his position. 
 
 Our troops returned to their old quarters at Platts- 
 burgh and Burlington, leaving a piquet at Champlain. 
 Wilkinson, as had been expected, was recalled, and 
 
MACOMB. 73 
 
 Macomb was ordered to assume the command, until 
 the arrival of Major General Izard, who had been 
 nominated as the successor of Wilkinson. Brigadier 
 General Macomb established his head quarters at 
 Plattsburgh, and assiduously employed himself in put 
 ting the troops in order for the next campaign. On his 
 relieving General Wilkinson, he ordered an officer of 
 the Engineers to proceed to Otter Creek, with instruc 
 tions to erect a battery for the protection of the avenue 
 leading to the dockyards, where M Donough was pre 
 paring his fleet. General Izard, by and by, arrived 
 and took the command, when Macomb removed his 
 quarters to his old position in Burlington. While in 
 the chief command of the Army on this station, Ma 
 comb afforded Commodore M Donough every assistance 
 in his power, ordered a Regiment to guard his sloops at 
 Virgennes, and furnished him men enough to supply 
 the deficiencies in his crews, who were to act either as 
 sailors or as marines. 
 
 The British flotilla at the Isle aux Noix, on the 9th 
 of May, entered Lake Cham plain, with a large detach 
 ment of marines, for the purpose of capturing or de 
 stroying the vessels recently launched at Vergennes, or 
 of intercepting the stores and supplies intended for their 
 equipment and armament; the British Commander 
 knowing that M Donough was then in no condition to 
 
 7 
 
74 MEMOIR OF 
 
 oppose him. The enemy appeared off Plattsburgb, 
 fired on the piquet at Appletree Point, and then steered 
 up the lake. On seeing the course which the flotilla 
 had taken. General Macomb ordered the Light Artille 
 ry under Captain Thornton, with the necessary trans 
 portation, to proceed to Otter Creek, in order to man 
 the batteries which he had previously caused to be con 
 structed for the defence of our naval depot. Captain 
 Thornton was quickly supplied with transports, by that 
 active Quarter Master Major Staunton, and readied his 
 destination at one o clock the next morning. He had 
 just time to make his arrangements for the reception of 
 the British flotilla, which, at dawn of day, commenced the 
 attack in expectation of but a slender resistance. The 
 flotilla, consisting of one brig of IS guns and 13 galleys 
 carrying 16 heavy guns, found themselves, however, 
 so severely handled, that they judged it expedient to 
 abandon the enterprise, and return to the Isle aux Noix. 
 Thus, by his coup d ccil, vigilance, and foresight, Ma- 
 comb anticipated the designs of the enemy, and effec 
 tually frustrated a well-concerted plan to destroy our 
 incipient Navy on Lake Champlain by this single 
 act making himself auxiliary to the future triumph of 
 the Navy on our Lakes, and entitling himself to the 
 nation s lasting gratitude. 
 
 The Governor General of Canada having early in 
 
MACOMB. 75 
 
 the summer of 1814 reinforced his frontier on the Nia 
 gara with a considerable body of fresh troops, the posi 
 tion of General Brown became exceedingly critical. 
 General Izard, who had now collected a handsome 
 force on the Champlain frontier, could not brook the 
 idea of inactivity. He pointed out to the War Depart 
 ment the advantage which would result from, and so 
 licited the privilege of, marching his best troops to the 
 relief of General Brown ; leaving the residue for the 
 protection of Plattsburgh. The orders granted on the 
 application of General Izard, he did not receive until 
 late in August. Meanwhile, the Champlain frontier 
 had assumed an entirely new aspect. The highly dis 
 ciplined and veteran troops of Wellington from France 
 and the Peninsula were pouring into Canada, and con 
 centrating under Sir George Provost between La Prairie 
 and Chambly Lieut. Gen. Baron deRottenberg having 
 the immediate command there. Indeed a heavy detach 
 ment under Major Gen. Sir Thomas Brisbane had alrea 
 dy advanced nearly as far as Odletown, within 8 or 10 
 miles of Tzard s Head Quarters. Izard s command 
 at this time, consisted of Macomb s, Smith s, and Bis- 
 sel s Brigades, amounting in all to about 5000 effective 
 soldiers. Notwithstanding this change in the relative 
 position of the frontiers, Izard felt himself invested 
 with no discretionary authority to rescind or modify 
 
76 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the orders under which he was called to act. On 
 the 27th of August, therefore, he marched for Niagara, 
 leaving Macomb in command of about 2500 men, the 
 remnants of a variety of regiments scattered in different 
 directions, of which only about eighteen hundred were 
 fit for duty. Although it was currently believed that 
 the force collected by Sir George between La Prairie 
 and Chambly was large, yet none, at first, formed an 
 adequate conception of its extent. It was afterward 
 ascertained that the troops which arrived from the Ga 
 ronne amounted to 16,000 picked soldiers, commanded 
 by some of the most approved Generals, in the British 
 service. Of this number, 2000 were detached for the 
 Niagara under General Kempt, and were replaced by 
 the Voltigeurs and other Canadian Corps. 
 
 Learning that Izard had marched with so large a 
 portion of his troops to reinforce the army at Fort Erie, 
 Sir George, in order to check that movement, put his 
 own army in motion, and crossed the lines at Odletown 
 on the 1st of September. Here Macomb, left as it were 
 alone, with only a handful of men, was put to the ut 
 most stretch of his ability how to meet the occasion. 
 It was one of those turning points in the character and 
 fortune of individual history, when the weak sink, bu 
 ried beneath the pressing magnitude of the emergency ; 
 but where the great more greatly rise, repercussive vi- 
 
MACOMB. 77 
 
 gour, educing resources from barren fortune, and vindi 
 cating the supremacy of genius by the title of nature s 
 law. With such feeble means against overwhelming 
 power ; with, in a great degree, the destiny of his coun 
 try in his hand ; he stood, like Leonidas at the Defile, in. 
 a crisis of the most fearful responsibilities, from which 
 ordinary men would instinctively have shrunk, but 
 which the glorious covet. How he acquitted himself 
 of this momentous trust, the event has demonstrated to 
 the admiration of his own country, of the world, and of 
 posterity. 
 
 The troops actually on the Champlain frontier, on 
 the 1st of September, consisted only of one hundred and 
 ten Riflemen. The 6th and 29th Regiments^ amount 
 ing to about 750 men, Macomb had previously ordered 
 to Plattsburgh, whither he determined to converge his 
 whole command, as the point, in his judgment, best 
 adapted for the repulsion of the enemy, for the defence 
 of the large military stores on that station, and the in 
 cidental protection of our fleet. There had been com 
 menced, under the direction of that laborious and scien 
 tific officer Major Totten of the Engineers, three Re 
 doubts 011 the South side of the Saranac, a small river 
 that runs through the town and discharges itself into 
 Lake Champlain. In its winding course through the 
 town, it forms a peninsula of the tongue of land which 
 
78 MEMOIR OF 
 
 lies between it and the Lake, the gorge or neck of the 
 peninsula being about 400 yards across. It was on 
 the gorge that the fortifications were being erected, con 
 sisting of three detached works so disposed as to flank 
 and defend each other on any assailable side. Two of 
 the works, one resting on the Saranac, the other on 
 the Lake, were deemed inaccessible on their water 
 fronts, from the height and precipitancy of the banks. 
 On all other sides these works were surrounded by wide 
 and deep ditches, defended by caponnieres ; and the 
 glacis were covered with multiplied rows of abatis con 
 structed of trees well secured in the ground, the branch 
 es sharpened so as to stand out like so many bayonets. 
 There were, besides, two block- houses mounted with 
 cannon, and advantageously posted to guard the river 
 and the ravines on the north side leading to the redoubts. 
 The troops, with all despatch, were organized both for 
 the completion and defence of the several works. 
 Working parties were detailed, with orders to execute 
 the instructions of the Engineers. The principal fort 
 had been called by General Izard, Fort Moreau ; and 
 Macomb, in compliment to our gallant countrymen 
 Brown and Scott, both of whom had just distinguished 
 themselves on the Niagara, named that on the Saranac 
 Fort Brown, and that on the Lake Fort Scott. He 
 afterward erected another redoubt, more in advance, on 
 
MACOMB. 79 
 
 the south side, and gave it the name of Fort Gaines^ 
 after another of our distinguished Generals. Having 
 assigned the artillery to the batteries in the several re 
 doubts, he formed, out of the residue of his force, four 
 small corps of observation, placing 250 men under 
 Major Wool of the 29th, 200 under Major Sproul of 
 the 13th, 100 armed with rifles under Captain Grosve- 
 nor of the 26th, and 110 riflemen under Lieut. Col. 
 Appling. Appling s command was posted on the Great 
 Chazy to watch the movements of the enemy, and give 
 information. Beside these, there were a number of 
 young men of Plattsburgh who organized themselves 
 into a little company of about 30, under Aikin and 
 Plagg, the latter of whom is now Secretary of State 
 for the State of New- York, and is worthy of his pro 
 motion ; and also a detachment of 12 dragoons, who 
 occasionally served as videts, and escorted the General in 
 his recognoisances. The light troops were now sent 
 out on the various avenues of approach, to watch the 
 motions of the enemy, to dispute the passes, obstruct 
 the roads, destroy the bridges, and abatis the woods by 
 felling the trees. 
 
 The next measure was an appeal to the Militia. 
 Not being officially authorized to call for drafts, Macomb 
 addressed himself, by public appeals, to the patriotism 
 and valour of the citizens of New- York and Vermont, 
 
80 
 
 MEMOIR OP 
 
 particularly of the Governors of those States, and the 
 Generals of Militia in his immediate neighbourhood. 
 His call was promptly responded to. General Moores, 
 commanding the Militia in the northern part of the 
 State of New- York, displayed much zeal on the occa 
 sion. Experienced as a regular officer of the Revolution, 
 and popular from his personal merits, his counsel and 
 influence were highly appreciated hy Macomb. He 
 now held a consultation with the Commander of our 
 Squadron on the Lake, and concerted with him, in 
 perfect unison of feeling and action, a plan of mutual 
 co-operation, as far as was practicable. A reciprocal 
 esteem and confidence, instead of an envious rivakhip 
 and professional jealousy, between our land and naval 
 Commanders, in this national exigency, fortunately for 
 the honour of our arms, fortunately for the safety of our 
 country, uniformly prevailed. Out of his very limited 
 force, though to his own most imminent hazard, Ma- 
 comb supplied M Donough with 310 men, without 
 which it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for 
 M Donough to manoeuvre his Squadron, or keep the 
 Lake. With Macomb the paramount motive is always 
 his public duty. On all his actions he legibly inscribes 
 his motto, " My Country." In his eye, the success, 
 alike of the army or the fleet, was the triumph of a 
 common cause. How few Commanders, in similar 
 
MACOMB. 81 
 
 circumstances, could have exhibited the same signal 
 example of disinterestedness the same spirit of heroic 
 self-sacrifice of a patriotism superior even to the love of 
 glory preferring the consciousness of the highest virtue 
 before the statue and the column which embody the 
 conqueror s fame ! 
 
 While the British lay at Odletown, trusting in the 
 superiority of their numbers, they permitted their camp 
 to be open to any American citizen who chose to enter 
 it ; yet it was difficult to ascertain their real strength. 
 By some it was estimated at 10,000; by others at 
 20.000 ; and by others again as high as 25,000. By 
 actual returns, which afterward fell into the hands of 
 the American Commander, it is known that the force, 
 with which they marched upon Plattsburgh, amounted 
 to 14,000 effective regular soldiers, besides 2000 who 
 were left as a reserve, to keep up the communication 
 with Canada, and to prevent any American force from 
 crossing over from Vermont to assail them in their rear. 
 Such was their confidence of victory, that a body of 
 merchants accompanied the expedition, with a view of 
 disposing of their goods in the conquered parts of the 
 United States. The news of the capture of our na 
 tional Capital, about this time, was received at Platts 
 burgh. Macomb knowing that it would soon reach the 
 British Camp, seized the opportunity of sending to 
 
82 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Major General Sir Thomas Brisbane, commanding the 
 British advance, an intelligent officer, bearing a flag, 
 with his compliments and the newspapers of the day, 
 together with an extra containing an account of the 
 capture. By this means he expected not only to learn, 
 with more accuracy, the position and strength of the 
 enemy ; but also to convince them, that he viewed the 
 affair of Washington, as a mere ordinary occurrence of 
 war, and not as a disheartening augury of further defeat. 
 Frequent importunities from highly respectable sources 
 were addressed to Macomb, urging him to retire, and 
 thereby save his small band, the town of Plattsburgh, 
 and the public stores which could be easily and safely 
 sent up the Lake. They represented that the country 
 in his rear was open, and that, in such circumstances, 
 before such fearful odds, not only would a retreat be not 
 dishonourable ; but to remain would be a wanton sacri 
 fice of lives and property. These importunities he had 
 to silence, while the real difficulties of the occasion 
 were sufficiently girding. Suppose he had yielded to 
 those repeated and powerful solicitations, as, in a military 
 point of view, he would have been justified, and was, 
 perhaps, even required to do ! Suppose, in consequence, 
 Sir George had triumphantly entered our country ! 
 Suppose the news of his progress had annulled the 
 negociations at Ghent, and continued the country in 
 
MACOMB. 83 
 
 war, with an exhausted treasury^ a prostrate credit^ 
 and disaffection in a great mass of the people, I 
 What the consequences ? What the services of him 
 who averted them ? But, away, away, with supposi 
 tions of disaster ! The decision, which Macomb un 
 hesitatingly took, and unflinchingly maintained, in 
 that appalling situation, even his enemies, if he have 
 any, must acknowledge, as an illustration, than which 
 all history presents not a brighter, of the highest subli 
 mity of moral courage. 
 
 On the 3d of September, the whole British army 
 entered the town of Champlain. The small detach 
 ment of riflemen under Lieut. Col. Appling still re 
 mained on the Great Chazy, watching the movements 
 of Sir George. It now became necessary to advance 
 the militia and light corps on the road which he was 
 taking. They were directed to avail themselves of the 
 obstacles which had been by previous instructions, or 
 might be, by their own exertions, thrown in the ene 
 my s way the broken bridges, fallen trees, and passes 
 of chevaux de frise and abatis and to dispute the 
 ground inch by inch : for every hour s delay was now 
 of consequence, as every hour gave additional strength 
 to the yet rising parapets and unfinished battlements. 
 Whether or not these precautionary obstructions had 
 their desired effect of impeding the progress of Sk 
 
84 MEMOIR OP 
 
 George, or to whatever cause it may be ascribed, bis 
 delay was alike disastrous to the British arms, and glo 
 rious in its effects to the American cause. 
 
 On the 4th, the Governor General moved forward 
 upon Plattsburgh. Appling with his riflemen fell back 
 slowly, pulling down the bridges on his retreat, and ob 
 structing the pursuit by throwing into the road large 
 trees with their branches pointing to the enemy. Sir 
 George halted at the village of Little Chazy, and con 
 tinued there the whole of the 5th. It was ascertained, 
 that, the next day at dawn, he would advance in two 
 columns on the two roads, dividing at Sampson s a 
 little above Chazy. The militia of New- York, amount 
 ing to about 700 men under General Wright, and a 
 detachment of regulars of 280 men under Major Wool, 
 the present Inspector General, supported by two pieces 
 of Light Artillery, were pushed forward to check the 
 right column, consisting of the Divisions of Major Ge 
 nerals Power and Robinson, which was to take the 
 Beekmantown road ; and were instructed, like Appling, 
 to interpose every impediment in their power. Appling 
 was directed to retire on the Lake road, as better suited 
 to his arm, being more difficult than the other, on account 
 of the lowness of the grounds and the thickness of the 
 woods : besides, on this road a detachment of 200 men 
 under Major Sproul of the 13th, supported also by two 
 
MACOMB. 85 
 
 neld pieces, had been previously stationed at the bridge 
 of Dead Creek, which force was to co-operate with 
 Appling s riflemen in defending that pass. The posi 
 tion at this Creek was, from its natural advantages, 
 strongly defensible. Aware of the fact, Major General 
 Sir Thomas Brisbane, to avoid the pass, cut a road 
 round it through the woods on the west, but the column 
 on the Beekmantown road having advanced so much 
 more rapidly than the other, it was found necessary to 
 withdraw the force at the Creek, in order to secure its 
 retreat. It so happened, however, that just as this 
 party had retired about half a mile, the advance of the 
 left column of the enemy under Colonel Sir William 
 Williams had penetrated through the woods, and meet 
 ing Appling, the latter gave them a sharp fire from his 
 riflemen, and retired agreeably to his instructions. The 
 detachments sent out to oppose the right column were 
 also obliged to retire, but not without having made a 
 good impression. The militia, unaccustomed to regular 
 discipline and service, hurried their march ; but the 
 regulars under Wool fell back in good order, keeping 
 up a fire from every favourable position, until they met 
 with Appling and Sproul, when the whole retired, by 
 alternate detachments, until they were forced across, 
 the bridge of the Saranac. 
 
 Early in the morning of that day, Macomb advanced 
 8 
 
86 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 with his Staff, on the Beekmantown road, to direct ope 
 rations on that route, and afterwards took his post at 
 the junction of the roads leading into Plattsburgh, in 
 order the better to conduct the movements of his re 
 tiring corps. The gun-boats on the Lake were sta 
 tioned at the flats, so as to take the enemy in flank, as 
 he moved along the Lake shore with his left column ; 
 but the wind rising, and the enemy s pieces being soon 
 brought to bear on them, they were constrained to re 
 sume their place in line of battle with the squadron ; 
 not, however, without effecting considerable annoyance. 
 The American troops having now retired behind the 
 Saranac, the planks of the bridges were taken up, and 
 so disposed as to shelter the detachments posted behind 
 them. The enemy entered the town but, finding 
 themselves too much exposed to the field pieces and 
 heavy batteries, withdrew out of reach of our guns, 
 leaving some light troops to skirmish at the head of 
 the bridges and fords, while their Engineer and Staff 
 officers mounted the roofs and balconies of the town, 
 to reconnoitre our position. Being there discovered by 
 our telescopes, hot shot was poured, like burning lava, 
 upon the buildings, and soon dispossessed these gentle 
 men of their new observatories. It was an object of 
 importance to keep them at the greatest possible dis 
 tance ; and our troops, being fairly driven into close 
 
MACOMB. S7 
 
 quarters, were driven likewise to the necessity of re 
 doubling their efforts to strengthen the works, which 
 were destined to be the last resort. Every exertion of 
 the mind and body was put forth to amuse and de 
 ceive the enemy. The whole of our troops were pa 
 raded at each guard-mounting, to produce an impres 
 sion that the strength of the garrison was much greater 
 than it really was. Every night some portion of the 
 barracks, which had been constructed for Izard s army, 
 was burnt, to enable any approach of the enemy s 
 troops to be discovered on the glacis, should they, by 
 passing through the woods at night, escape the vigi 
 lance of our piquets and other guards. By the same 
 means, an opportunity was afforded of marching our 
 troops through the light, giving an appearance as if re 
 inforcements were being received from the opposite side 
 of the Lake. The weather for the most part was rainy. 
 One third of our troops, notwithstanding, lined the pa 
 rapets at night, while the rest lay on their arms with 
 out covering. The enemy s camp described a segment 
 of a circle, with a radius of about two miles from our 
 forts ; their right resting on the Saranac ; and their left 
 on the Lake, covered by a battery to keep off our gun 
 boats. From the 6th to the night of the 10th, the 
 enemy were industriously engaged in planting their 
 open and masked batteries, in preparing scaling ladders, 
 
MEMOIR OF 
 
 in reconnoisances, and in sallies. In one of their abor 
 tive attempts to pass the upper fords above the town, 
 when about half of a formidable detachment had cross 
 ed over, and were forming again in line and column, 
 with horse and foot, our light corps, regular and irregu 
 lar, dispersed among the fronting woods ; and, concealed 
 behind the trees, set up a simultaneous shout and thun 
 dering huzzas, so that the enemy thought himself, as 
 the event proved he was, caught in a ruse de guerre 
 became panic-stricken broke into confusion and re- 
 crossed the ford in the utmost precipitancy making 
 fine game for the huntsmen in his rear. He was now 
 said to be waiting only the arrival of his fleet, which 
 was expected about the 10th or llth. 
 
 Prom the position which the enemy had taken, and 
 from his line of contravallation, there presented them 
 selves to Macomb s view several enterprises which, in 
 his opinion, might be undertaken without imminent 
 danger, and yet with eminent advantage. Among 
 these was an attack which he had projected upon the 
 enemy s Head Quarters, which were in the centre of 
 their line proposing to take, in the way, a battery then 
 nearly completed, within 400 yards of Fort Brown, and 
 in a direct line to Sir George. For this purpose he had 
 prepared a brigade of rocketeers, with Gongreve rock 
 ets, which the enemy believed to be in his own exclu 
 
MACOMB. 89 
 
 sive possession and two hundred light troops under 
 Major Sproul to sally, in the dead of night, in a direct 
 line to the point of attack force the guards, in their 
 W ay bring on an action by pouring a fire of small 
 arms upon the centre and then discharge the rocket 
 battery in their retreat. By this manoeuvre, it was ex 
 pected that the enemy would get under arms his se 
 veral corps march to the relief of the centre and, in 
 the darkness, surprise, and confusion of the moment, 
 bring on a general conflict till morning. In the mean 
 time the American party would have retreated on our 
 works, under the disguise of the Congreve rockets, and 
 by the signal-lights previously arranged for their gui 
 dance. This plan Macomb conceived to be the more 
 practicable, as the soldiers of the different British regi 
 ments were strangers to each other, some of them not 
 even speaking the English language. But, on con 
 sulting with the principal officer of Engineers, who 
 thought that the strength of the American force would 
 not justify the risk of losing so many men, as would 
 compose the attacking party, Macomb relinquished the 
 design. In consequence, only fifty men were detailed 
 under Captain M Glassin, who, in the sortie, gallantly 
 carried the battery near Fort Brown, spiked the guns, 
 and demolished the works. 
 
 While the enemy were sitting down before the Ame- 
 8* 
 
90 MEMOIR OF 
 
 rican works, these were put in as good a state of de 
 fence as time permitted, and indefatigable labour could 
 effect. The batteries of the three principal forts, and of 
 the redoubts, were served with signal vigour, science, 
 and effect. That our artillery, in its several stations, 
 did skilful and powerful execution, was testified by the 
 General, in his orders of the day, and by the subse 
 quent acknowledgment of the enemy. 
 
 Under the impression, that the enemy could not carry 
 the works by assault, nor yet reduce them by siege un 
 der 10 or 12 days, and then only provided the attack 
 were made on the South front, where they would have 
 ground to move on, and to open trenches in a regular 
 manner, Macomb felt an entire confidence that, before 
 so many days could elapse, if the occasion should require, 
 the country every where would rush to the rescue of 
 his little band of American Spartans, at the straits 
 of this modern Thermopolse : at all events, honour and 
 patriotism spoke but one voice, and he obeyed it. 
 
 The volunteer Green Mountain Boys, and the Mili 
 tia of New- York, continued to pour in. It was a great 
 point of policy to employ, to the greatest advantage, 
 these patriotic but inexperienced troops. The General 
 took them to the magazines where he personally de 
 livered them arms and ammunition. He addressed 
 them, thanking them for the spirit they had manifested 
 
MAC OMB. 
 
 91 
 
 by coming to his relief, when opposed by such power 
 ful hosts. He advised them not to think of forming 
 into large parties ; but to choose their leaders and act 
 in small; separate bands ; to fall on the enemy at any 
 point, and attack his piquets and out-posts, night and 
 day, giving him no rest ; to harass him in his rear 
 and Hanks, pick up stragglers, and get every informa 
 tion of his designs ; never to oppose a regular attack, 
 but to retire as the enemy advanced, and advance as 
 he retired. He then informed them that provisions and 
 ammunition would be deposited for them at certain 
 points, to which they could resort when in want of a 
 supply. He particularly requested them to keep away 
 from the forts, but yet to close on the enemy, should 
 he advance to the attack of the works ; and to lie along 
 the. river and in the woods to prevent his crossing at 
 the upper fords. Among these volunteers was Gene 
 ral Strong, who held influence with his patriotic coun 
 trymen, and proved himself worthy of their reliance. 
 On his introduction, Macomb gave him a short, but 
 kind salutation, and, plucking an Evergreen that stood 
 by, presented it to Strong, begging him to assume it, 
 for himself and corps, as an emblem of their Green 
 Mountains, and perennial valour. The directions 
 given to the Volunteers and Militia, fortunately, were 
 respectfully received, and faithfully complied with, 
 
92 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Every day the light parties of Regulars, and Militia, 
 and Volunteers, were more or less engaged in skirmish 
 es ; while the artillery was constantly and successfully 
 playing upon the new works being erected by the ene 
 my, until the llth. The day before, Macomb had been 
 informed by his spies that the British Commander had 
 determined on a general attack that the storming 
 parties were detailed, and 1200 ladders provided. From 
 his situation and the nature of the troops which came 
 to his assistance, Macomb was aware that he was sur 
 rounded by spies in the British interest, who took the 
 garb of militiamen ; and from the manner in which he 
 was watched, and his conversation listened to, by cer 
 tain suspicious fellows, he availed himself of their in 
 strumentality to deceive their masters, by letting them 
 understand, as if he thought them militiamen and 
 wished to encourage them, that General Izard s army 
 was at hand, waiting only the crossing of the British 
 army to move up and attack it, and that there were 
 now more than 10,000 militia in the woods, and that 
 double the number would join them by the next day. 
 These fellows, at night, were seen to pass over the Sa- 
 ranac into the enemy s camp, carrying, no doubt, the 
 inspiring intelligence, with which Macomb had filled 
 them. 
 
 From the number of batteaux, which were in the 
 
MACOMB. 93 
 
 Uuarter Masters Department at Pittsburgh, Macomb 
 conceived the idea, in the event of the capture of our 
 fleet, not only of retaking it, but also of capturing that 
 of the enemy. He reasoned that, if the Americans 
 practiced their usual precision of fire, however the de 
 cision of the battle might turn, the hostile squadron, 
 would be greatly crippled, and, after the action, w r ould 
 be in such a state of confusion, fatigue, intoxication, 
 negligence, and general disability, as to become an easy 
 conquest. He, therefore, ordered the batteaux to be 
 arranged under the banks of the Lake and prepared, 
 in such a contingency, to receive 6 or 800 men, with 
 which the General would embark and board the fleets. 
 The actual situation of the squadron, at the close of the 
 engagement, confirmed the feasibility of the project. 
 An enterprise, like this, was worthy of the fearless soul 
 of Macomb to conceive, and of his unconquered arm to 
 execute. 
 
 As another instance of the interest he took in our 
 naval honour on the Lakes, scarcely second to that 
 which he took in his own command, Macomb planted 
 on Crab Island a battery of two twelve pounders, served 
 by the invalids of the Hospital, under Surgeon Mann, 
 to protect the left flank of our Squadron. In the attack, 
 the British galleys, destined to turn that flank, were 
 beaten off; and a sloop of war, of ten guns, leading 
 
94 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 them, was driven on the rocks, and compelled to sur 
 render. 
 
 Knowing that the meditated attack would certainly 
 be made, if made at all, on the south front of the forti 
 fications, Macomb at night, after the departure of the 
 spies, caused all the roads leading to the works to be 
 planted with evergreens, such as pines which prevailed 
 there ; and directed the fallen leaves to be strewed over 
 the naked ground so as to disguise any appearance of 
 a road. He at the same time caused other roads to be 
 opened, all leading into an old road that ran to Salmon 
 River. On this road, a field piece was stationed under 
 Lieutenant Sumter, a gallant officer of the Light Artil 
 lery, with directions to await the coming of the enemy. 
 The volunteers and militia were advised to keep on the 
 west side of the road, if the enemy should drive, them 
 from the banks of the river, and to maintain a constant 
 fire, whether the enemy was near or not, their main 
 object being to lead him astray, confuse, and embarrass 
 him. 
 
 On the llth, at break of day, a general movement 
 was discovered in the enemy s camp, all the different 
 corps being under arms. Soon afterward the British 
 fleet hove in sight off Cumberland Head, fired a salute 
 in passing, and at 8 o clock, displayed the royal flag in 
 Pittsburgh bay. The batteries on land and lake 
 
MACOMB 95 
 
 opened at the same instant ; and a general cannonade 
 and bombardment were kept up, in the dread conflict 
 of army with army, and fleet with fleet : twas a mag 
 nificent spectacle, a splendid drama, especially as the 
 scene of action was laid in the interior, mid our inland 
 oceans. The sky was filled with bombs and shells, 
 rockets and balls, the lightning and thunder of human 
 power it seemed as if the elements of nature were 
 convulsed. The British troops moved forward toward the 
 American works, and made a demonstration before the 
 bridges, with a view to amuse, while the assaulting 
 columns should pass in what the enemy considered our 
 rear, but which was actually our front, as tbe river 
 protected us on the north side, which had thus far been 
 the point exposed to their attacks. As was anticipated, 
 the plan of the false roads completely deceived the 
 assailing parties, and they marched five miles out of 
 their way, until they met the field piece under Lieut. 
 Sumter, who gave them an unexpected fire. Through 
 their march, they were also handled very roughly by 
 the volunteers and militia ; and, being fatigued after 
 marching so far with their ciumsey scaling-ladders 
 made out of horse-racks picked up in their neighbour 
 hood, and involved in the mazes of the woods which 
 seemed interminable and inextricable, and which now 
 thronged with sharp shooters, they threw down their 
 
96 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ladders, and precipitately retreated, leaving a handsome 
 company of the British 76th, which formed the advance 
 guard, to be cut up and captured, not an officer or man 
 escaping. Mean while, the action on the Lake had 
 been decided, it lasting only two hours ; and the firing 
 between the armies closed at sunset. 
 
 All was now calm and quiet the sky was serene 
 and the intermingled cry of the sentinels of the hostile 
 armies, on the ramparts and along the line, alone broke 
 the portentous silence. It was just at the moment 
 when the attack was expected every man at his post 
 anxiously awaiting the foe when the rumbling of 
 carriage- wheels upon the hard-beaten roads indicated a 
 movement in the hostile camp. 
 
 At this juncture, some deserters were brought in, 
 who declared that the Army of Sir George Provost was 
 on the Retreat. It was impossible to believe such a 
 statement impossible to believe that he would retreat 
 at all but that he would retreat in the night, before a 
 handful of men, and without making a full trial of his 
 strength, was most of all incredible. The next morn 
 ing, however, brought confirmation of the fact. In 
 credulity yielded only to the evidence of the senses. 
 Scattered equipage, broken carriages, abandoned bag 
 gage-wagons, deserted magazines, and straggling plun 
 derers, alone, marked the field, where so lately waved, 
 
MACOMB. 
 
 97 
 
 in proud defiance, the ensigns of a thousand victories, the 
 time-honoured banner of the House of Brunswick ! The 
 wounded were left in hospital, in charge of a surgeon 
 having a note from Sir George recommending them to 
 the humanity of the conqueror. The light troops were 
 sent in pursuit. Deserters came in by platoons ; and 
 prisoners were made in all directions. But a violent 
 storm now setting in induced the General to recall his 
 troops. Thus ended the siege and attack of Platts- 
 burgh, during which the loss of the Americans in kill 
 ed and wounded was too inconsiderable to be mention 
 ed. The Governor General of the Canadas, with 
 16,000 veteran Invincibles of Wellington with sol 
 diers who had conquered the conqueror of Europe, and 
 won, in many an ensanguined field, the trophies of im 
 perishable fame now abandoned the attempted con 
 quest and division of these] United States, by a sys 
 tematic co-operation of land and naval forces concerted 
 in the cabinet councils of his Britannic Majesty ; and 
 retired into Canada, before 1500 regular Yankee troops 
 and their voluntary comrades of the Militia ! 
 
 As matter of instruction, and also of curiosity, it may 
 be worth while to inquire into the cause of the phenome 
 non of this retreat. It could not be in our vast infe 
 riority of discipline and numbers. It could not be in 
 the mighty phalanx of the British forces. It could 
 
 9 
 
98 MEMOIR OF 
 
 not be in the capture of the fleet : for that should have 
 but provoked them to avenge the injury, and merge 
 the disgrace in the blaze of their own glory. What 
 then was it ? It was the ascendant genius, the ex- 
 haustless resources, sleepless vigilance, invincible forti 
 tude, the practiced skill, the matured science, of the 
 American Commander. He employed the whole stra- 
 tagie of war. He foiled them in all their incipient 
 attempts. He lead them off from the point of attack 
 by the ruse of the roads involved them in the laby 
 rinth of woods swarming with marksmen surprised 
 them by ambush cut them off by detachments de 
 stroyed their batteries by sorties in the night filled 
 them with terror, through their own spies, at the ex 
 pectation of his strong reinforcements at hand in 
 duced them to believe, by the repeated cheerings of the 
 soldiers on the battlements, by his manner of mounting 
 the guards, and by parading the troops through the 
 nocturnal light of burning buildings, in the unreal 
 strength of his garrisons and taught them, by the ex 
 hibition of every faculty and resource which the science 
 and art of war can know or practice ; by the daring spi 
 rit of his enterprise, indomitable energy, and successful 
 hardihood, that American Republicans, in the cause of 
 Freedom and their Country, are not to be cheaply con 
 quered ! 
 
MACOMB. 99 
 
 Ueneral Macomb now dismissed the volunteers and 
 militia, with his grateful acknowledgments of their 
 services, in his own name and in that of the country 
 and the government. They returned to their homes, 
 with the feelings of men, citizens and patriots, con 
 scious of having done their duty in a sacred cause. 
 They were welcomed by their families : the public 
 prints applauded them : and the country, in every sec 
 tion of their residence, delighted to reward them with 
 proofs of popular confidence. Their respective States 
 were proud of their achievements : and a stimulus has 
 thus been provided, by their example, for citizen soldiers 
 to rally around the eagle-bearing Standard of their coun 
 try, should that signal of honour, in any future exigency, 
 be again unfurled. The papers every where in the Uni 
 ted States teemed with merited eulogy of the Defence of 
 Plattsburgh. The Legislatures of the several states pass 
 ed resolves of thanks to the officers and men ; and Gene 
 ral Macomb was noticed with especial commendation? 
 particularly by his own State and the State of Vermont. 
 The State of New- York complimented him with a su 
 perb sword, presented by Governor Tompkins ; and 
 the city of New- York gave him its freedom in a gold 
 box, presented by its Mayor De Witt Clinton ; it also 
 requested him to sit for his portrait, to be placed in its 
 gallery of distinguished patriots. Nor was the national 
 
100 MEMOIR OF 
 
 legislature unmindful of the great debt of gratitude 
 which the country owed him. Congress passed a vote 
 expressive of their sense of his services, and directed 
 that a gold medal should be struck, emblematical of 
 his triumph at Plattsburgh, to be presented by the 
 President of the United States. The President also 
 conferred on Macomb the rank of Major General by 
 Brevet, the commission bearing date on the day of the 
 victory. 
 
 Such was the anxiety manifested in England for the 
 result of the gigantic enterprise thus defeated, that the 
 gazettes of London had already proclaimed the suc 
 cessful invasion of New- York, and the capture of 
 Plattsburgh. The British Commissioners at Ghent 
 were looking, with sanguine confidence, for the official 
 accounts of the progress of the British Arms, in Ameri 
 ca, expecting to stand in an attitude for dictating to 
 our Envoys the conditions of peace. The London 
 publications having flattered their hopes, by announ 
 cing a false issue to the contest, they heightened their 
 demands, insisting on our recognition of the Indian 
 Tribes as independent nations, and urging other pre 
 texts and pretensions, to protract a pacification, until 
 their receipt of authentic intelligence. What a disap 
 pointment ! How the cup of their hopes was dashed 
 from the lip ! From their golden dreams, to what dis 
 
MACOMB. 
 
 101 
 
 astrous reality they awakened ! And the spell of this 
 splendid enchantment broken, too, by a mere guard of 
 Yankee Soldiers, and a hasty collection of patriotic 
 yeomanry, who hold in fee the soil they till ! The 
 affair of Plattsburgh, auspiciously for our honour and 
 interests, closed the negociations at Ghent, and set the 
 seal to the Treaty of Peace. Our General in Chief, 
 Alexander Macomb, may, therefore, brightly wear, as 
 he has nobly won, both the civic crown and the laurel 
 wreath. 
 
 General Macomb still remained in command of 
 Plattsburgh and the adjacent country. The com 
 mencement of the war upon the Borders was attended 
 with many vexatious occurrences, owing to the inimical 
 feelings which party spirit had infused, even into the 
 military corps employed, on either side, in defence of 
 the frontiers. The Regiments, which had been long 
 quartered in Canada, viewed the national hostilities, 
 rather as a civil commotion, than a regular war. Their 
 contiguity to the United States, the discussions which 
 they daily read in our newspapers, the identity of lan 
 guage, and, in many instances, of feeling and opinion, 
 lead them imperceptibly into the belief, that they them 
 selves were a party in our political contentions. They, 
 therefore, with few exceptions, treated our officers, who 
 fell into their hands, with no kind of respect ; and, 
 
1C2 MEMOIR OF 
 
 when speaking of the Government, held language ill 
 comporting with the character of men professing to be 
 long to a high-minded nation. But the progress, which 
 our troops were daily making in discipline and know 
 ledge of warfare, began to teach them better lessons. 
 After the affair of Pittsburgh, they manifested a higher 
 respect than they were wont to do. The troops, how 
 ever, who had served on the Continent of Europe under 
 that Great Captain Wellington, had never evinced any 
 such illiberality. The war, after their arrival, took a 
 more militaire complexion. To relieve the inhabitants 
 residing near the line, marked by the 45th degree of 
 north latitude, constituting the frontier intrusted to 
 General Macomb, from the vexations and sufferings to 
 which they were exposed under the former system pur 
 sued by the British Commanders, an arrangement was 
 entered into, between him and General Sir Thomas 
 Brisbane, to allow the inhabitants, on either side, an 
 uninterrupted pursuit of their peaceful occupations, to 
 cross the lines, and, in fact, to enjoy ail the privileges 
 of neutrals, so long as they remained non-combatant. 
 An habitual courtesy was, also, practiced between the 
 piquets and out-posts of the respective armies and in 
 the intercourse of the officers, which calls up, for a 
 ifioment, as a vision flits across the mind, our treasured 
 recollections of the age of Chivalry and Romance, when 
 
MACOMB. 103 
 
 the ferocities of Avar were softened into shade ; and the 
 bleeding wounds of a captive, slain by his foe, were 
 quenched by the ministering hand of that foe, converted 
 to a friend and when the high deeds of heroism were 
 prompted, ennobled, and endeared, by the kindliest 
 sympathies, the softest affections, and all the charities 
 of humanity, mingled with the death-conflicts of rival 
 prowess, and the loftiest aspirations of ambition. 
 
 On our lines, the barbarisms of shooting sentinels 
 on post, and of individual affrays, a bad imitation of the 
 Indian model of warfare, were now abolished. A little 
 familiar incident occurred, to show the spirit which pre 
 vailed of mutual forbearance, conciliation, and good 
 offices. A servant of a British Adjutant deserted to 
 our side, with his master s horse, clothes, and money. 
 On being brought to Head Quarters and examined, he 
 confessed that all the articles were stolen. General 
 Macomb immediately ordered off Lieutenant Riley with 
 a flag to restore them. While in the act of re-delivering 
 the property at the British camp, an American deserter 
 arrived, with General Macomb s charger, fresh stolen 
 from his stables. The charger being recognised by 
 Lieutenant Riley was promptly given up, the British 
 being pleased with an opportunity, so singularly pre 
 sented, of reciprocating the courteous liberality extended 
 to themselves, 
 
104 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Having adjusted matters on the Champlain frontier, 
 General Macomb was permitted to return to the city of 
 New- York, and to visit his family connexions at Bel- 
 ville in New- Jersey. On his way thither he was loaded 
 with demonstrations of the public regard. But he had 
 not long enjoyed the domestic circle, ere news was 
 received of another attack on Plattsburgh being in pre 
 paration. He hastened back to his post. He had au 
 thority to call to his assistance all the disposable regu 
 lar troops, east of New- York and Lake Champlain, 
 and also the militia of the States of New- York and 
 Vermont. From experience. General Macomb had 
 found it preferable to call out the militia on the spur of 
 the occasion, than to embody them for any length of 
 time previously, as they suffer, both in health and spi 
 rits, by long absence from their comfortable homes and 
 usual occupations. He had observed that they, espe 
 cially the heads of families, were liable to a real malady, 
 known to physicians by the name of nostalgia, which 
 not only incapacitated them for service, but, in many 
 cases, actually proved fatal. Beside these considerations, 
 being ever mindful of the duty of public economy, 
 he was unwilling to augment, unnecessarily, the ex 
 penses of the war. The winter was passed in expec 
 tation of a renewed attack. New detachments of regu 
 lar troops arrived. They were improved in discipline, 
 
MACOMB. 105 
 
 and the works increased in strength. The cold was 
 excessive ; but the expectation of another visit from 
 Sir George kept up the spirits of the troops, and made 
 the winter pass cheerily off. On the receipt of the 
 news in this country, that the preliminaries of Peace 
 had been settled at Ghent, the President of the United 
 States ordered a suspension of hostilities. Macomb 
 conveyed this intelligence by a flag to Sir George ; and 
 the war terminated. Some of the principal officers of 
 the British Army, on their way home, anxious to see 
 the works before which they had been so lately repulsed, 
 visited the American General and the forts under his 
 command. They expressed their surprise at the skill 
 and strength of their construction. The efficiency of 
 our Artillery, too, during the late seige, had induced a 
 belief among them, that our cannon had the rifle bore ; 
 and they obtained permission to inspect it, for the pur 
 pose of ascertaining the truth of their conjecture. 
 
 In the month of March, 1815, an order came for dis 
 charging all the troops who had enlisted to serve during 
 the war. Those enlisted for the term of 5 years, who 
 had any considerable time yet to serve, were directed 
 to be mustered, with a view of forming the contempla 
 ted peace establishment ; which was settled at 10.000 
 men, retaining two Major Generals and four Briga 
 diers, Macomb was selected to be one of the Briga- 
 
106 MEMOIR OF 
 
 diers, and stood at the head of that rank. Having dis 
 charged the troops who enlisted for the term of the war, 
 and the inefficient, he repaired, on an order from the 
 President, to the seat of Government, to assist r as a 
 member of a Board to organize the Peace establish 
 ment, in conformity to the act of Congress. A more 
 painful duty never devolved on Macomb. Full of 
 sympathy for distress in all its varied shapes, and em 
 phatically the Soldier* s friend, for him it was a task 
 indeed, to cast adrift, upon the sea of life, men who 
 should have been grappled to the land, which their 
 blood had enriched, and their arm protected. The act 
 of Congress contemplated a small, but efficient force ; 
 and, consequently, those honourable men, whom years, 
 or infirmities, or wounds, rendered incapable of further 
 service, in active warfare, were to be excluded. The 
 duty, however painful, was necessarily performed ; and 
 the supernumerary officers were disbanded on the 17th 
 of May, 1815. In the distribution of the commands, 
 Macomb was assigned to the 3d military department in 
 the Division of the North. He fixed his Head Quar 
 ters in the city of New- York, and organized the troops 
 on that station. 
 
 About this time the Department of War devolved on 
 William H. Crawford. Of such a man, introduced by 
 the course of our narrative, a passing notice will be 
 
MACOMB. 107 
 
 deemed a pardonable digression. With the defective 
 and deranged system of the Department, under all the 
 embarrassments of a transition from war to peace, 
 having new stations to designate, conflicting interests 
 to reconcile, vast amounts of public stores and other 
 property to preserve from waste and peculation, and to 
 conform those habits, which the license of war had 
 generated, to the strict rules of civil order and military 
 obedience in fine, having before him a chaotic mass 
 to mould and fashion he spoke order out of the con 
 fusion, established economy, created efficiency, trans 
 fused his own spirit into the breast of the Army, dis 
 carded imbecility and profligacy, fostered talent, reward 
 ed meritorious conduct, preserved the harmony, and 
 greatly promoted the respectability, of the service. He 
 was not, however, sufficiently long in charge of this 
 office, nor, under circumstances, to enable him entirely 
 to arrange it anew, and stamp it with his signet. In 
 his preceding and subsequent situations, in the Senate 
 of the United States, in his foreign Embassy, and in 
 the national Treasury, in his youth and in his man 
 hood, with Herculean strength, he hewed out, and 
 raised up, the granite pillars of his fame, and planted 
 them on the foundations, deep and broad, of national 
 prosperity and honour. He was a democrat ; for he. 
 like the Constitution of the United States, believed in 
 
108 MEMOIR OP 
 
 the power, virtue, and intelligence of the people, or, in 
 other words, that the common sense of the people, 
 guided by their own true interests, rightly understood; 
 would be a valid check upon usurpers and demagogues. 
 The chief authority of the State was, alone, fitted to 
 afford ample scope for the demonstration of his immense 
 capabilities. He was like the intellectual giants of an 
 tiquity. Acknowledged by great men to be the great 
 est of their number, he was the leader, by unanimous 
 assent and instinctive impulse, of the most powerful 
 party in this country, for talent, character, and republi 
 can principles. Characterized by his simplicity, that 
 truest test alike of genius and of real greatness, and 
 sanctified by the purity of his motives, he always forgot 
 himself, when he thought of his country ; and his 
 country was in all his thoughts. Self-created, and 
 self-poised, he looked around him through all men and 
 things : he held them in the balance of his unerring 
 judgment, and determined, to a scruple, their weight 
 and value. He was master of human nature. His 
 talents were administrative. His qualifications indi 
 cated that he was destined for the highest station. But 
 heaven is veiled from us ; and though its decrees pierce 
 through the veil, the motives of them lie buried in the 
 obscuring splendour of Omniscience. Crawford ! Vene 
 rable, beloved name ! When thy sun shall set, it will 
 
 
MACOMB. Ivy 
 
 Detain its magnitude, leaving in its golden track a mel 
 lowed, but enduring radiance. 
 
 From the unsettled state of the Canadian frontier on 
 the Lakes, and the restlessness of the Indians, Secre 
 tary Crawford, selecting General Macomb, directed 
 him to remove his Head Quarters to Detroit, and take 
 command of the 5th Military Department. Macomb s 
 arrival at Detroit must have been one of the most flat 
 tering and gratifying incidents of his eventful life. 
 After an absence of twenty-five years, a period of hard 
 ship and adventure, of toils and perils, he re-visits the 
 place of his nativity, the scenes of his childhood. The 
 boy, that was fondled in the soldier s arms, comes now 
 among the companions of his youth a Major General 
 of the triumphant American Army, covered with his 
 country s and the world s applause, his breast deco 
 rated with the insignia of honour snatched at the can 
 non s mouth. The tales of fiction scarcely afford a 
 more interesting plot or a happier denouement. On 
 his return among them, he was received by all classes 
 of the citizens with the strongest demonstrations of 
 pleasure and delight the French and American popu 
 lation vying with each other in respect for his character 
 and services. 
 
 The duties, which now devolved on him, were of an 
 arduous nature. The surrender of this post, at the 
 
 10 
 
110 MEMOIR OF 
 
 commencement of the war, threw open the whole 
 Michigan Territory to the ravages of savage incursion. 
 The ploughshare of desolation had passed over it 
 every farm laid waste even the fences prostrated not 
 a fort or barrack remaining the people suffering every 
 distress : Detroit was. To resuscitate the town and 
 adjacent country, and to protect the inhabitants, were 
 the tasks which he now assumed and executed. He 
 forthwith made such a disposition of his troops as effect 
 ually to incapacitate the savages from any serious mo 
 lestation of the frontier settlers. He established the posts 
 of Fort Gratiot, Chicago, Michilimackinac, Green Bay. 
 and subsequently, those of Prairie du Cliien, St. Peter s, 
 and St. Mary s retaining at Detroit a sufficient force to 
 preserve tranquillity in its immediate vicinity. Having 
 provided for defence, he turned his attention to improve 
 ments. He projected and constructed roads, erected 
 barracks and arsenals, contributed his funds toward 
 the building of public edifices, and lent every facility, 
 as far as was compatible with his duty, in his public, 
 and, as far as his means would authorize, in his pri 
 vate, capacity. The counsels, too, of experience and in 
 telligence, in a new and rising section of country, which 
 lie freely offered, were not without their value. He had 
 the satisfaction to see, during his command here, the 
 Capital and the surrounding country spring up with 
 
MACOMB. 
 
 Ill 
 
 renovated vigour the inhabitants returning the popu 
 lation increasing agriculture and commerce flourishing 
 and the embryo State advancing, with rapid strides, 
 in improvements of every kind. That his own agency 
 had been eminently conducive to this prosperity must 
 have been a reflexion that carried with it a proud and 
 happy consciousness. The Territory, as a token of 
 its gratitude, gave the name of Macomb to one of its 
 counties. 
 
 He continued in command of this station, until the 
 reduction of the Army, in June, 1821, when he was 
 placed at the Head of the Engineer Department, and 
 ordered to the city of Washington. As soon as this 
 new destination was known, a public meeting was called 
 of all the citizens, at which the Governor of the Terri 
 tory presided. They unanimously voted an Address, 
 with a piece of plate bearing suitable emblems and de 
 vices, to be presented by Governor Cass, in the name 
 of the citizens, in approbation of his character as a 
 citizen and an officer : It expressed their sentiments of 
 friendship, applause of his civic virtues, gratitude for his 
 military administration, regret at h is departure, and 
 prayers for his future weal. The French Catholic 
 Clergy, headed by the Bishop ; the Protestant Clergy ; 
 the Ministers of the Gospel of all denominations ; the 
 Governor ; the Heads of Departments ; the Judges of 
 the Courts ; the citizens, generally ; and the inhabit- 
 
112 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ants of the British side also ; all waited on him in a 
 body, in testimony of their respect and kindest wishes 
 for himself, his Lady, and Family, to whom they were 
 all personally endeared. The poor French inhabitants 
 particularly, on either side the strait, were not less anx 
 ious to exhibit their remembrance of the protection he 
 had afforded them ; of the consideration he evinced for 
 their peculiar situation ; of the respect paid to their re 
 ligion ; of his exertions to repair their wrongs, to adjust 
 their rightful claims on the government for their ser 
 vices during the war, and to secure to them their titles 
 to lands on which they had long been settled. Indeed, 
 all classes, without distinction of politics or religion, of 
 profession or occupation, from glowing breasts and elo 
 quent tongues, bade him adieu, with feelings which it 
 was alike honourable in them to entertain, and in him, 
 to inspire. 
 
 On the 8th of June, 1821, with a heart overflowing^ 
 toward a people, among whom he had dwelt so long in, 
 the reciprocal exercise of the kindliest affections and good 
 offices, he embarked in a steamboat, with his whole 
 Family, consisting of his wife, nine young children? 
 and his mother-in-law. He, also, took on board with 
 him a barge, in which he had traversed the Lakes 
 through their greatest extent. The party, after a plea 
 sant and diversified route by land and water, safely ar- 
 
MACOMB 
 
 113 
 
 nved at Georgetown, in the district of Columbia, the 
 20th of the same month. Macomb immediately entered 
 on his duties, as Chief Engineer. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun was, now, Head of the War Depart 
 ment. On assuming its administration, at a single 
 glance he penetrated its recesses, and discerned the de 
 fects of its organization ; while, with a logical mind, 
 analytical and synthetical, he applied, with pervading 
 energy, his peculiar powers of resolution and combina 
 tion, to the reformation of the system. Of intuitive 
 perception ; keen in investigation ; inflexible in purpose ; 
 with a penetration, like the lightning s shaft, piercing 
 and rending ; with an eagle eye that can look, un- 
 blenched, upon the sun ; with an eagle spirit that can 
 wing its way on rays of light ; it might have been ex 
 pected that he would impart a fresh impetus to all ope 
 rations of which he took the direction. Accordingly, 
 the whole department heaved and quickened with the 
 life and intelligence he breathed into it. It is high 
 praise, therefore, to Macomb, that, by the conduct of 
 his own branch of that Department, he gained the 
 marked and often repeated thanks of its Head. In the 
 opinion of Mr. Calhoun, the Engineer Bureau was 
 second, in importance, only to the Chief Command of 
 the Army. The nature of the duties incumbent on it 
 were so important, extensive, and complicated, that to 
 
 10* 
 
114 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 insure success in its operations required great vigilance, 
 unrelaxing industry, and a practical judgment, for the 
 introduction of those principles of method, which 
 would effectuate an unity and efficiency of action, a just 
 distribution and faithful execution of official tasks, to 
 g-ether with economy and accountability in public ex 
 penditure. This Bureau embraced, within the scope 
 of its powers and duties, not only the fortifications to 
 be constructed for the defence of our whole seaboard 
 and inland frontiers ; the Military Academy ; the To 
 pographical explorations, surveys, and drawings : but, 
 also, Internal Improvements by roads and canals, the 
 deepening of Harbours, the creation of artificial Ports, 
 and the removal of obstructions in the navigation of 
 our great Rivers. From the confidence reposed in its 
 plans and estimates for these noble objects, and from the 
 general ability and integrity with which it was con 
 ducted by Macomb, Congress felt justified in placing 
 the most liberal appropriations at its disposal. The 
 character of the Engineer Department continued to 
 grow in the public estimation, until it became one of 
 the most important and useful establishments under the 
 Government. The system of operation was so well 
 methodized and defined, and the accountability so se 
 cured, that, during Macomb s administration of it. in 
 cluding a period of seven years, out of more than six 
 
MACOMB. 115 
 
 millions of dollars appropriated to the objects committed 
 to his charge, not one cent was unaccounted for or lost 
 to the people of the United States ! This fact, alone, 
 speaks volumes. It is superfluous to say, that such 
 conduct could not fail to receive the high approbation 
 as well of the Head of the War Department and of the 
 Chief Executive, as of the Congress and the Nation. 
 
 In the first year of his residence in Georgetown, by 
 a severe dispensation of Providence, he was bereaved 
 of his amiable and excellent Consort, who, in giving 
 birth to a daughter, fell a victim to the causualities of 
 an accouchement. She had been the happy mother of 
 twelve children, of whom three sons and six daughters 
 still live for their father. Ardent in her fidelity, to ac 
 company her husband, she encountered the perils of 
 climate, in the North and in the South, and of travel 
 by land, and sea, and lake. She dared the hazards of 
 war, in camp and garrison ; and found a shield from 
 all dangers and sorrows in her husband s arms. She 
 was endowed with an elegant mind, and possessed 
 accomplished manners. Whom her beauty captivated, 
 her intelligence enchained. She adorned the polished 
 circles in which she moved ; and, among a numerous 
 acquaintance, had the rare felicity to acquire many true 
 and affectionate friends. Her favourite province was 
 round the domestic hearth, where she presided, mid 
 
116 MEMOIR OF 
 
 every endearment, with the household gods of hospi 
 tality, friendship, and love. With a happy tact, she 
 successfully exercised her talent to render her husband s 
 home the abode of the social pleasures and affections, 
 and a delightful resort for the stranger guest, the ac 
 quaintance, and the friend. 
 
 On her decease, the General sent for his aged father 
 and mother, then residing in New-York, and who had 
 been reduced from affluence to poverty. He received 
 them under his own roof ; and subsequently enjoyed 
 the satisfaction, which none but a grateful son can ap 
 preciate, of discharging in some degree those obliga 
 tions, which can never be entirely cancelled, of filial 
 iriety, by placing them in a situation of comfortable 
 competency. 
 
 The events of the late war with Great Britain, and 
 his own observation and experience, had turned the at 
 tention of Macomb, strongly, to the subject of our 
 Militia. In a republic, this must ever be the right arm 
 of its defence the main national reliance. When the 
 people reluct at the necessary expense of time and toil 
 to preserve themselves in a state, though necessarily 
 imperfect, yet still a state of military organization and 
 discipline, the entire Government, for all purposes of 
 national independence, might as well be disbanded at 
 once : we shall have become a nation of Sybarites, already 
 
MACOMB. 117 
 
 conquered by our own imbecility : we shall be sold by 
 contract to the highest bidder ; and an European de 
 tachment be sent over to enforce the terms of sale and 
 take possession, unless anticipated by domestic merce 
 nary troops. Corruption, when luxury has dissolved a 
 people in effeminacy, is the enthanasia of a republic ; 
 but even this pitiful privilege cannot be our s : for the 
 country is yet too young to be corrupt, though it is old 
 enough, should the phenomenon of an unarmed nation 
 exist in our instance, to die of debility. There is no 
 succedaneum for a militia, an efficient militia. The 
 only substitute is anarchy, or despotism. To prove the 
 practicability of such a militia, and to point out the best 
 methods of accomplishing so vitally important an ob 
 ject, Macomb composed a most able and elaborate me 
 moir, filled with the results of study, sagacity, and ex 
 perience, which has been published among the docu 
 ments of Congress. His plan proposes to render the 
 Army, Military Academy, and Militia, harmoniously 
 co-operative to infuse the spirit, tactics, and science, of 
 the Army and Academy, to a certain extent, into the 
 body of the Militia ; yet without detracting from the 
 entirety of the Army, or incurring a great national ex 
 penditure. Some such measure would be economy as 
 well as efficiency in war, and safety in peace. It is 
 patriotism- It is national existence, 
 
118 MEMOIR OF 
 
 The science of war has not been Macomb s only 
 study. He delighted in agriculture. He made many 
 practical experiments on implements of husbandry, and 
 especially tried the properties of the plough, on which 
 subject he made a Report, while in the Engineer De 
 partment. Among his contributions to agricultural 
 works, was an Essay, published in the American 
 Farmer, accompanied with plans and drawings, illus 
 trative of the art of building with the composition of 
 Tapia. The varied productions of his pen. his general 
 orders, official reports, agricultural communications, 
 and miscellaneous correspondence, bear the impress of 
 an active, ingenious, strong, and scientific mind. 
 Though, in the pressure of business, his pen may 
 sometimes be hasty, yet all his papers are substantially 
 well written, and many of them with surpassing felici 
 ty, which have justly obtained marked public encomium. 
 
 In the month of May, 1826, General Macomb mar 
 ried Mrs. Harriet Balch Wilson, a widow lady, daugh 
 ter of the Reverend Doctor Balch, Pastor of the Pres 
 byterian Church in Georgetown, in the District of Co 
 lumbia. Respect for the sensitive delicacy of her feel 
 ings forbids, while living, the eulogy she richly merits ; 
 and distant be the day when urn or stone shall speak 
 of her ! 
 
 On the death of Major General Brown, General in 
 
MACOMB. 119 
 
 Chief of the Army, a question arose, as to his successor. 
 Different views were entertained, by the various com 
 petitors for the station, in regard to their respective 
 claims and pretensions. Among the higher officers of 
 the army, o ifTerent constructions were given to the rules 
 of relative rank some claiming precedence from 
 commissions in the line, others from brevets conferred 
 for gallant and meretorious actions. The unsettled 
 state, in which this question of rank had been left by 
 the Government since the w r ar. might well be expected 
 to prove an apple of discord ; for honour, power, and 
 emolument, were in the issue. The Executive viewed 
 the appointment to the chief command of the Army, 
 as a matter of free selection, even beyond the pale of 
 the army. It was thought that this liberty on the part 
 of the Government was approved by principles of pub 
 lic policy, and not interdicted by any provision of the 
 law. Macomb, reluctant to enter the arena of conten 
 tion for rank and command in time of peace, was as 
 siduously engaged in his duties of Chief Engineer. 
 Yet, in justice to himself, he conceived it a duty to lay 
 before the President, a simple statement of his own 
 claims and pretensions, founded on long and faithful 
 services, on seniority in his rank of Brigadier, and on 
 the faith of Government which had been formerly 
 pledged to him by the Executive, that his right of pro- 
 
120 MEMOIR OF 
 
 motion should not be infringed by his arrangement to 
 the Engineer Department. From the position which 
 Macomb occupied, as Head of that Department, he had 
 not, since he quitted his command on the Canadian 
 frontier, been before the public eye, in the capacity of a 
 military commander ; but was rather regarded as a la 
 bourer for the public benefit in the occupations of peace 
 in preparing the country for a state of war in fortifying 
 our seaboard in superintending the educaticn of the 
 adopted sons of the republic at the Military Academy 
 in facilitating intercourse between the several States, by 
 good roads and canals in improving the navigation of 
 our principal rivers in a word, in devoting his whole 
 mind and time to strengthen the union, to render the na 
 tion prosperous in peace, and in war invincible. The Pre 
 sident, after weighing the various titles to the vacated 
 post, decided in favour of Macomb, and nominated him 
 accordingly to the Senate. That august body con 
 firmed the nomination by a great majority ; and Alex 
 ander Macomb became General in Chief of the Ameri 
 can Army. Disputes of precedence, it is to be hoped, 
 will no more disturb the harmony of the service. Our 
 present Chief Magistrate, with characteristic prompti 
 tude, as soon as the question was presented to his view, 
 confirmed the decision of the learned Adams, and de 
 stroyed every germ of future contention. Highly ho- 
 
MACOMB. 121 
 
 nourable to Macomb is such a testimony from him, whose 
 claim to the title of The Great Captain of the Age 
 has been vindicated by the crowning victory of New- 
 Orleans, when the unanimous acclaim of a grateful 
 nation awarded him the verdant palm, which envy 
 cannot blanch, nor detraction tear away. Years will feed 
 its verdure, until the name of Orleans be erased from 
 the historic tablet, and the Father of Rivers cease to flow. 
 While Major General Macomb has resided at the 
 seat of the National Government, in the command of 
 the Army, it is not too much to say, that, by his con 
 ciliatory deportment, by his exemplary morals, by his 
 tact and talent, and energetic discharge of his functions, 
 by his familiar acquaintance with all the details of ser 
 vice and with the duties of every post and corps, he 
 has raised yet higher the reputation of the Army, dif 
 fused still more widely a spirit of emulation, promoted 
 concord, and increased the efficiency of every arm. 
 Fortunately, too, he has been favoured with the co 
 operation of able auxiliaries in his military adminis 
 tration. It is the peculiarity of great men to at 
 tach men, of similar character, to their person or ser 
 vice. If a chief be austere of disposition, repulsive of 
 manners, degraded by ignorance, or debased by vice, 
 those whose souls are of a lofty mould fly to distant 
 stations they instinctively shun contact with one 
 10 
 
122 MEMOIR OF 
 
 whom power cannot dignify, nor virtue adorn, nor 
 rank elevate ; but around him who, by mind, manners, 
 and disposition, as well as by official authority, can 
 operate, as a centre of attraction, a focus of intelligence, 
 kindred spirits love to cluster. Macomb is surrounded 
 by a military cabinet of distinguished ability a Staff 
 which would honour any European service. Of some 
 of these individuals, the writer may be permitted to 
 speak from personal knowledge. 
 
 Adjutant General Jones, formerly a Captain in 
 Macomb s Artillery, is, as his present title imports, the 
 immediate representative of his General in Chief the 
 Head of the General Staff. He is " every inch" a sol 
 dier. Like the war-horse, he loves the music of \var ; 
 and is most delighted, when careering on the battle 
 field, winning, as he has often won, the medals of va 
 lour, from the vanquished prowess of the foe, and the 
 applauding gratitude of his country. He is now, in 
 Peace, assiduously employing all his powers of mind 
 and body in the comprehensive duties of his Bureau, 
 which embrace, at the same time, the minutest detail 
 and the entire economy of the Army honouring, as 
 he is honoured by, the Profession he serves. 
 
 At the Head of the Ordnance Department stands 
 Colonel Bomford an original genius and a scientific 
 scholar, in the broadest and highest import of those 
 
MAC OMB, 123 
 
 lerms devoting, with patriotic disinterestedness, those 
 talents and that science to the military service, which 
 he is bound, by even a higher duty, to dedicate to the 
 service of mankind: He is the rare ornament of an 
 age at once profound and practical uniting, to almost 
 juvenile simplicity of manners, the maturest wisdom of 
 philosophy. 
 
 Over the Quarter Master General s Department pre 
 sides General Jesup, whose life is an unbroken series 
 of heroic and successful exertions in war and peace. 
 After disbursing millions of the public treasure for works 
 of national defence, he is probably as poor, and certainly 
 as pure, as Curius ; yet all his personal virtues and 
 pre-eminent public services are unfortunately obscured 
 by a pervading fault, which his enemies, if there be 
 such, would call reserve, but which his friends denomi 
 nate modesty. He would not lift his finger or wink his 
 eye, to secure the brightest blazonry to his merits : He 
 goes to no office of heraldry for his escutcheon : He 
 asks no coronet for his coat-of-arms : He has acted 
 for his country, and before his country ; and, if inter 
 rogated, might meekly, but with a noble pride, point 
 to that country s archives. 
 
 In reviewing this biographical sketch of Major Ge 
 neral Macomb, it is singular and gratifying to see him 
 mounting, in regular progression, from the lowest to 
 
MEMOIR OF 
 
 the highest point of his Profession no halting no re- 
 trogradation his march ever forward on an ascending 
 plane. -During an uninterrupted service for a period of 
 more than thirty-three years, in every variety of station, 
 employment, and circumstance, surrounded too by offi 
 cers who were straining in the same race of competition, 
 the most generous natures sometimes forgetting the spi 
 rit of the soldier in the natural emotions of jealousy, 
 that Macomb should have escaped a single arrest or 
 serious embarrasment, is of itself a peculiar fortune. 
 We behold him, while yet a boy, the protege of Ha 
 milton, on his recommendation commissioned by Wash 
 ington, a Cornet of Dragoons we view him, while 
 still a youth, the associate and friend as well as pupil 
 of North and Williams, and Davie and Pinckney we 
 see him attracting the attention and winning the ap 
 plause of Jefferson, enjoying the confidence and sup 
 port of every successive President and Secretary of 
 War, and especially honoured by the friendship of 
 such men as Armstrong, Crawford, and Calhoun, 
 who, however contrariant in their creeds and cha 
 racters, must be acknowledged to possess the faculty 
 of discrimination. And we now contemplate him, 
 after so long a tour of faithful, conspicuous, and suc 
 cessful services, at the Head of the Army of the Ameri 
 can Republic ! 
 
 There is a novelty about the scenes and incidents 
 
MACOMB, 
 
 125 
 
 of Macomb s life that grapples attention, and carries 
 the reader along with them. To impart to them their 
 true charm, to invest them with a halo of romantic re 
 splendence, throw them, in imagination, one thousand 
 years back then say, as the truth of his biography 
 will warrant us in saying, that a stripling of the wilder 
 ness (for at the time of Macomb s birth, Detroit ^was a 
 part of our western wilds,) emerging from the forests, 
 and passing victoriously, for many years, through ap 
 pointed trials and labours of no ordinary occurrence, 
 magnitude, and difficulty, rushed forward, and. not by 
 the mere exertion of the brute force of an overwhelming 
 army, but by the display of the loftiest virtues and 
 controlling powers, and by the united voices of his coun 
 trymen, seated himself, amid illustrious competitors, 
 in the chief command of the military forces of his 
 country ! This is the point of view in which TIME 
 will place the picture of Macomb : This is the light in 
 which Posterity will look back upon it. What, in com 
 parison, are the ferocious exploits of the boasted demi 
 gods of antiquity, which excite our school-boy wonder 
 and admiration ? The wars they waged on the side 
 of cruelty and violence, oppression and despotism, Ma- 
 comb waged on the side of virtue and humanity, of 
 liberty and law, his country s soil, and his country s 
 institutions. 
 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 The traits of General Macomb s military character 
 are sufficiently developed and illustrated by his profes 
 sional career. Almost cradled in the camp with his 
 maturer years ripened in field and fortress familiar 
 with the details of service instructed in the manoeuvres 
 of battle competent to the comprehensive combinations 
 of a campaign master of all the enginery of war 
 witli tried valour and experienced talent and crowned 
 with success in the most signal exploits he may well 
 be esteemed an ornament of his profession, not more 
 elevated by rank than merit ; but rather as one whose 
 merit elevates his rank, and confers dignity on office. 
 A distinctive feature of his military character is the 
 respectful disposition manifested by him, wherever sta 
 tioned, to the civil administration. No functionary or 
 citizen can ever have complained that Macomb infracted 
 his rights, or impaired his interests ; or indeed that he 
 failed to exert his every faculty for the promotion of the 
 general weal and individual happiness, for the support 
 of law, defence of justice, and protection of innocence 
 In our country the sword is as much the emblem of 
 justice, as the weapon of defence : and, while the 
 soldier equally participates in the benefits of the Law, 
 he also shares equally in the disastrous effects of its 
 prostration. 
 
 In his person, General Macomb is above the ordinary 
 
MACOMB. 127 
 
 height, being five feet, nine and a half inches finely 
 proportioned with a round swelling chest having a 
 very pleasant, and yet dignified presence. His face has 
 the oval contour with a lofty forehead a mild blue 
 eye, radiating with mind and benevolence and a mouth 
 and chin indicative of great decision and firmness. 
 The fault of his countenance is an air of youthfulness, 
 which, should he live, he will probably rectify ! Often, 
 on an introduction to strangers, he has been asked, if 
 he was the Son of the old General. He is alert in his 
 motions, and buoyant in his spirits which are uniform 
 ly in a genial flow. The secret of this fine health lies 
 in an originally good constitution, confirmed by early 
 toil, fatigue, and hardy exercise ; and since preserved 
 by a temperance, which never admits the use of alco 
 holic stimulus. 
 
 The manners of Macomb, entirely free and natural, 
 are yet elegant and polished, as might be expected of 
 a soldier bred in courts and camps ; but they are, also, 
 in a peculiar manner, ingratiating. You feel, from the 
 impression they make on you, the goodness of his heart ; 
 and, when you catch his countenance, you find the 
 impression confirmed. His conversation, too, though 
 marked with his characteristic good sense and sound 
 learning, is, like his manners, full of vivacity and fire. 
 It will sometimes burst out into bold, original concep- 
 
128 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 lions, suggested at the moment, and strongly presented ; 
 but it generally Hows on, like a clear, sparkling stream 
 full of wit, and humour, and an inexhaustible fund 
 of anecdote. 
 
 In both the manners and conversation of Macomb 
 the maternal blood seems to predominate j and yet. to 
 hit the true composition of his character, with the ex 
 ternal animation and literary penchant of the French 
 model, should be blended and softened a certain arden 
 cy of temperament, a cordial enthusiasm, of the Irish. 
 The dignity which Macomb possesses, is in substance, 
 not in form. That artificial dignity which stands upon 
 stilts, which depends upon staid looks, formalities, and 
 a cold, haughty reserve, he whistles to the winds : or 
 gives it, as crutches are given, to the feeble. For him 
 self, he fears no exposure is not afraid to be known 
 relies upon himself is as willing to meet the rencount- 
 ter of minds, as of arms and feels no necessity of en 
 sconcing behind the palisades and entrenchments of eti 
 quette. Advantage might, sometimes, be taken of this 
 freedom and openness, were it not for the natural 
 guards of his shrewdness and penetration of character. 
 Superficial judges, who think gravity (notwithstand 
 ing it is proverbially a cover-fool) synonymous with 
 weight of character and solidity of judgment, draw un 
 favourable conclusions, as to his stability ; because they 
 
MACOMB. 
 
 cannot understand the depth of his reasoning, nor per 
 ceive the brilliancy of his wit, though they can see. 
 with their bodily eyes, that he is cheerful and sprightly. 
 
 As a man, he is not less amiable and estimable, than, 
 as a public officer, illustrious. The private and social 
 relations of life are hallowed in his example. In the 
 various capacities of husband and son, father, friend, 
 and citizen, he practically exhibits the virtues which 
 adorn them. With the kindest sympathy, he mingles 
 in the sorrows of the afflicted ; or, with cordial congra 
 tulation, rejoices with the fortunate and happy. 
 
 Clear and quick in his perceptions abundant in re 
 sources fertile and ingenious in speculation prompt, 
 bold, persevering, and powerful in action with an he 
 roic daring which danger but stimulates, sustained by 
 a constancy of nerve and will which obstacles but con 
 firm who, in a trying exigency of our national ex 
 istence, fearlessly assumed a most perilous responsibility, 
 and, under Providence, by the exertion of transcendant 
 capacity, saved his country from the devastation of pro 
 tracted war with a philanthropy which knows no per 
 sonal enemy, and deserves none with a generosity 
 limited only by his means with an humanity alike con 
 spicuous on the battle-plain when victory is won, and 
 in the circles of private life with a proud frankness 
 which wears no disguise, and spurns the meanness of 
 
130 MEMOIR, &C. 
 
 dissimulation and, a pre-eminent praise. ardent 
 and faithful in his friendships our respect and love, 
 admiration and gratitude, must ever attach to the cha 
 racter of ALEXANDER MACOMB. 
 
 THE END, 
 
 At the request of the Publishers, the Author has it in contempla 
 tion soon to issue an octavo edition, in which the principal passages 
 of this biography will be illustrated by documents, either interwoven 
 in the text, or annexed as an appendix together with detailed de 
 scriptions of actions merely glanced at in this edition. 
 
VALUABLE WORKS 
 
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 religion. Compiled by I KTKR I). MVKRS; with a copperplate fron 
 tispiece, and \ignette titlepage. 37 1-2 cents. 
 
 " This work comprises some of the best Hymns of Mishap Ileher, Montgomery, 
 and other modern |*>eis, as well as all those in general use at Camp Meetings, &c. 
 Itis believed lo be alM> le-sohi cliunableon the mound of doggerel, than most oth 
 ers published for th" ,-ame purposes. " Printed on line paper and neatly ln.iind 
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, Constitution 
 of the United States, and Washington s Farewell Address to the 
 People of the United States ; in 1 vol. ISmo. .price 25 cents. 
 
GOLDEN TREASURY; consisting of select texts of the Bible, 
 with Practical Observations, in prose and verse, tor every day in 
 the year. By C. H. V. BOGATSKF. Together with a few forms 
 of prayer, for private use. 388 pp. 18mo. price 50 cents. 
 
 THE BIBLE STORY BOOK ; taken from the Old and New 
 
 Testaments; for the use of Children. From the English edition. 
 Correct.! and enlarged by the Author of American Popular Les 
 sons, la two volumes. The first volume, containing narratives 
 from th*> Old Testament, is illustrated by 40 beautiful wood cut, 
 and tha second volume, (on the New Testament,) by 32 wood cuts. 
 
 " The BiMft Story Book was originally an English publication. It contains 
 brief and intHligible narratives of facts related iti the Old and New Testaments. 
 These narratives are intermixed with moral and religious applications, such as all 
 children can understand, aad such as can oft end no religious denomination. " 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO POPULAR LESSONS ; by the Author 
 of A-rvrican Popular Lessons, with numerous cuts; designed as a 
 reading book for Young Children. price 25 cents. 
 
 This liitle book was prepared expressly for the list; of small children just learn 
 ing to read, and is intended as a first reading book in schools. With a view M 
 this it is printed on a very large and handsome type. ;ind made interesting to the 
 child, as well by its simplicity of style, a-? its being filled with cuts or pictures. It 
 has been extensively introduced into schools, and is found to give perfect satisfac 
 tion. 
 
 la teaching young children to read, I have felt the want of a popular book that 
 should teach them to think also. Until teachers or parents examine all the ele 
 mentary books used by their pupils, until they have the ability to distinguish 
 which are the best, and the Independence to use those which are adapted to un 
 practised ahd unfurnished minds, it will be ol small use to write good school 
 l*>oks ; and until better ones than many of those in present fashion shall be used, 
 half the labor of teaching will be frustrated, except so far as itenriches schoolmas 
 ters. Extract from the .fluthor a Preface.. 
 
 JACOBS LATIN READER; by FREDERICK JACOBS, and FRF - 
 DERICK WILLIAM DOKINC ; With Note* and Illustrations, partly 
 translated from the German, and partly drawn from other sources. 
 By JOHN D. OGILBY, Principal of the Grammar School of Coliun 
 bia College, New- York. 1 vol. 12mo. 
 
 THE SYMBOLICAL PRIMER, or CLASS BOOK, No. 1 Bj 
 E. HAZEN. 
 
 ThisPrimer consist? of two parts. Part the First is composed of 3G pages, and 
 contains 4 ( Ja cuts, or pictures, with words expressing the names of the objecu 
 which they represent directly under them. 
 
 Part the. Se.t-ond, is composed of 72 pages, and contains the cuts which are in 
 Part the First, arranged in the same order, with explanation*, showing the nature 
 ami use of the objects which they represent. The explanations are short and are 
 designed to answer the purposes both of Readin;: ami Spelling Lessons. Experi 
 ence has proved that worls combined in >< n. in es. answer a much better purpose 
 for Spelling Lessons than when arran^ d in columns. The Symbolical Primer, 
 however, is not designed merely to tearh children to spell arid lead, but also to 
 communicate Information, adapted to t!ie youim mind. If parents and teache 
 will give the latter object the weight which it deserves, they will never ohjec^/ 
 It on the ground that it contains too many pictures and no columns for spellir 
 The fact is, there is nothing in columns of word?, arranged for spfllitig le?~ ft 
 calculated to excite the attention or to afford the least instruction, and conwc ^ 
 ly children cannot b<; made to pny much attention to them. Besides the ortbu 
 phy of words thus abstractly presented, cannot hp remembered without a ^ 
 deal of difficulty, inasmuch a* thre ii nothing with which the wordi CUM br *" 
 eintwd to asiitt the memo<y 
 
" THE SPELLER and DEFINER, or CLASS BOOK, No V 
 
 by the same Author, is designed, as the name imports, to answer the pui pose* ot a 
 Spelling Book and au Expositor or Dictionary. It ia composed of 215 pages, and 
 contains about 8000 weirds, which are explained and pronounced according to tht 
 best authorities. 
 
 As a book to be committed to memory, it answers a much better purpose than a 
 school dictionary, as it contains a less number of words, and such only as are In 
 common use. The words being classed also according to their parts of speech, 
 and arranged under different heads, according to the number of letters or syllable* 
 of which they are composed, can be committed to memory in less than half the 
 time which is consumed in committing the same number, arranged on the common 
 plan. The time usually devoted to a Spelling Book, will be abundantly sufficient 
 to become well acquainted with "The Symbolical Primer," and The Speller and 
 Dejiner," so that the knowledge of the meaning of the words and other information 
 which may be obtained, will be clear gain to the pupil. 
 
 ENGLISH GRAMMAR, in Familiar Lectures, accompanied by 
 a Compendium ; embracing a new systematic order of Parsing, a 
 new system of punctuation, Exercises in False Syntax, and a sya- 
 tem of Philosophical Grammar, in notes : to which are added, an 
 Appendix, and a Key to the Exercises. Designed for the use of 
 Schools and Private Learners. By SAMUEL KIRKHAM. 
 
 " S. Kirkham, Esq. I have examined your Grammar with attention, and with 
 a particular view to benefit the institution under my charee. I am fully satisfied 
 that it is the best form in which Murray s principles have been given to the pub 
 lie. The lectures are ample, and given in so familiar and easy language, as to bo 
 readily understood, even by a tyro in grammar. 
 
 " I ttvl it dii- to say, that 1 commenced the examination of your work, under a 
 stroii gprrj-iK icp a<r-iinst it, in consequence of the numerous improved systems 
 with which the public has been inundated of late, most of which are by no means 
 improvements on Murray, but the productions of individuals whom a " littlegram 
 m-ir has rendered grammatically insane. My convictions, therefore, are the re 
 sult of investigation. 
 
 " I wish you, Sir, success in your publication. 
 
 "Respectfully, 
 
 "EBER WH EATON. 
 Pr. of Mechanic s Society School. " 
 
 Upwards of fix hunirf.d other recommendations have been presented to the au 
 thor, equally flattering with the above. 
 
 LEVIZAC S FRENCH GRAMMAR; a theoretical and practi 
 cal Grammar of the French Tongue, in which the present usage ia 
 displayed, agreeably to the decisions of the French Academy. By 
 M. De LEVIZAC. 1 vol. 12mo. 
 
 PLAYFAIR S EUCLID ; Elements of Geometry, containing thr 
 first six Books of Euclid, with a Supplement on the Quadrature of 
 the Circle, and the Geometry of Solids: to which are added, Ele 
 ments of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry. By JOHN PLAYFAIR, 
 F. R. S., Professor of Natural Philosophy, formerly of Mathema 
 tics, in the University of Edinburgh. From the last London edi 
 tion, enlarged. 1 vol. 8vo. 
 
 JACOBS GREEK READER; by FREDERICK JACOBS, Professor 
 of the Gymnasium at Gotha, and Editor of the Anthologia, together 
 with Improvements, additional Notes, and Corrections; by DAVID 
 PATTERSON, A. M., late Rector of the Grammar School of Kirk- 
 wall, and Teacher of Languages in New- York, 1 vol. 8vo. 
 
 PRIMER, orFirtt LAMCM for Children; boing 
 .n Introduction to tho Elementary Spellincr Book. By NOAH Wta- 
 L L.D 
 
f> 
 
 A DISSERTATION ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF TO 
 BACCO, wherein the advantages and disadvantages attending th 
 consumption of that entertaining weed, are particularly considered. 
 Addressed to all the Tobacco Consumers. By ADAM CLARKE, 
 L.L. D. 
 
 CLARKE S COMMENTARY on the Old and New-Testament, 
 complete in 6 vols. royal octavo, well bound. Methodist Book 
 Room edition Price $ 17,34. 
 
 The New Testament alone, same edition and same style of bind 
 ing, in two vols. Price $4,00. 
 
 METHODIST HYMNS. Methodist Book Room edition four 
 different sizes, at the following prices : viz. 
 12 mo. plain sheep, 3100 
 
 24 " do. 50 
 
 48 " do- 50 
 
 72 " on Pearl type, do. ;il 
 
 All the books published by the Methodist Book Concern, are *up 
 plied, (either at wholesale or retail,) precisely on their terms. 
 
 SCHOOL BOOKS Webster s, Picket s, Cobb s, Bentley s, and 
 Cumming s Spellings ; Daboll s, Willett s, Colburn s, Pike s, 
 Smith s, Smiley s and Emerson s Arithmetics ; Olney s, Wood- 
 bridge s, and Parley s Geographies ; Murray s English Reader, Se 
 quel, Exercises, and Key ; Kirkham s, Murray s, and Green * 
 Grammars ; Ha/en s Symbolical Primers, and Speller and Drfiner ; 
 English Reader, School Testaments, &c. ; Introduction to Popular 
 Lessons, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 M ELRATII & BANKS have constantly for sale, at tlie lowest prices, either at 
 wholesale or retail, an extensive assortment of Theological, Historical, Classical, 
 School and Miscellaneous books, among which are the following: 
 
 Paley s Works, complete in I vol., Hunter s Sacred Biography, Dick s Christian 
 Philosopher, do. Future State, do. Philosophy of Kelimon, Henry s and Clarke s 
 Commentaries .on the Bible, Piideaux s Connexion*, llollin, Josephus, Kinne on 
 the Types, Hannah M ore s Works, Pickering s and Groves Greek and English 
 Lpxicons, Boyer s French Dictionary, \iinuorih - r.;Jin do., Lemprier s Clan-i 
 cal do., Simpson s and Playfait s F.nclid, Quarto, Octavo, School and Por tft Ri 
 bits of every kind, Journal oi Health -3 vols., Journal of Law 1 vol. An assort 
 ment of School Books, &c t . &r. Sunday School Libraries furnished on the most 
 reasonable terms. Liberal discount to wholesale purchasers. Orders from any 
 part of the I niled Stales .mended to piomptly. 
 
 NEW JUVENILE WORK. 
 
 TTIF, Pll^r TIVE VOLUMES OF 
 
 THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 
 
 OP 
 
 USEFUL AND GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 VOL. I. EASY LESSONS, selected from Mrs. Barbauld, M- 
 Day, Miss Edgewortb, and others, with several hundred cuts-- 11 
 most interesting work for young children, , ... 
 
 VOL. II. STlMlV iF ! R ANK. from M . T 
 
 book is one of the ninst popular juvenile works in our language > 
 well as the most rntert-iiniitjf and instructive. 
 
VOL. III. PLEASING STORIES, selected from Mr. Crabbe, 
 Mrs. Fenwick, and others calculated to form the mind to virtue. 
 
 VOL. IV YOUTH S GUIDE TO KNOWLEDGE, &c. This 
 volume describes the various vegetables throughout the world used 
 as food, and in the preparation of food, clothing, &c. It also 
 describes the mode of manufacturing most articles in general uxe, 
 animal, vegetable, and mineral. 
 
 VOL. V. NATURAL HISTORY OF Q.UADRUPEDS ; from 
 Mrs. Trimmer and others. It contains upwards of one hundred 
 engravings of animals. 
 
 The above work is printed on good paper and neatly bound, and 
 sold at a very low price, in order that it may be obtained by every 
 family. Persons at a distance can procure the work by applying to 
 any country bookseller or country merchant. 
 
 The sixth volume of this work will contain selections from the 
 Percy Anecdotes. 
 
 THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 
 
 Of Useful and General Knowledge is designed to implant correct principles in 
 the youthful mind, and to allure to active goodness. It gives a clear view of what 
 is right, and of the great advantage of pursuing it. It is intended to contain no 
 thing to which the most scrupulous can object. The live volumes now published, 
 are adapted to dilferent ages, from infancy to maturity, as class books, and are se 
 lected from M. Berquin, Mrs. Barbauld, Dr. Aikin, Miss Edgeworth, Mrs. Fen- 
 wick, Mr. Crabbe, Count Bardi, Mrs. Trimmer, and others, and afford useful 
 knowledge on a great variety of subjects. The first volumes consist in part of 
 stories of amiable conduct in children and youth, calculated to form the juvenile 
 mind to virtue ; and also of stories of disobedience and carelessness, which pro 
 duced dreadful accidents and ill consequences. The selection of Anecdotes con 
 tains many true stories of youth, whose actions were an honour to human nature, 
 and of others, who by persevering industry and economy, raised themselves to 
 eminence from very small beginnings. 
 
 In the progress of the work it is designed to give general information suited to 
 mature age, as well as to youth, and to treat of every subject most interesting to 
 mankind. It will contain the best precepts for the regulation of the conduct 
 through life, and also for the preservation of health and the prevention of disease, 
 selected from celebrated authors. 
 
 The study of the history of human butchery, or murder on a large scale, should 
 \te deferred till the judgment is matured. If the instruction and useful information 
 which this work contains were early and strongly impressed on the infant and 
 youthful mind, it would effect an important change in society. 
 
 By devoting an hour every day, from infancy to manhood, to the reading of use 
 ful books, correct principles would be likely to be formed, which necessarily pro 
 duce right actions. It is the brutally ignorant, chiefly, both white and black, who 
 destroy themselves by strong drink, and who fill our State Prisons. As men be 
 come enlightened, they will leain that without regular industry they cannot enjoy 
 health or happiness ; and that the greatest and most lasting pleasure is afforded 
 by doing good to others. 
 
 It is hoped that parents and teachers generally, and all others who feel interest 
 ed in the improvement of the rising generation, and who tliink correct knowledge 
 beneficial to mankind, will procure the work, and will use their influence in pro 
 moting its circulation. 
 
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