Near the start of the Revolutionary War, William and
Alexander Macomb, Scots-Irish traders from New York, illegally purchased Grosse Isle from the Potawatomi people.
One of the most interesting literary curiosities from Michigan's territorial era is a play written by War of 1812 hero and native son
Alexander Macomb. Titled "Pontiac: or, The Siege of Detroit," the drama purports to be an accurate portrayal of the tumultuous events of 1763 and the Ottawa chieftain at the center of the rebellion.
To face the British juggernaut of nearly 11,000, supported by a fleet of one frigate, a brig, two sloops and 12 gunboats, the Americans had Brigadier General
Alexander Macomb heading up their land forces with 1,500 regular troops and 1,900 militia, while recently promoted Master Commandant Thomas Macdonough led his naval squadron consisting of one corvette, a brig, a schooner, a sloop and 10 gunboats.
Coincidentally, the Commanding General of the Army at that time was
Alexander Macomb, a former engineer officer.
The result, he claimed, was an army of men who "awoke from their stupor with abhorrence, anxious only to devise means how they are to escape from their dread condition." (15) Commanding General
Alexander Macomb firmly warned recruiters not to accept intoxicated men for the army and not to give the oath of service until twenty-four hours after the recruit signed the enlistment papers.
Alexander Macomb: Major General, Commander in Chief of American Army 1828- 1841.
Appendixes provide the orders of battle, lists of significant participants and casualties, original documents, and the after-action reviews sent by Macdonough, Army commander
Alexander Macomb, and the senior surviving officer of the Royal Navy.
Childless Lieutenant Robert Anderson told his mother Sarah that "you did not whip me as often as I deserved," but he promised to "have my boys whipped enough to make up for it." Colonel
Alexander Macomb (the commanding general from 1828 to 1841), who already had a son, wrote to Major John De Barth Walbach in 1825 criticizing severity as a method of child-rearing, specifically referring to Sylvanus Thayer's strict regulations as Superintendant at West Point.
Among the more successful were the anonymous Indian Wife (1830), Pontiac, or the Siege of Detroit by General
Alexander Macomb, and Metamora, or The Last of the Wampanoags by John A.
Alexander Macomb, commanding general of the army (1828-1836) and promoted to captain (June 1836); was assigned to staff duty in Washington (1836-1841), becoming assistant adjustant general with a promotion to major (1838); he served as chief of staff to Col.
Alexander Macomb's Pontiac, or, The Siege of Detroit (1835), produced in 1838 at the National Theater in Washington.
Established in 1776, just days after the Declaration of Independence was signed, the farm of William and
Alexander Macomb once occupied all of Grosse Ile.