John Navarre Macomb Jr., was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

topographical engineer and explorer of the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

. Captain Macomb led the 1859 San Juan Exploring Expedition, whose purpose was to find a military supply route from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and to map previously unexplored areas along the route. The expedition included the botanist and geologist

John Strong Newberry John Strong Newberry (December 22, 1822 – December 7, 1892) was an American physician, geologist and paleontologist. He participated as a naturalist and surgeon on three expeditions to explore and survey the western United States. During the C ...

, who made notable scientific observations along the route.

Early life

Macomb was born on 9 April 1811 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and was the great grandson of

Philip Livingston Philip Livingston (January 15, 1716 – June 12, 1778) was an American merchant and statesman from New York City. He represented New York at the October 1774 First Continental Congress, where he favored imposing economic sanctions upon Great B ...

, a signer of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

. Am 1832 graduate of

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

, he participated in the Black Hawk Expedition. He married a cousin, Czarina Carolina Macomb, in 1838, with whom he had two children. She died in 1846. Macomb remarried in 1850, to Ann Minverva Rodgers ("Nannie"), with whom he had six children. He was promoted to captain in the Corps of Topographical Engineers in 1851 and conducted surveys in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

until 1856. That year, he was named chief topographical engineer of the territory of

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

Macomb Expedition

The Macomb Expedition of 1859 was a consequence of the

Utah War The Utah War (1857–1858), also known as the Utah Expedition, Utah Campaign, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the US go ...

, in which the U.S. Army had suffered from serious logistical difficulties. Macomb sought to find a route for military supplies from Santa Fe to central Utah, and also to map the unexplored regions along the route. Though originally political and military in nature, the expedition became "a quintessential scientific endeavor". However, the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

delayed publication of the report of the expedition until 1876, and it has tended to be overshadowed by the great survey expeditions of the post-Civil War period.

American Civil War

Macomb served as a staff officer during the Civil War.

Later life

Macomb died in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, on March 16, 1889.

References

United States Army Corps of Engineers personnel United States Army officers American explorers 1811 births 1889 deaths {{US-engineer-stub

Early life

Macomb Expedition

American Civil War

Later life

See also

References