Montgomery Meigs Macomb (October 12, 1852 – January 19, 1924) was a United States Army Brigadier General. He was a veteran of the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

and

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and was notable for serving as commander of the Hawaiian Department, the Army War College, and

Fort Sill Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (136.8 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost . The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark ...

Early life

Montgomery M. Macomb was born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

on October 12, 1852. The son of

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

John Navarre Macomb and Ann Minerva Rodgers Macomb, the daughter of

John Rodgers John Rodgers may refer to: Military * John Rodgers (1728–1791), colonel during the Revolutionary War and owner of Rodgers Tavern, Perryville, Maryland * John Rodgers (naval officer, born 1772), U.S. naval officer during the War of 1812, first ...

. Montgomery Macomb was connected by ancestry and marriage to several prominent families, including those 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 ...

, Alexander Macomb, and

Montgomery C. Meigs Montgomery Cunningham Meigs (; May 3, 1816 – January 2, 1892) was a career United States Army officer and civil engineer, who served as Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army during and after the American Civil War. Meigs strongly opposed sec ...

. Macomb attended

Hughes Center High School Hughes STEM High School is a public high school located in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is part of the Cincinnati Public Schools. History The first Hughes High School was established in 1853 on property on Fifth and Mound streets. The school owes its ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

, and attended

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

from 1869 to 1870. He then transferred to the

United States Military Academy 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 ...

(West Point), from which he graduated in 1874. Ranked fourth in his class, his high standing facilitated his assignment to a coveted post with the

Field Artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

. (At the time, top graduates were usually selected for the

Engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the li ...

or Field Artillery.)

Start of career

His initial assignments were a posting to the

Presidio A presidio ( en, jail, fortification) was a fortified base established by the Spanish Empire around between 16th and 18th centuries in areas in condition of their control or influence. The presidios of Spanish Philippines in particular, were cen ...

(1874), Fort Wrangel, Alaska (1874–1875), and duty as aide-de-camp to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

(1875–1876). Macomb took part in the

Wheeler Survey The Wheeler Survey, carried out in 1872-1879, was one of the "Four Great Surveys" conducted by the US government after the Civil War primarily to document the geology and natural resources of the American West. Supervised by First Lieutenant (lat ...

of the western United States from 1876 to 1883, after which he carried out assignments at the Artillery School and with the

4th Field Artillery Regiment The 4th Field Artillery Regiment is a Field Artillery Branch regiment of the United States Army first formed in 1907. History The 4th Field Artillery Regiment was first activated in 1907 from numbered companies of artillery. It was first orga ...

. From 1887 to 1891 he was an instructor at West Point, teaching both mathematics and drawing. From 1891 to 1896 Macomb was assigned to special duty with the Intercontinental Railway Commission, using skills developed during the Wheeler Survey to carry out exploration, surveying and mapmaking of potential railroad routes in

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

and

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

America. He served with the 4th Field Artillery at

Fort Riley Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Ge ...

from 1896 to 1898.

Spanish–American War

During the

Macomb commanded Light Battery M,

7th Field Artillery Regiment The 7th Field Artillery Regiment is a United States Army field artillery regiment, whose lineage traces back to the early 20th century. Note that the lineage of the "7th Regiment of Artillery" constituted 8 March 1898 is carried by the 7th Ai ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

(1898–1900) and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

(1900–1902). Later in 1902 he was a member of the board which surveyed and reported on the defense of harbors in the Philippines.

Post-Spanish–American War

Montgomery Meigs Macomb (Brigadier General)

Upon returning to the United States in 1902 Macomb was appointed to the Army Ordnance Board and the Board of Ordnance and Fortification. In 1904 and 1905 he was a US military

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accord ...

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...

during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, and observed the battles of

Liaoyang Liaoyang () is a prefecture-level city of east-central Liaoning province, China, situated on the Taizi River. It is approximately one hour south of Shenyang, the provincial capital, by car. Liaoyang is home to Liaoning University's College of F ...

Shaho Shaho ( ku, شاھۆ ,Şaho) is a mountain of the central Zagros Mountains range. It is located between cities of Kamyaran, Sarvabad, Marivan, Nowdeshah, Nowsud, Paveh, Javanrud, Ravansar in the district of Kurdistan and Kermanshah provinces, ...

, and

Mukden Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu name Mukden, is a major Chinese sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. Located in central-north Liaoning, it is the provinc ...

. Macomb used his observations in Manchuria to author several professional journal articles on the use of

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...

s. He commanded an artillery sub-post at Ft. Riley from 1906 to 1908 and organized the

6th Field Artillery Regiment The 6th Field Artillery Regiment is a Field Artillery Branch regiment of the United States Army first activated in 1907 from numbered companies of artillery. It was first organized with two battalions. 6th Field Artillery assigned 8 June 1917 t ...

, of which he was the first commander. From 1908 to 1910 he served on the Army staff at the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...

and as president of the Field Artillery Examining Board. He was promoted to

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointe ...

in November, 1910. In 1910 Macomb was one of the founders of the United States Field Artillery Association, and served as its first president. Macomb commanded the District of Hawaii from 1911 to 1913, and the Department of Hawaii from 1913 to 1914. He commanded the 1st Hawaiian Brigade from 1913 to 1914. During his assignments in Hawaii Macomb also served on the board of officers that surveyed

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O ...

and planned its defenses (the Macomb Board). From 1914 to 1916 Macomb was President of the Army War College. He served on the Army staff from June to October, 1916, when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 64.

World War I

Macomb requested to return to active duty for

. In October, 1917 he was appointed to command

, where he oversaw the mobilization and training of soldiers preparing to serve in combat in France. He retired again in June, 1918.

Retirement, death and burial

Montgomery Meigs Macomb grave - Arlington National Cemetery - 2011

In retirement Macomb resided in Washington, D.C. He died there on January 19, 1924 and was buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

, Section 1, Grave 157.

Family

Macomb was married to Caroline Luce Walter Macomb (1857–1933), the daughter of Stephen Bleecker Luce, a

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

and the first President of the

Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associ ...

Legacy

Macomb Ridge at

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

is named for him. Macomb had mapped the Yosemite area as part of the Wheeler Survey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macomb, Montgomery Meigs 1852 births 1924 deaths United States Army Field Artillery Branch personnel Military personnel from Detroit People from Washington, D.C. Livingston family United States Army generals United States Military Academy alumni American military personnel of the Spanish–American War People of the Russo-Japanese War United States Army generals of World War I Burials at Arlington National Cemetery