General Alexander Macomb is a monumental statue in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The monument, designed by sculptor Adolph Alexander Weinman, was dedicated in 1908 in honor of Alexander Macomb, a Detroit native who had served as the Commanding General of the United States Army for several years in the early 1800s. The statue was dedicated on September 11, on the anniversary of the Battle of Plattsburgh, a War of 1812 battle that Macomb had participated in.
In recent years, the statue has come under criticism due to Macomb's connections to slavery and the mistreatment of Native Americans.
History
Background
Alexander Macomb was a Detroit native who was born into a wealthy family in 1782. As a young adult, he pursued a military career and served as a general officer in the United States Army during the War of 1812. For his participation in the Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814, he was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal and promoted to the rank of major general. Between 1828 and 1841, he served as the Commanding General of the United States Army, a position he would hold until his death in Washington, D.C. that same year. In the years following his death, his legacy was largely forgotten, with a 1901 article in The American Architect and Building News stating that the only monument in his honor was the one over his grave in the Congressional Cemetery.
Creation
In the early 1900s, erecting a monumental statue in honor of Macomb became a primary goal of the Michigan chapter of the National Society United States Daughters of 1812, a civic group consisting of descendants of veterans from the War of 1812. In March 1901, several sources reported that the Michigan chapter had approved of a design for a statue honoring Macomb from sculptor Louis Amateis. Leslie's Weekly reported that he had won a competition for the design, which would have depicted Macomb standing on a rampart, delivering directions to other soldiers. Additional bas reliefs would have depicted scenes from the Battle of Plattsburgh. The total cost for the project would have been approximately $15,000. Despite the announcement, Amateis's design for the monument would not come to fruition. However, the chapter continued their efforts and in 1902, thanks to assistance from Michigan's U.S. Senators Julius C. Burrows and James McMillan, of condemned cannons were appropriated from the United States Senate Committee on Military Affairs to provide the material for the statue's construction.
By 1906, the magazine The Search-Light reported that the Michigan chapter was still moving forward with plans to erect a monument to Macomb, utilizing the condemned cannons acquired from the U.S. Congress. The cost for the monument would be at most $10,000, and the government of Michigan and government of Detroit had appropriated $5,000 and $2,000, respectively, to the project. Additionally, the city provided a location for the monument: the southern end of a park along Washington Boulevard, facing Michigan Avenue. That same year, sculptor Adolph Alexander Weinman won a competition to design the statue. Weinman, who was 36-years-old at the time, had worked under several other notable sculptors of the era, including Daniel Chester French, Philip Martiny, Charles Henry Niehaus, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Olin Levi Warner. The casting of the statue was performed by the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company of New York City. Meanwhile, the stonework for the rest of the monument was performed by the Maine & New Hampshire Granite Co. of Portland, Maine. In total, the monument cost $12,000, with the Michigan chapter providing the remaining $5,000 for the project.
The statue was dedicated on September 11, 1908, on the anniversary of the Battle of Plattsburgh. The main speech at the ceremony was given by U.S. Representative Edwin Denby, while Beatrice Larned Whitney, the president of the Michigan chapter of the Daughters of 1812, also gave a speech. The statue was accepted on behalf of the city by Detroit Mayor William Barlum Thompson and was unveiled by a niece of Macomb's
Later history
Due to the positive reception of the statue, Weinman was later commissioned to design a second public statue in the city, one honoring Detroit Mayor William C. Maybury that was dedicated in 1912. In 1993, the monument was catalogued as part of the Save Outdoor Sculpture! project.