Like many of his fellow Scots-Irish John Gordon Macomb decided to seek his fortune in America. From his business in Bridge Street in Belfast he would watch the ships coming into the mouth of the Farset which now flows beneath High Street. The quayside was where the Albert Clock stands and nearby the name 'Skipper Street' is still a reminder of those days as this was where the captains found lodging when ashore. He was already a successful merchant in Belfast and decided to follow the army realising the potential of being a supplier to the troops. Taking his wife Jane and his young sons Alexander and William with their sister Anne he left Dunturkey, Ballynure and embarked on a ship from Belfast for the New World. He settled in Albany where he provided the officers with a range of luxury goods, wines, books and snuff. Soon they entrusted him with other duties which included arranging allotments paid to mistresses and placing in apprenticeships the illegitimate children of officers who had died! As the Seven Years War with France brought in more regiments John Macomb prospered and he was appointed a county judge. In 1775 when the American colonies declared their independence John remained loyal to Britain and raised a body of 500 men to support General Burgoyne at the Battle of Bennington, where his own son in law was killed. This time he found himself on the losing side after Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga and he suffered misfortune. He later described how he was hunted through the woods by a group determined to hang him. In 1883 he wrote to London claiming compensation for his personal losses.

 

His son Alexander was only seven when he left Ballynure and was to make his mark at an early age in his adopted country. At eighteen in 1766 he made his way west to Detroit which at that time was on the frontier. He began trading with the Indians and soon was responsible for about a third of the fur trade exporting through New York as well as along the St. Lawrence. The success of the venture was largely as a result of Alexander's access to a supply of cheap rum which he could offer the Indians in exchange for their furs. In partnership with his brother William he also traded with townspeople and provided supplies for those pushing further west. Their first ledger recorded supplying a Mrs. Labute, perhaps a shopkeeper, with rum, wine, dry goods, animal skins and gunpowder, and billing her 32 pounds, 2 shillings, 6 pence New York currency. At the age of 26 Alexander was clearly one of the emerging entrepreneurs, many of whom shared an Ulster-Scots Presbyterian background. The business was so profitable he was able to invest £100,000 in New York. He did a great deal of business with the Indians and one of his most sought after lines was scalping knives. While William like his father remained loyal to the British connection trading through Canada Alexander embraced the new American state after the War of Independence. He moved to New York where he set up an impressive home on Broadway which he leased for a time to George Washington. Alexander had twenty five servants including twelve slaves to look after his wife and ten children. He turned his attention to buying large tracts of land from a government which needed money and by 1891 he had acquired 4.5 million acres. However he began to speculate in shares which proved unwise and together with the expense of his luxuries drained his reserves and he ended as a bankrupt.

His son, who was also named Alexander, was born on 3rd April 1782 while the family still lived in Detroit. When they moved to New York the young boy received a classical education at Newark in New Jersey. At sixteen he enrolled in a New York Militia company and moved on to the regular army and was quickly promoted. He received much of his training at the recently founded West Point Academy. Following the family tradition he proved the ideal officer to deal with the Indians of the South east.

In 1803 he married his cousin Catherine Macomb. Some years later he was organising coastal defences in Georgia when he was invited to Washington to assist the Secretary of War in organising and providing stores for the new regiments as war with Britain drew closer. Once again he followed a family tradition and made such a good job of it that when the war began in 1812 he was made colonel and given charge of the 3rd Artillery placing him in command of twenty companies, each with one hundred and eighteen men. In those days it was the responsibility of the commander to actually find recruits and he quickly did so in New York.

He took his men to Sacketts Harbour where more volunteers joined them and Alexander Macomb trained them to be a disciplined fighting force. However he was disappointed not to be allowed to attack Canada as winter closed in and the rivers froze. By the Spring he set off by boat on the Great Lakes, passing without knowing a schooner bringing orders that he should remain at Sacketts Harbour. His men carried out a successful attack on Fort George before he had to return to his base. In the summer of 1813 he was on the St. Lawrence and in the following year engaged a British fleet at Plattsburg. A British army of sixteen thousand trained soldiers was preparing to march south into New York State. General Macomb, as he was by then, had two and a half thousand mainly new recruits. The advice of all was to abandon his position but Alexander felt that would be dishonourable and his resolution encouraged volunteers to join him as his army swelled to ten thousand.

The general ordered that the wooden planks of the bridges to the town should be pulled up. The wood was quickly used to provide defence works for the gunners. As the engagement began one officer described the shooting 'like burning lava". As a result the British troops moved back to camp two miles from the town. In the next few days the town awaited the expected attack. It came from the sea as well as land and the soldiers were able to watch the exchange of firing between the ships. In the end the crown forces withdrew leaving large quantities of supplies behind in the woods.

For Alexander Macomb it was the victory which secured him a place in American military history. Congress expressed the thanks of the country and voted to award him a Gold Medal. The President promoted him to the rank of Major-General. He returned to Detroit after the war and with the command of the entire northwest frontier. Later he was invited to return to Washington where he was to become Commander in Chief of the American Army until his death on 25th June 1841 at the age of fifty nine.

Soldiers returning from the war named towns and counties in honour of their commander. They include Macomb in Illinois

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