ALEXANDER MACOMB, (1748-1831). Commanding General of the U.S. Army (1828-41), who Received the Congressional Gold Medal for his great military Victory at the Battle of Plattsburgh during the War of 1812; American fur trader, merchant; land speculator known for purchasing nearly four million acres from the State of New York after the Revolutionary War.
THOMAS SIDNEY JESUP, (1788-1860). United States Army officer known as the "Father of the Modern Quartermaster Corps". Jesup’s 52-year (1808-1860) military career was one of the longest in the history of the United States Army; Brigadier General 1818; Brevet Major General 1828.
1834-Dated, Unique Dual-Sided Sheet including; Autograph Letter Signed, “Alex: Macomb / Washington 1834” measuring 8.75” x 10.5”, (Two-sided Sheet), handwritten and signed on wove period paper, (this item, presumed to be from an friend’s personal autograph collection), Very Fine. There are traces of a few scattered stamp hinges and tone. One side is Handwritten, Signed and dated, “Alex: Macomb”, who was the Commanding General of the U.S. Army from 1828-41, and who received the United States Congressional Gold Medal for his great military Victory at the Battle of Plattsburgh, during the War of 1812.
The opposite side is handwritten, Signed and dated, “Th. S. Jesup / Washington City, June 9th 1834”, being a Poem addressed at top left in another hand “To Miss E. W. Ward”. Brigadier General Thomas Sidney Jesup and the second longest serving Quartermaster General in U.S. history, at 42 years. Both signatories were Army Generals who served in the Seminole Wars and were friends. On one side, Jesup has written a Poem to the daughter of a friend of his (purported to be General J. H. Hobart Ward).
On the other side, Alexander Macomb writes some personal thoughts about the Science of autography (sic), writing in part:
"If Phrenology is the science of the mind as connected with the supposed organs of thought ... why may not the study of autographs lead to the establishment of a science by which the various dispositions of men may be discovered? there is certainly a strong affinity between the hand and the heart, and perhaps Miss Ward may, when she shall have completed her collection of autographs form a system on autography that may prove fully as useful as Phrenology."
The sheet is trimmed on this side which clips part of the location “Washington” whereby only the top portion is readable, yet is clearly identifiable, and just below the “1834” date. The signature, “Alex: Macomb” is elegantly written in rich brown ink and very clear, measuring a large 3.5” long at the letter’s conclusion.
Thomas Jesup was born in Berkeley County, Virginia (now West Virginia). He began his military career in 1808, and served in the War of 1812, seeing action in the battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane in 1814, where he was wounded. He was appointed Quartermaster General on May 8, 1818, by President James Monroe.
n 1836, while Jesup was still officially Quartermaster General, President Andrew Jackson detached him first to deal with the Creek tribe in Georgia and Alabama, and then to assume command of all U.S. troops in Florida during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842).
His capture of Seminole leaders Osceola and Micanopy under a false flag of truce provoked controversy in the United States and abroad. Many newspapers called for an inquiry and his firing but the government supported its general, and at the conclusion of the hostilities, Jesup returned to his official post. He was famously quoted as having declared about the Seminole that "[t]he country can be rid of them only by exterminating them."
During the Mexican-American War, Jesup traveled from his headquarters in Washington, D.C., to oversee the supplying of troops in Mexico. He served as Quartermaster General for 42 years, having the second longest continual service in the same position in U.S. military history (George Gibson served as Commissary General of the US Army for 43 years, from 1818 until 1860).
Jesup died in office in Washington, D.C., in June 10, 1860 at age 72. |