VA Reburies War of 1812 General at Congressional Cemetery

  Agencies Collaborate on Grave Restoration

WASHINGTON – Descendants of a War of 1812 general officer who died in 1841 witnessed his re-interment during a ceremony July 17 at a historic gravesite administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). 

The remains of Maj. Gen. Alexander Macomb and his wife, Catherine, were placed in their underground burial vault, which partially collapsed and was recently repaired in Congressional Cemetery here.

The ceremony began at the cemetery’s chapel, where a box holding the remains was displayed in front, as in a traditional funeral.  Along with family descendants in attendance were representatives of the Smithsonian Institution, the Army and the National Park Service.

“This event is a dramatic collaboration among preservation organizations within agencies of the federal and District government, and with the private Congressional Cemetery, to ensure the proper rehabilitation of historic properties,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake.  “I’m proud that VA’s Construction Office and History Program stepped up to the challenge.”

Macomb was born in Detroit in 1782 and distinguished himself during the War of 1812.  His success holding off a larger British force at the Battle of Plattsburgh, N.Y., earned him the rank of major general and a Congressional Gold Medal.  Later, he attained the rank of commanding general.  At his death in 1841, Macomb was buried with the highest military honors in a ceremony attended by President John Tyler, members of Congress and other dignitaries.

Archaeologists from the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History excavated the site last month and temporarily housed the remains.  In the excavation, Smithsonian archaeologists found most of Macomb’s wooden coffin exterior had deteriorated, but a metal coffin liner still held his skeletal remains.  Found on the coffin was a silver name plate with the text: “Alexander Macomb, Major General Commanding in Chief the Army of the United States, Born Detroit Michigan, Died at Washington, 25^th June 1841.”

In 1973, VA’s cemetery system inherited from the Army the stewardship of more than 800 grave sites in the non-profit cemetery, most of them containing the remains of veterans.  Included among the sites are 168 above-ground stone cenotaphs that memorialize members of Congress who were buried in the mid-1800s, plus two monuments, one of them on Macomb’s grave. 

The cenotaphs and monuments were restored by National Park Service stone masons and conservators in an ongoing project begun in 2006 at a cost to VA of $1.75 million. Repair of the Macomb vault and monument – a 13-foot-high marble obelisk crowned with a helmet — was estimated to cost $24,000. 

Organizations involved in the Macomb tomb restoration included: the Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center, the Museum of Natural History’s Department of Anthropology, the District of Columbia Historic Preservation Office, VA’s National Cemetery Administration and the Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery.

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