page_title: Edwin A. McAlpin
section_title: Military career
hierarchical_section_title: Edwin A. McAlpin / Biography / Military career
caption_attribution_description: English: Line drawing of Anne Brandreth McAlpin, wife of General Edwin A. McAlpin, Adjutant General of the New York under Governor Morton, commander of the 71st Regiment of the New York Militia, (Later the New York Guard). McAlpin was involved in the tobacco industry and was a prominent activist in the Republican Party in New York.
context_page_description: General Edwin Augustus McAlpin was president of the D.H. McAlpin & Co., a tobacco manufacturer. He built the Hotel McAlpin in New York City, at the time the largest hotel in the world. He had an active military career in the New York National Guard and was appointed Adjutant General of New York by the Governor. He was president of the American Boy Scouts and the Mayor of Ossining, New York.
context_section_description: General McAlpin was born June 9, 1848, the son of David Hunter McAlpin, a prominent tobacco manufacturer in New York City, and Adelaide Rose McAlpin, in Ossining, New York. McAlpin attended public school for a time, then graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts in 1861. Following his graduation, McAlpin joined his father’s company, D. H. McAlpin & Co. With the outbreak of hostilities, McAlpin enlisted in the Civil War as a drummer boy , but his father rescinded the action due to his youth at age 17.
  After the end of the war, he was old enough to enlist in his own right and in 1869 joined the 7th Regiment of the New York Militia, (later the New York Guard) with the rank of Private.
  In 1874 McAlpin attained the rank of First Lieutenant in the 71st Infantry Regiment (New York) where he was promoted in 1885 to Colonel, a role he retained until his military retirement in 1887. McAlpin had inherited a disorganized and dispirited regiment which was in danger of being disbanded by the State of New York. He aggressively cut dead wood from the ranks and reorganized the officer ranks to the extent that the "Army and Navy Journal" called it on July 18, 1885 "virtually a new regiment, so much has its personnel changed during the past six months..." The Journal placed the credit squarely on McAlpin's shoulders writing, "Colonel Edwin A. McAlpin, the but recently elected commander, has certainly developed energy, pluck and good sense in the management of his organization, which has, in turn, been followed by most encouraging results..."
  After retiring from the service he was appointed Adjutant General of the State by Governor Levi P. Morton, in 1895 with the rank of Major General. In this role he deployed his units to suppress several disorders in the New York City vicinity, but saw no formal combat.
caption: Anne Brandreth McAlpin, wife of General E.A. McAlpin
exif: {}