Alexander Mackenzie (engineer)

{{Infobox military person

| name = Alexander Mackenzie

| birth_date= {{birth date|1844|05|25}}

| death_date= {{death date and age|1921|02|23|1844|05|25}}

| image = Alexander Mackenzie cph.3b34320.jpg

| caption = Brigadier General Alexander Mackenzie

| birth_place = Potosi, Territory of Wisconsin

| death_place = Washington, D.C.

| placeofburial=

| placeofburial_label= Place of burial

| allegiance = United States of America

| branch = United States Army

| serviceyears = 1864 - 1908, 1917

| rank = Major General

| commands = Chief of Engineers

| battles = American Civil War

| awards =

}}

Alexander Mackenzie (May 25, 1844 – February 23, 1921) was an American engineer.

Mackenzie was born May 25, 1844, in Potosi, Wisconsin{{cite news|title=Gen. Mackenzie Dies of Apoplexy in Bank|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14069538/alexander_mackenzie_18441921/|newspaper=Evening Star|date=February 24, 1921|page=7|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = September 29, 2017}} {{Open access}} and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1864. Commissioned in the United States Army Corps of Engineers, he served with the Union Army in Arkansas in 1864-65. Mackenzie spent six years commanding a company of engineer troops at Willets Point, New York, that experimented in the use of torpedoes (a.k.a. mines) in coastal defense. In 1879 he began a 16-year stint as Rock Island District Engineer. He built 100 miles of wing dams on the upper Mississippi River and produced a 40-foot channel between St. Paul and the mouth of the Missouri River. Called to Washington in 1895, he became Assistant to the Chief of Engineers in charge of all matters relating to river and harbor improvements.{{cite web |url=http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/history/Vignettes/Vignette_52.htm |title=Office of History No. 52 |access-date=2008-02-05 |publisher=United States Army Corps of Engineers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080204062102/http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/history/Vignettes/Vignette_52.htm |archive-date=2008-02-04 |url-status=dead }} He was the first senior member of the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, which reviewed improvements submitted by Corps of Engineer officers. He was a member of the general staff corps and War College Board when appointed Chief of Engineers on January 23, 1904. In that capacity Mackenzie reported on the federal statutes relating to water powerAlexander Mackenzie, [http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/united-states-inland-waterways-commission/preliminary-report-of-the-inland-waterways-commission-message-from-the-presiden-tin/page-70-preliminary-report-of-the-inland-waterways-commission-message-from-the-presiden-tin.shtml Preliminary Report of the Inland Waterways Commission, Section 19, Statutes Relating to Water Power] for the Inland Waterways Commission, which was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 and presented in its preliminary report transmitted to Congress on February 26, 1908.[http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/united-states-inland-waterways-commission/preliminary-report-of-the-inland-waterways-commission-message-from-the-presiden-tin/1-preliminary-report-of-the-inland-waterways-commission-message-from-the-presiden-tin.shtml United States Inland Waterways Commission. Preliminary report of the Inland Waterways Commission. Message from the President transmitting a preliminary report], February 26, 1908.

Mackenzie retired May 25, 1908, as a major general, he was recalled to active duty in 1917 at age 73 as Northwest Division Engineer serving again in Rock Island, Illinois.{{cite web|url=http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/History/coe2.htm |title=Portraits and Profiles Chief Engineer - 1775 to Present |access-date=2008-02-05 |publisher=United States Army Corps of Engineers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080531010815/http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/History/coe2.htm |archive-date=2008-05-31 |url-status=dead }}

General Mackenzie died of a stroke on February 23, 1921, at a bank in Washington, D.C. He was buried in Milwaukee.