John Armstrong Jr

ARMSTRONG, John, soldier, born in Carlisle, Pa., 25 Nov., 1758; died at Red Hook, N.Y., 1 April, 1843.

He was the son of Gen. John Armstrong, and entered the Revolutionary army as a volunteer in 1775. He served as aide-de-camp to Gen. Hugh Mercer, and afterward to Gen. Horatio Gates, and was present at the battles of Saratoga and Germantown.

In 1783 he wrote the “Newburgh Letters,” which were intended to stir up the officers of the army to demand their pay and pensions from Congress. Though anonymous, they were generally attributed to Armstrong, and caused considerable excitement.

After the war he studied law, and was appointed secretary of the state of Pennsylvania. He was elected U.S. senator in 1800, and in 1804 was appointed minister to France. He was recalled in 1810, and in 1812 was made brigadier-general. In 1813 he became secretary of war under President James Madison, and held the office during the war with Great Britain.

He was censured for the capture of Washington by the British in 1814, and resigned. He afterward lived in retirement at Red Hook, N.Y., where he wrote several historical and political essays.

Source:
Wilson, James Grant, and John Fiske, eds. Appleton’s Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1887. Patriot Echoes Archive