A daguerreotype of John Armstrong Jr, 1840. Armstrong was the last surviving delegate to the Continental Congress, dying in 1843. He is the only delegate to have been photographed
John Armstrong Jr. (November 25,
1758 – April 1, 1843) was a soldier and statesman, delegate to the Continental
Congress, U.S. Senator from New York, and Secretary of War
Talk about an accomplished life.
He was born in Carlisle,
Pennsylvania, the younger son of General John Armstrong a renowned Pennsylvania
soldier born in Ireland of Scottish descent. John Jr.'s older brother was James
Armstrong, who became a physician and U.S. Congressman.
John broke off his studies in
Princeton in 1775 to return to Pennsylvania and join the fight in the
Revolutionary War. Armstrong appointed
as aide-de-camp to General Hugh Mercer and carried the wounded and dying Mercer
from the field at the Battle of Princeton. Armstrong then became an aide to
General Horatio Gates.
In 1783 Armstrong became an
Original Member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati. He was named the
Adjutant General of Pennsylvania's militia and served as Secretary of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under Presidents Dickinson and Franklin. In 1784,
he led a military force of four hundred militiamen into a controversy with
Connecticut settlers in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania.
Armstrong, a Jeffersonian Republican, was elected in November 1800 to a term ending
in March 1801. He took his seat on November 6 and was re-elected on January 27
for a full term (1801–07), but resigned on February 5, 1802.
In February 1804, Armstrong was
elected again to the U.S. Senate. President Jefferson appointed him U.S.
Minister to France, and also represented the United States at the court of Spain
in 1806.
When the War of 1812 broke out,
Armstrong commissioned as a Brigadier General, and placed in charge of the
defenses for the port of New York. In 1813 President Madison named him
Secretary of War. Armstrong was so convinced that the British would 'not'
attack Washington D.C. that he did nothing to defend the city even when it
became clear it was the objective of the invasion force. After the destruction
of Washington, Madison, usually a forgiving man, forced him to resign in
September 1814.
He published a number of
histories, biographies, and some works on agriculture. He died at La Bergerie,
the farm estate he built in Red Hook, New York in 1843.