| Birth: | Oct. 13, 1717, Northern Ireland (Ulster) | | Death: | Mar. 9, 1795
Carlisle
Cumberland County
Pennsylvania, USA | 
Revolutionary War Major General. He received his education in Ireland and became a civil engineer. He came to Pennsylvania as a surveyor for the Penn family. He laid out the plans for Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1750 and became one of its first settlers. He was then appointed as surveyor for the newly established Cumberland County. When the French and Indian Wars began, he was a colonel in charge of militia troops stationed in Cumberland County. When a group of Indians and Frenchmen overtook Fort Granville and captured prisoners that were taken back to their fortified village of Kittanning on the Allegheny River, it was Armstrong that led an expedition that destroyed their village and rescued the prisoners. He led the "Forbes Expedition" of 2,700 Pennsylvania troops that forced the French to evacuate and blow up Fort Duquesne. There was another militia commander on that expedition who became a good friend of Armstrong, Colonel George Washington. Armstrong began the Revolutionary War as a brigadier general in the Pennsylvania militia, but on March 1, 1776, the Congress appointed him to the same rank in the Continental Army. With his engineering skill he was sent to Charleston to contribute to the construction of its defense. Later he returned to his regular army and Pennsylvania militia duties. His Continental Army duties ended when he accepted the position of Major General in the militia, but his war duties and cooperation with General Washington would continue. He would participate valiantly in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, but with only modest success. At the age of sixty, his health not being what it once was, and old wounds bothering him, he was allowed to leave active command after Germantown. He was elected to the Continental Congress after returning to his home town of Carlisle and served from 1877 to 1878, strongly supporting Washington and the army. He was elected to the Congress again in its final days of 1787 and 1788 and was firm in supporting a new United States Constitution. In 1880, when Pennsylvania formed a new county at Kittanning, where he first became a hero, it was named Armstrong County in his honor. (bio by: Tom Todd)
Search Amazon for John Armstrong Sr. | | | Burial:
Old Graveyard
Carlisle
Cumberland County
Pennsylvania, USA |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Record added: Aug 06, 2002
Find A Grave Memorial# 6664788 |
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