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Armstrong, John (General congressman author)

general, congressman, author, was born Nov. 25, 1758, in Carlisle, Pa. He served as an officer in the revolutionary war. At the close of the war, in order to obtain redress for the grievances of the officers of the army, he prepared the celebrated Newburgh Letters; was a delegate to the continental congress in 1778 and 1787, from Pennsylvania; was made secretary of state and adjutant-general of the state; to him was intrusted the direction of the last Pennsylvania war against the Connecticut settlers of Wyoming. Returning to New York, he was sent to the senate of the United States, serving from 1800 to 1804, when he resigned. On the return of Chancellor Livingston from the French embassy, he was commissioned minister in his place, in 1804; and was also appointed a commissioner plenipotentiary to Spain.

Returning to his own country, he was appointed a brigadier-general in 1812; and in 1813, secretary of war. He was the author of Notes on the War of 1812; Treatise on Gardening; Treatise on Agriculture; and other works. He died April 1, 1843, in Red Hook, N. Y.