James Armstrong (abt. 1750 - 1800)

Born about 1750 in Province of New Jersey [uncertain]

Died 1800 at about age 50 in McIntosh County, Georgia, United States

Biography

Col. James Armstrong served with 1st Continental Light Dragoons (1776), Continental Army during the American Revolution.

"...he died beloved and he died lamented."

Col. James Armstrong: born abt. 1750 in either Ireland or New Jersey; died June 1800, McIntosh County, Ga; first wife unknown; second wife Sarah Forsyth, married March 1791 Augusta, Ga.

According to a a query by a Mr. Cochran in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography #29 (1905) on pages 483 and 484 Mr. Cochran states that James and John were the eldest sons of Thomas Armstrong of the Parish of Donagheady, County Tyron, Ireland, and a first wife not mentioned. James was probably born in Ireland and John was born 20th of April 1755 in New Jersey and later moving to Northumberland, Pennsylvania, where he was a resident of Mahoning Township at the time of his (Thomas) death leaving a will dated 25 September 1783 in which both sons are named.

Boatner says there were at least 25 Armstrong men commissioned in the American Revolution from nine colonies. In the 1790 Pennsylvania census there were ninety heads of household named Armstrong.^[1]

James was the was Quartermaster, Second Battalion Pennsylvania under General George Washington from the 20th Feb. 1776. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant In 21 May 1776 It was disbanded and reorganized as the Third Pennsylvania Regiment. The brothers reenlisted and they were in New Jersey with little action.

While in the 3rd Regiment, Pennsylvania Line in1777 he was court martialed for "acting in a scandalous manner"^[2]while off duty in Peeks Kill, NY. and let off with a reprimand. ^[3]

James transferred as 1st Lieutenant with the 2nd Cavalry of Col. Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee's Legion 1 Apr. 1777.

He was in Lee's Legend at the raid of Paulus Hook August the 19th 1779. Lee allowed him to lead the charge. "Light Horse Harry" Lee mentions him several times in his self serving History of the Revolution

Lee mentions Armstrong in his Memoirs saying that he was "...one of the most gallant of the brave, too apt to bury in the confidence he reposed in his sword those consideration which prudence suggest. He was the first and only horse officer of the Legion captured in the war."

Captured December 30th 1778. Taken prisoner by British Major Coffin at Garden's Plantation, Dorchester, SC and was a prisoner at the end of the war. Lee, in his memoirs of the war of the Southern Department was in error regarding this date of Armstrong's capture ^[4]

Armstrong served continuously in the American Revolutionary War and achieved the rank of Major. In 1783 he became an original member in the Georgia Society of the Cincinnati. His brother was Lt. John Armstrong of the Pennsylvania Continental Guard and a founding member ofSociety of the Cincinnati in Pennsylvania.

In1786 he established himself in Georgia and commanded a company of Dragoons patrolling the Florida frontier

In November of 1787 he was appointed Colonel of the 1st. Regiment of the Georgia Militia.

After the war, he settled in Camden County, Georgia, where he served in the state assembly in 1787 and 1790. Armstrong was elected to the state's Executive Council in 1788 and was serving on that body when the Electoral College met.

This is a letter dated June 22, 1788] from Colonel James Armstrong of the Georgia Guard to the Governor of Georgia (George Handley, 1788-1789).

In the first election of 1789 George Washington was elected president. James Armstrong of Georgia, was one of ten prominent Americans of the day to receive honorary nominations for Vice President of the United States.

"On June 28th, died in his 72nd year, at the seat of COL. F. O'NEAL, JAMES ARMSTRONG, Esq., late Major in U.S. Army. Buried on 29th. July 29, 1800. [The Columbian Museum & Savannah Advertiser]

He died in the home of Ferdinand O'Neil, McIntosh, GA on the 21st of June 1800. ^[5][6].

Alexander Garden wrote in his epitaph: "...ever high in the esteem and affection of his associates, admired and respected in every society, he died beloved and he died lamented."

Acknowledgements

Valerie Sallis, Archivist, The Society of the Cincinnati

Sources

1. ↑ [Boatner, Mark M. III (1994). Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Mechanicsburg, Pa. Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-0578-1.
2. ↑ VIRTUTIS PRAEMIUM The Men Who Founded the State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania by Kilbourne, John Dwight pg. 241
3. ↑ Washington's Writings, edited by Fitzpatrick, Volume XII pg 256, 257, Library of Congress
4. ↑ McCrady's History of South Carolina
5. ↑ Georgia Gazette, July 31, 1800
6. ↑ From: Marriages and Obituaries from Early Georgia Newspapers, abstracted by Judge Folks Huxford, F.A.S.G., Southern Historical Press, Inc, Easley, POB 738, SC 29641-0738, 1989, pg 107, pg. 193

• Service Record of James Armstrong

VIRTUTIS PRAEMIUM The Men Who Founded the State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania by Kilbourne, John Dwight

ISBN 10: 0897253345 / 0-89725-334-5

ISBN 13: 9780897253345

Publisher: Picton Press

Publication Date: 1998

2 vol. Set with a total of 1,504pp., dust jacket, printed endpapers, photos, 14,516 entry Every Name Index. 1998. 2 vol. set

From 1775 to 1783 Pennsylvania soldiers of the Continental Army fought the battles of the American Revolution, being transformed into soldiers by their officer corps. This study is the story of some of those officers who, like their men, were often unclothed, hungry, ill and unpaid.

In 1783 nearly 300 of these officers elected to become Original Members of the State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania, the oldest patriotic-lineal society in the world.

This is a unique record of a cross-section of Pennsylvania's eighteenth-century inhabitants