ARMSTRONG, JOHN American soldier, diplomatist and political leader, born at Carlisle (Pa.) on Nov. 25, 1758. His father, also named John Armstrong a native of the north of Ireland, who had emigrated to the Pennsyl vania frontier between 1745 and 1748, served as a brigadier gen eral and was a member of the Continental Congress in 1779-80 and again in 1787-88. The son studied for a time at the college of New Jersey (now Princeton university), and served as a major in the Revolutionary War. In March 1783, while the continental army was stationed at Newburgh (q.v.) (N.Y.), he wrote and issued, anonymously, the famous "Newburgh Addresses." In 1784 he led a force of Pennsylvania militia against the Connecticut settlers in Wyoming valley, and treated them in such a high handed manner as to incur the disapproval even of the Pennsyl vania legislature. In 1789 he married the sister of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York, and removed to New York city, where his own ability and his family connection gave him great political influence. In 18o1-o2 and again in 18o3-o4 he was a member of the U.S. Senate. From 1804 to 1810 he was the U.S. minister to France, and in March 1806 he was joined with James Bowdoin as a special minister to treat through France with Spain concerning the acquisition of Florida, Spanish spoliations of American commerce and the "Louisiana" boundary. During the War of 1812, he was a brigadier-general in the United States army from July until Jan. 1813, and from then until August 1814 secretary of war in the cabinet of President Madison, when his unpopularity forced him to resign. "In spite of Armstrong's services, abilities and experience," says Henry Adams, "some thing in his character always created distrust. He had every ad vantage of education, social and political connection, ability and self-confidence; . . . but he suffered from the reputation of indolence and intrigue." Nevertheless, he "introduced into the army an energy wholly new," an energy the results of which were apparent "for half a century." He died at Red Hook (N.Y.), April 1, 1843. He published Notices of the War of 1812 (1836; new ed., 1840), which is greatly impaired by its partiality.
The best account of Armstrong's career as minister to France and as secretary of war may be found in Henry Adams's History of the United States, 1801-1817 (1889-90).