Major General John Armstrong (1717-1795)

Major General John Armstrong (1717-1795). First Citizen of Carlisle. , This stone marks the grave of Major General John Armstrong, “First Citizen of Carlisle” and “Hero of Kittanning”., Armstrong was born October 13, 1717 in Ireland and settled in the Cumberland Valley sometime between 1745-1748. As a surveyor for the William Penn family, he and William Lyon laid out the town of Carlisle in 1750. He also assisted in surveying the road from Alexandria, Virginia to Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh) which was used by British General Edward Braddock before his defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela in 1755., On September 8, 1756, as a lieutenant colonel in the Pennsylvania militia, Armstrong led 300 soldiers from the Cumberland Valley in a successful attack of the Delaware Indian village of Kittanning in Western Pennsylvania, following repeated French-inspired attacks on colonial settlements. As a colonel, he commanded Pennsylvania militia during the successful 1758 Forbes Expedition to capture French held Fort Duquesne and was given the honor of raising the British flag over the captured fort. Later, as a major general in command of Pennsylvania militia during the Revolutionary war, he fought at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. During their service together in the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars, General Armstrong developed a lifelong friendship with General George Washington., In his long career of public service, Armstrong also served as an assemblyman for York and Cumberland Counties, as a Cumberland County judge, was President of the Dickenson College Board of Trustees for nine years, and was twice elected as a member of the Continental Congress., Armstrong died at age 77 on March 9, 1795 in Carlisle. Armstrong Hall at Carlisle Barracks and Armstrong County in Pennsylvania are named in his honor., A Project of Historic Carlisle, Inc.