Robert A. Armstrong

ROBERT ARMSTRONG FATHER OF JACK ARMSTRONG THAT WRESTLED ABE LINCOLN --HE WAS A REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIER NORTH CAROLINA HE MIGRATED TO ILLINOIS WITH CLARY FAMILY HE TAUGHT AT CLARY,S GROVE BAPTIST CHURCH IN 1822

Biography

Robert Armstrong was the father of Jack Armstrong who wrestled Abe Lincoln. Robert was a Revolutionary War soldier from North Carolina. He migrated to Illinois with the Clary family; he taught at Clary's Grove Baptist Church in 1822. Robert was buried at the Old Concord Cemetery, Petersburg, Menard County, Illinois.[1]

At the time of the Revolutionary War, Robert Armstrong was living with his parents on Crowder's Creek at Hornet's Nest, near King's Mountain, in Tryon County, North Carolina. This area, later in Lincoln County, is now in Gaston County, near the South Carolina border.

In 1778, a call was made by the North Carolina Assembly for troops "to suppress all insurrections against the cause of American liberty". The quota for Tryon County was 83. Robert Armstrong enlisted as a substitute for his father, a practice not uncommon in those days. According to his widow's pension application in later years, Robert was a private in the North Carolina militia. "He drove a team part of the time but was with teh Horse Company generally." He fought in the Battle of Brier Creek (where he lost his horse, his saddle and bridle, and his greatcoat) and in other engagements; he enlisted for ten more months, but did not complete this enlistment before the war ended.

The Battle of Brier Creek, on 3 March 1779 in Georgia, was a disaster for the Americans. The enemy destroyed the bridge across Brier Creek, then circled 50 miles and attacked the Americans from the rear, forcing them toward the creek. The Americans fired for only a few minutes, then fled in disorder, plunging into the swamp or the river, where many were drowned.

Nancy's application for a pension said "... that she and all the family have often heard him relate the particulars of losing his horse and all his clothing, but he and several others swam the Savana River and some drowned and those that got through were nearly naked and one man got an old box and cut a hole for his head and put it on for a shirt." Robert Armstrong was lucky to have lost only his horse and clothing.

Nancy's claim for a pension was rejected for lack of evidence. The War Department had some sixteen Robert Armstrongs in their incomplete records, but failed to recognize Nancy's Robert as one of them. However, the Illinois Historical Society accepted her statements. In Vol. 19 of the Society's Journal, Robert Armstrong was included in an article, "Revolutionary Soldiers Buried in Illinois," and in 1932 the D.A.R. placed a marker on his grave.

Another Robert Armstrong, older than our Robert, lived in Lincoln County, N.C., and some researchers have confused the two. The older Robert owned a great deal of land, as county deed books show, and was a member in 1776 of Tryon County's Safety Committee (Colonial Records of N.C., Vol X:440). Our Robert, not yet 16 at that time, would hardly have been serving on such a committee, composed of community leaders. The older Robert appeared in Lincoln County in the censuses of 1790, 1800, and 1810. Our Robert moved to Tennessee about 1795 and to Illinois about 1818. The relationship of the two Roberts to each other is unknown.

Several years after the war, Robert and Nancy were married. They continued to live for a time in North Carolina, where their first children were born; the family also included Nancy's son, Bowling Green In the 1790's Robert and Nancy joined the tide of migration to the new state of Tennessee (admitted to the Union in 1796), where they settled in Sumner County. Sumner was soon divided and redivided, and in 1806 the Armstrong's area the Armstrongs' area fell within the new White County. Here Robert and Nancy lived until 1818, and here daughter Rhoda and sons Bowling Green and Jesse Armstrong were married. Robert was a magistrate in the county court.

In 1817 or 1818, Robert and Nancy Armstrong, along with relatives and Tennessee neighbors, migrated to the Illinois Territory, where the 1818 territorial census listed Robert Armstong, Bowling Green, and Royal Potter (Nancy Armstrong's half-brother) as heads of household in Washington County. By 1820 the Armstrongs and a number of relatives had settled in Clary's Grove, in Madison County, in an area which became Sangamon County the next year, and later Menard County. Other relatives were in nearby Bond County.

In Illinois, Robert Armstrong was a magistrate, as he had been in Tennessee. He also taught school for a time (1822) in Clary's Grove.

Robert and his family were well acquainted with Abraham Lincoln, who came to their neighborhood a few years before Robert's death. Our sketches of Robert's sons Hugh and Jack (in this chapter) and on Nancy Greene Armstrong and her son Bowling Green give information about their contacts with Lincoln.

Robert Armstrong died in 1834, and was buried in Old Concord Cemetery (Menard County).

Source: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Armstrong-5804

Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6194127/robert-armstrong