Trooper Armstrong

James "Trooper" Armstrong was an Irish-American soldier and pioneer. While resident in Ireland he had been an officer of the Inniskilling Dragoons. He emigrated from Ireland before 1777, settling in Abingdon, Virginia. He served as a trustee of Abingdon between the years 1778 and 1802. He was an early settler of Knoxville, Tennessee and is credited with discovering an important spring. He was a de facto protocol officer at the 1791 Holston treaty negotiations with the Cherokee, introducing chiefs to Governor Blount.
His son Robert Armstrong became postmaster of Nashville and American consul at Liverpool, and son William Armstrong was elected mayor of Nashville and "in 1835 President Andrew Jackson appointed William Armstrong to be the Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Western Territory." Another son, Francis Wells Armstrong served as a U.S. marshal for Alabama and an Indian agent in Indian Territory by appointment of Jackson. Trooper Armstrong's son Frank W. Armstrong was also a U.S. Army officer during the 1810s, "Capt. 24th Inf., 12 March. 1812. Maj. 24th Inf. 26 June, 1813. Disbanded 15 June, 1815. Retained Dec., 1815, as Capt. 7th Inf., with Bvt. of Maj., from 26 June, 1813. Resigned 30 April, 1817."