... My father settled in this part of the country because my grandfather. Colonel William Armstrong, of the British army, had been greatly struck by the beauty of the neighborhood when he visited Newburgh during the Revolution. Colonel Armstrong was a Scotchman; he got his commission as lieutenant in the 17th Foot when he was nineteen, and soon after came to this country with Sir Henry Clinton, and served all through the Revolution, being wounded in the battle of Princeton, and losing an eye in the battle of Stony Point. He surrendered with Cornwallis at Yorktown. It is amusing to remember that my wife's grandfather. Colonel Nicholas Fish, was also present at Yorktown, on the winning side; I wonder if the two grandfathers ever met.
My grandfather was sent to Newburgh under a flag of truce to see Washington at his headquarters. He said after the interview that he had never been so much impressed by any man as by Washington, though he had met many of the distinguished men of his time, among them Napoleon and Wellington; and he gave it as his opinion that a country fighting under such a leader could not fail of victory. The late Doctor Forsyth, of Newburgh, who knew my grandfather well, told me this anecdote at the Century Club in New York some years ago.
In the War of 1812 my grandfather became colonel of the Nova Scotia Fencibles, but late in life was naturalized as an American citizen. His army chest in my studio is a huge and ponderous affair of solid English walnut and brass. Histories mention that the British in the battle of Princeton were "much encumbered with baggage."
Firearms were a hobby of my grandfather's. We used to have the model of a gun that he had invented for the British army. I don't know that it was ever used. Stupidly enough, it was given away to a farmer, a neighbor at Danskammer, by one of my brothers when I was a boy. Colonel Armstrong left a fine collection of guns and pistols, among them the pair of pistols, made by Twigg, which were used in the Burr-Hamilton duel in 1804. The seconds came to him to borrow pistols, as he was known to have the best in New York. The one that shot Hamilton is marked with a cross. My grandfather was much annoyed at having one of his handsomest pistols marred by this cross cut on the butt, which he considered a liberty, and some rather acrimonious correspondence ensued on the subject. Later he gave them to his eldest son, Henry, who was in the British army and used them in India, but when Henry was killed there the pistols were returned to my grandfather, who left them to my uncle. Commodore Salter. ...
... My grandfather died before I was born, but my brother Harry remembered his taking a walk with him wearing a black patch over one eye and his hair in a pigtail. The old gentleman bought a card of peppermints for the little boy; in those days peppermints came stuck in rows on bits of pasteboard. ...
... While I was at Mr. [David] Maitland's I went to Kirtleton, my grandfather's old country place in Dumfriesshire. You will remember that Colonel Armstrong was a Scotchman. He was a direct descendant of the much-sung Border chieftain Johnnie Armstrong, executed by James V of Scotland when he undertook to pacify the realm. ...
