Commodore James Armstrong (17 January 1794 – 27 August 1868) was an officer in the United States Navy. Armstrong joined the United States Navy as a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

in 1809 and served on the sloop-of-war when it was seized by the British in 1814 during the War of 1812. Promoted to commodore and given command of the East India Squadron in 1855, Armstrong served aboard the squadron's

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

, during the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...

. Following the battle of the Pearl Forts, Armstrong's health began to fail and he returned to the United States. In 1860 Armstrong was given command of the

Pensacola Navy Yard Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola (formerly NAS/KNAS until changed circa 1970 to allow Nassau International Airport, now Lynden Pindling International Airport, to have IATA code NAS), "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United State ...

. On January 12, 1861, two days after Florida voted to secede from the Union he surrendered the facility to the secessionists. Captain Armstrong was Court Martialed on May 4, 1861. "The proceedings of Captain Armstrong's court martial appears to be missing from the rest of the proceedings deposited in the National Archives so the testimony surrounding exactly what happened that day between Conway and Renshaw that lead to the Court submitting a communication to Welles is unavailable. Conway eventually got "some appropriate mark of approbation" bestowed in 1939 and 1942 when hulls DD-70 and DD-507 were named in his honor." - General Naval Order Armstrong was born in Shelbyville, Kentucky. He died in Salem, Massachusetts at the age of 74 and is buried in the Harmony Grove Cemetery.Phillips Library Digital Collections
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1794 births 1868 deaths United States Navy commodores United States Navy officers People from Shelbyville, Kentucky People of Kentucky in the American Civil War United States Navy personnel of the War of 1812 Burials at Harmony Grove Cemetery {{AmericanCivilWar-bio-stub