John Barclay Armstrong, who also went by “Mcnelly’s Bulldog,” was born in McMinnville, Tennessee. After having lived in Missouri and Arkansas for quite a long time, he later moved to Texas in January of 1871, where he got married to Mollie Durst and had seven children. He later joined the Texas Rangers and became a member of Leander Mcnelly’s special forces.
Armstrong took part in the Las Cuevas War in 1875, at Palo Alto Prairie, where they tried to make a group of Mexicans return stolen cattle, and ended with conflict before the animals were retrieved. After Mcnelly retired, Armstrong still continued his job as a ranger, but under Lee Hall. As a ranger, Armstrong was in involved in arresting many outlaws including John Wesley Hardin and
