 Years later, he even defended Jack's son, Duff Armstrong, in a famous legal case. Jack Armstrong didn't live long enough to see Lincoln win the presidency, dying in 1854 at the age of 50. He is buried in an obscure out-of-the-way frontier cemetery a mile or two from New Salem, unknown except for his grappling contest with a man who became the 16th president of the United States and arguably the most popular American ever.