Benjamin Green Armstrong (1820 - 1900)
Interpreter
Benjamin Green Armstrong was an interpreter born in Alabama in 1820. In 1840 he decided to live among the Indians in northern Wisconsin, where he learned the Chippewa language and became a well-known interpreter. He won the Indians' friendship by respecting their life and culture.
In 1852 he accompanied the Chippewa chief, Great Buffalo, to Washington, D.C., to plead against cancellation of the treaty of 1842. The mission was successful, for an audience with President Fillmore brought a reversal of the removal order of 1849. His many experiences are recorded in a book, Early Life among the Indians, published in 1892.
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