Benjamin Green Armstrong

One of the Lake Superior region’s earliest settlers, Benjamin G. Armstrong, was one of the first elected officials in the town of Ashland and city of Ashland. Benjamin was a prominent and respected citizen who had an extraordinary, adventurous and useful career that proclaimed him a leader of men, a character of uncommon strength and which established his name in a manner to be remembered by Ashlanders for generations.

Born on July 4, 1820 in Alabama, he came north at the age of 18 seeking relief of his symptoms of consumption. He entered Wisconsin in 1840, living near Hudson for a year with an Indian who taught him the Chippewa language. Now familiar with the lifestyle of the Indians who then wandered over this vast territory, young Benjamin subjected himself to a life of hardships and uncertainties realized only by those brave whites who penetrated the dark entanglements of the primitive forests.

Shortly after commencing his meandering career in these parts, his health was restored, but during his stay among the Indians, he had become so interested in their lives and their plight that he remained in the area. On February 10, 1850 Benjamin married Charlotte Medweigwan, daughter of Moses and Magdalena Medweigwan. Moses was also known as Chief Buffalo, first Chief of the La Pointe Band of Chippewa. They had seven children.

Benjamin accompanied Chief Buffalo and his delegation of Indians to Washington DC. A treaty was signed with President Filmore countermanding the order for removal of Indians from this area in 1852. He returned to Washington DC once again in 1862 with another delegation which met with the Indian commissioner and President Lincoln. 

In his younger years, he was associated with John Jacob Astor, Ramsey Crooks, Dr Bony and David B Oakes of the American Fur Co, he attended many peace treaties, sometimes as an interpreter and other times as an observer.

Armstrong had trading posts at one time or other near Pine City, MN, at Duluth, MN and at LaPointe on Madeline Island. The family lived in these various places during their life together. He was instrumental in giving Superior a start. He was an observer to the last battle between the Sioux and the Chippewa at the Brule River. He later made his trade in the carpentry business in Bayfield and Ashland. The Armstrongs were musically inclined. All of their children who grew to adulthood played stringed instruments in their family orchestra at various functions in Ashland. Surnames of Armstrong descendants living in Ashland today are Mahnke, Brown, Nemec, Goodrich, Giese, Wassgren, Melland, Majetich and Kegal. This family gathers for a reunion every five years.

When the winter of his life set in, he compiled the facts from his experiences and dictated them to Thomas Wentworth, who wrote and published “Early Life Among the Indians”, a volume remarkable for its accuracy. This history bears the imprint of A. W. Bowren, Ashland Publisher and was printed in 1892.