Portrait of Chief Buffalo, undated (WHI-3957)

(Note: birth date given in original as "1759[?].") Ojibwe Indian chief, b. La Pointe. Head chief of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe) bands, and son of an hereditary chief, Ou-daig-weos, Great Buffalo was well versed in the traditions of his people and was recognized as a great leader. Although a man of peace, as tribal chief he led the Chippewa in warfare against their Sioux enemies and represented them in treaty negotiations with the federal government. He won a victory over the Sioux at the Battle of the Brule, Oct., 1842. In 1825 Great Buffalo signed the treaty at Prairie du Chien delimiting the area claimed by the Chippewa, and also signed the treaties at La Pointe in 1842 and 1854. In 1852 he journeyed to Washington with his white friend and interpreter, Benjamin G. Armstrong (q.v.), and persuaded the government to reverse the Indian removal order of 1849 and to restore the Ojibwe annuities. Coils. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 3 (1857); Colls. Minn. Hist. Soc., 5 (1885); C. J. Kappler, comp. and ed., Indian Affairs; Laws and Treaties (4 vols., Washington, 1903-1929), 2; B. G. Armstrong, Early Life Among the Indians (Ashland, 1891); WPA MS.

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