About: Samuel C. Armstrong

Samuel Chapman Armstrong (January 30, 1839 – May 11, 1893) was an American soldier and general during the American Civil War who later became an educator, particularly of non-whites. The son of missionaries in Hawaii, he rose through the Union Army during the American Civil War to become a general, leading units of African American soldiers. He became best known as an educator, founding and becoming the first principal of the normal school for African-American and later Native American pupils in Virginia which later became Hampton University. He also founded the university's museum, the Hampton University Museum, which is the oldest African-American museum in the country, and the oldest museum in Virginia.