BIOGRAPHY

ELY SAMUEL PARKER - OF GENESEE COUNTY, NY

Ely S. Parker
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Ely Samuel Parker
1828 – August 31, 1895 (aged 66–67)

Ely Parker
Place of birth Indian Falls, New York
Place of death Fairfield, Connecticut
Place of burial Forest Lawn Cemetery Buffalo, New York
Allegiance United States of America
Years of service June 4, 1863 - April 26, 1869[1]
Rank Brevet Brigadier General
Unit Western Theater
Adjutant to General Grant
Battles/wars American Civil War

Siege of Vicksburg
Battle of Chattanooga
Overland Campaign
Siege of Petersburg
Appomattox Campaign

Other work Head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Ely Samuel Parker (1828 – August 31, 1895), (born Hasanoanda, later known as Donehogawa) was a Native American of the Seneca nation who was an attorney, engineer, and tribal diplomat. He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel during the American Civil War, where he served as adjutant to General Ulysses S. Grant. He wrote the final draft of the Confederate surrender terms at Appomattox. Later in his career Parker rose to the rank of Brevet Brigadier General. President Grant appointed him Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Native American to hold that post.[1]

Early life and education:
Ely Parker was born in 1828 as the sixth of seven children to William and Elizabeth Parker, of prominent Seneca families, at Indian Falls, New York (then part of the Tonawanda Reservation).[2] William was a miller and a Baptist minister.[3] The Seneca were one of the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Ely had a classical education at a missionary school, was fully bilingual, and went on to college. He spent his life bridging his identities as Seneca and a resident of the United States.

The parents strongly supported education for all the children, who included Spencer Houghton Cone, Nicholson Henry, Levi, Caroline (Carrie), Newton, and Solomon.[3] Nicholson also became a prominent Seneca leader as he was a powerful orator. Beginning in the 1840s, the Parker home became a meeting place of non-Indian scholars who were interested in the people, such as Lewis Henry Morgan, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and John Wesley Powell; they were connected to the discussions and studies that formed anthropology as a discipline.[3]

Parker worked in a legal firm reading law for the customary three years in Ellicottville, New York and then applied to take the bar examination. He was not permitted because, as a Seneca, he was not considered a United States citizen at that time.[4] It was not until 1924 that all American Indians were considered citizens under the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.[5] Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee stated Parker was refused because he was not a white man.[6]

In the late 1840s, Parker met Lewis Henry Morgan at his parents' home. Morgan was an independent scholar who was studying the kinship structure and culture of the Iroquois. Parker became Morgan's main source of information and entrée to others in the Seneca and Iroquois nations. Morgan dedicated his book on the Iroquois to Parker, noting their joint collaboration on the project.

With Morgan's help, Parker gained admission to study engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He worked as a civil engineer until the start of the American Civil War.

Marriage and family:
Parker married Minnie Orton Sackett (1849–1932) in 1867. They had one daughter, Maud Theresa (1878–1956).[7]

Career:
Parker began his career in public service by working as a translator and diplomat to the Seneca chiefs in their dealings with government agencies. In recognition of his important contributions to their negotiations about land and treaty rights, in 1852 Parker was made sachem of the Seneca, the nation known as the Donehogawa, Keeper of the Western Door.

Before this he had met and worked with Morgan, an independent scholar in the field of ethnology and anthropology. Morgan was so indebted to Parker that he dedicated his book League of the Iroquois (1851) to him, with "the materials are the fruit of our joint researches." Morgan also helped Parker gain entry to Rensselaer Polytechnic, because he recognized the man's abilities.[8]

As an engineer, Parker contributed to upgrades and maintenance of the Erie Canal, among other projects. He was a supervisor of government projects in Galena, Illinois, where he first met and befriended Ulysses S. Grant. Their strong collegial relationship was useful later.[8]

Civil War service
General Ulysses S. Grant and Staff: Ely Samuel Parker (left sitting), Adam Badeau, General Grant (at table), Orville Elias Babcock, Horace Porter.Near the start of the Civil War, Parker tried to raise a regiment of Iroquois volunteers to fight for the Union, but was turned down by New York Governor Edwin D. Morgan. He then sought to join the Union Army as an engineer, but was told by Secretary of War Simon Cameron that as an Indian, he could not join.[9] Parker contacted his colleague and friend Ulysses S. Grant, who intervened. His forces suffered from a shortage of engineers, and Parker was commissioned a captain in May, 1863 and ordered to report to Brig. Gen. John Eugene Smith. General Smith appointed Parker as the chief engineer of his 7th Division during the siege of Vicksburg. Smith said Parker was a "good engineer".

When Ulysses S. Grant became commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi, Parker became his adjutant during the Chattanooga Campaign. He was subsequently transferred with Grant as the adjutant of the U.S. Army headquarters and served Grant through the Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg. At Petersburg, Parker was appointed as the military secretary to Grant, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He wrote much of Grant's correspondence.

Parker was present when Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse in April 1865. He helped draft the surrender documents, which are in his handwriting. At the time of surrender, General Lee mistook Parker for a black man, but apologized saying, "I am glad to see one real American here." Parker was said to respond, "We are all Americans, sir." Parker was brevetted brigadier general of volunteers on April 9, 1865.

Post-Civil War
After the Civil War, Parker was commissioned as an officer in the 2nd United States Cavalry on July 1, 1866. He again became the military secretary to Grant as he finished out his time as general in chief. Parker resigned from the army with the brevet rank of brigadier general of Regulars on April 26, 1869.[1]

Grant appointed Parker as Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1869 to 1871. He was the first Native American to hold the office. Parker became the chief architect of President Grant's Peace Policy in relation to the Native Americans in the West.

After leaving government service, Parker involved himself in the stock market. At first he did well, but eventually lost the fortune he had accumulated.

He lived his last years in poverty, dying in Fairfield, Connecticut on August 31, 1895, where he was buried. On January 20, 1897, his body was exhumed and moved to Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York. He was reinterred next to his ancestor Red Jacket, a famous Seneca orator, and other notables of western New York.

Parker's career and impact on contemporary Native Americans is described in Chapter 8 of Dee Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

He is said to have helped found the town of Parker, Arizona. Another individual with the surname of Parker is credited with this distinction as well.