Ely S. Parker | |
|---|---|
| Hasanoanda | |
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| 16thCommissioner of Indian Affairs | |
| In office 1869–1871 | |
| President | Ulysses S. Grant |
| Preceded by | Nathaniel Green Taylor |
| Succeeded by | Francis Amasa Walker |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ely Samuel Parker 1828 Indian Falls, New York, U.S. |
| Died | August 30, 1895 (aged 66–67)[1] Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Cemetery,Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | Seneca United States |
| Spouse | |
| Relatives | Red Jacket (great grand-uncle) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army (Union Army) |
| Years of service | 1863–1869[2] |
| Rank |  Colonel Brevetbrigadier general |
| Unit | Adjutant to General U.S. Grant 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiment |
| Battles/wars | |
Ely Samuel Parker (1828 – August 31, 1895), bornHasanoanda (Tonawanda Seneca), later known asDonehogawa, was an engineer, lawyer,U.S. Army officer, aide to General Ulysses Grant, and Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in charge of the government's relations with Native Americans. He was bilingual, speaking bothSeneca and English, and became friends withLewis Henry Morgan, who became a student of theIroquois inUpstate New York. Parker earned an engineering degree in college and worked on theErie Canal, and other projects.
He was commissioned as alieutenant colonel during theAmerican Civil War, when he served as adjutant and secretary to GeneralUlysses S. Grant. He wrote the final draft of the Confederate surrender terms atAppomattox. Later in his career, Parker rose to the rank ofbrevetbrigadier general.
When General Grant became president in 1869, he appointed Parker asCommissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Native American to hold that post.[2]
Ely Parker was born in 1828 as the sixth of seven children to Elizabeth and William Parker atIndian Falls, New York, which was then part of theTonawanda Reservation.[2] He was namedHa-sa-no-an-da and later baptized as Samuel Parker. Both of his parents were of prominentSeneca families; while his father was amiller by trade and aBaptist minister,[3] he was also respected as a Tonawanda Seneca chief who had fought for the United States in theWar of 1812. His mother was the granddaughter ofSos-he-o-wa, the successor of the greatHaudenosaunee spiritual leaderHandsome Lake.[4]
His parents strongly supported education for all their children, whose Christian names were Spencer Houghton Cone, Nicholson Henry, Levi, Caroline (Carrie), Newton, and Solomon, all with the surname of Parker.[3] One of his elder brothers, Nicholson Parker, also became a prominent Seneca leader, as he was a powerfulorator, much like the family's famous relationRed Jacket had been. Ely had a classical education at a missionary school, and was fullybilingual, speaking theSeneca language as well as English. He also studied in college. He spent his life bridging his identities as a Seneca and a resident of the United States.[citation needed]
Beginning in the 1840s, when Ely was a teenager, the Parker home became a meeting place of non-Indian scholars who were interested in the Haudenosaunee, includingLewis Henry Morgan,Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, andJohn Wesley Powell. They all played a role in the studies that formed ethnology andanthropology as an academic discipline.[3]
As a young man, Parker worked in a legal firm,reading law for the customary three years with an established firm inEllicottville, New York, before applying to take thebar examination. He was not permitted to take it because as a Seneca, he was not then considered aUnited States citizen.[5] AllAmerican Indians were not considered citizens until passage of theIndian Citizenship Act of 1924, but by that time, some two-thirds were American citizens due to other circumstances, including having served in the U.S. military.[6]
Parker encountered scholarLewis Henry Morgan through a chance meeting in a bookstore. At the time Morgan was a young lawyer involved in forming "The Grand Order of the Iroquois", afraternity of young white men fromUpstate New York who romanticized their image of the American Indian and wanted to model their group after "Iroquois" ideals. The two bridged their cultures to become friends, and Parker invited Morgan to visit theTonawanda Reservation inNew York state. Parker became Morgan's main source of information and an entrée to others in the Seneca and other Haudenosaunee nations. Morgan later dedicated his bookLeague of the Iroquois, published in 1851, to Parker, noting that, "the materials are the fruit of our joint researches".[7]
The relationship proved important for both men; as Parker helped Morgan become an anthropological pioneer, Morgan helped Parker make connections in the larger white-dominated society in which he later worked and lived.[8] With Morgan's help, Parker gained admission to studyengineering atRensselaer Polytechnic Institute inTroy, New York.
Parker worked as acivil engineer until the start of theAmerican Civil War. Parker was later appointed by PresidentUlysses S. Grant toCommissioner of Indian Affairs, a position that Morgan once aspired to hold.
Parker began his career in public service by working as an interpreter and diplomat for the Seneca chiefs in their negotiations with the United States government about land andtreaty rights. In 1852, he was madesachem of the Seneca and given the nameDonehogawa, "Keeper of the Western Door of the Long House of the Iroquois".[9]
As an engineer, Parker contributed to upgrades and maintenance of theErie Canal, among other projects. As a supervisor of government projects inGalena, Illinois, he befriendedUlysses S. Grant, forming a strong and collegial relationship that was useful later.[7]
Near the start of theAmerican Civil War, Parker tried to raise a regiment of Iroquois volunteers to fight for the Union, but was turned down byNew York GovernorEdwin D. Morgan. He tried to enlist in the Union Army as an engineer, but was told bySecretary of WarSimon Cameron that, as an Indian, he could not join.[10] Parker contacted his colleague and friend Ulysses S. Grant, whose forces suffered from a shortage of engineers. Parker was commissioned a captain in May 1863 and ordered to report to Brig. Gen.John Eugene Smith. Smith appointed Parker as the chief engineer of his 7th Division during thesiege of Vicksburg, and later said Parker was a "good engineer".[2]
When Ulysses S. Grant became commander of the Military Division of theMississippi, Parker became hisadjutant during theChattanooga campaign. He was subsequently transferred with Grant as the adjutant of the U.S. Army headquarters and served Grant through the Overland Campaign and theSiege of Petersburg. AtPetersburg, 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 generalRobert E. Lee surrendered atAppomattox Courthouse in April 1865. He helped draft the surrender documents, which are in his handwriting.[11] At the time of surrender, General Lee "stared at me for a moment", said Parker to more than one of his friends and relatives, "He extended his hand and said, 'I am glad to see one real American here.' I shook his hand and said, 'We are all Americans.'"[12] Parker was brevettedbrigadier general ofUnited States Volunteers on April 9, 1865, and ofUnited States Army March 2, 1867.
After the Civil War, Parker was commissioned as an officer in the2nd United States Cavalry on July 1, 1866. On July 25, 1866 he again became the military secretary to Grant, with the rank of colonel, and served throughout Grant's tenure as commanding general of the U.S. Army, which ended when Grant became president of the United States on March 4, 1869. Parker was a member of theSouthern Treaty Commission, which renegotiated treaties with tribes who had sided with the Confederacy, were mostly fromIndian Territory. On April 26, 1869, Parker resigned from the army with the rank of brevet brigadier general of the regular army.[2]
On April 6, 1887, Parker was elected a Veteran Companion of the New York Commandery of theMilitary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, a military society of officers of the Union armed forces and their descendants. He was assigned the Order's insignia number 5414.
Shortly after Grant took office as president in March 1869, he appointed Parker asCommissioner of Indian Affairs.[13] He was the first Native American to hold the office.[13] Parker became the chief architect ofPresident Grant's Peace Policy in relation to the Native Americans in the West.[14] Under his leadership, the number of military actions against Indians were reduced, and there was an effort to support tribes in their transition to living on reservations.[15] In 1871, however, a disaffected former Commissioner of Indian Affairs named William Welsh accused Parker of corruption.[13] Although Parker was cleared of any significant wrongdoing by theHouse Committee on Appropriations, his position was stripped of much of its power and he resigned in 1871.[13]
After leaving government service, Parker invested in the stock market. At first he did well, but in thePanic of 1873 he lost the fortune he had accumulated.
Through his social connections, Parker received an appointment for an administrative position in the Committee on Supplies and Repairs of theBoard of Commissioners of the New York Police Department. Parker received many visits from social reform advocateJacob Riis, the photographer famous for documenting the lives of slum dwellers.[16]
After the war, in 1867 Parker married a white woman, Minnie Orton Sackett (1849–1932).[17][18][19] They had one daughter, Maud Theresa Parker (1878–1956).[20]
Parker lived his last years in poverty, dying inFairfield, Connecticut, on August 31, 1895. He originally was buried in Connecticut, but the Seneca did not believe that thisAlgonquian territory was appropriate for his final resting place. They requested that his widow relocate his body.[16] On January 20, 1897, his body was exhumed and reinterred atForest Lawn Cemetery inBuffalo, New York. He was buried next to his ancestorRed Jacket, a famous Senecaorator, and other notable Senecas ofWestern New York.
On November 14, 2025, Parker was posthumously admitted to the bar of the State of New York at a courthouse in Buffalo. He had been previously denied admission to the bar on the grounds that Native Americans were not legally citizens of the United States until 1924.[21]
The Life of General Ely S. Parker, by Arthur Parker.(reprinted 2005,ISBN 1-889246-50-6)
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link),American Forces Press Service.The Life of General Ely S. Parker, by Arthur Parker.(reprinted 2005,ISBN 1-889246-50-6)
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