Remembering Ely S. Parker, Friend of U.S. Grant and First Native American Commissioner of Indian Affairs

Ely S. Parker

U.S. Grant, for many reasons, has been an inspiration to me. The story of his friendship with Ely S. Parker is one of many examples.  Interestingly enough, I was thinking about Mr. Parker this weekend and thought he'd make a worthy blog topic because a lot of people are unfamiliar with this Native American who served with General U.S. Grant in the Civil War and was later appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs when Grant became president.

He wasn't just a soldier. He served as an officer, an engineer and as adjutant secretary to General Grant. In that capacity he wrote the final draft of the Confederate surrender terms at Appomattox. (I'll bet you didn't know that.) He later went on to achieve the rank of brevet brigadier general.

When he was appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs, he was the first Native American to hold that position. Inasmuch as he was a full-blooded Seneca of the Iroquois tribe, his marriage to a white woman created a scandal at the time. Evidently there is no end to the amount of stupidity in the world.

With these thoughts in mind I sought to fin a little more to share here and struck gold. 20 years ago this week, on December 18, the new Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) facility in Reston, Virginia was named the Ely S. Parker Building. Here are some excerpts from the press release announcing the event, which included a plaque in his honor:

"The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the National Business Center are pleased to have the opportunity to recognize Commissioner Ely S. Parker, a man of great talent and intellect who strived against bigotry and racism to serve his people and his country," said Assistant Secretary Gover, "I consider it a tremendous honor that the Tonawanda Seneca Nation and the Department of the Interior have supported our efforts to remember Do-Ne-Ho-Geh-Weh, Ely S. Parker - in this way."

U.S. Grant flanked by his staff. Ely Parker seated left.

Ely Samuel Parker (1828-95), a citizen of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation, was born into the Wolf Clan on the Tonawanda Reservation in New York State. Parker, who was made the sachem for his tribe in 1852 and given the title Do-Ne-Ho-Geh-Weh, or "Keeper of the Western Door of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy)," was a remarkable person for his era. In a time when American Indians could not become U.S. citizens and were rarely seen in the professions, Parker represented his nation in treaty matters before the federal government and earned degrees in law and engineering.

While his lack of American citizenship prevented him from practicing law, Ely Parker’s engineering degree led to a career supervising public works projects in Galena, Illinois, in the late 1850s. It was there that he met and formed a personal friendship with the future general and president, Ulysses S. Grant. When Grant became commander of the Union Army during the Civil War, he chose Ely Parker as his military secretary, and it was Parker who recorded the terms of surrender that ended the war at Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865. After his election as president, Grant appointed Ely Parker as Commissioner of Indian Affairs in April 1869, where he served until August 1871.

You can read the full press release here. 

Grant was elected in 1868, with Parker being one of his first appointments when he took office in 1869. Parker served as Commissioner from 1869 to 1871, and though the number of military actions against Native tribes was reduced, and efforts to support tribes in their transition to reservations, the ugly reality is that people in power generally don't relinquish that power easily. The size of the country and the as-yet-to-be-developed communications channels restricted some of his ability to achieve the objectives he envisioned.

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For more about  Ely Parker, here's a great place to start. 
The last Grand Sachem

Related Links

Ely S. Parker Appointment Under Grant

Ely Parker: Iroquois Chief and Union Officer 

Bio of Ely S. Parker in Galena History