Ely S. Parker
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Ely Samuel Parker (1828 - August 31, 1895), Hasanoanda, was an Iroquois of the Seneca tribe born at Indian Falls, New York (then part of the Tonawanda Reservation). During the American Civil War, he wrote the final draft of the Confederate surrender terms at Appomattox.
Parker began his career in public service by working as a translator to the Seneca chiefs in their dealings with government agencies. In 1852 he was made sachem of the Seneca, Donehogawa, Keeper of the Western Door.
Later, Parker read law in Ellicotville, NY, only to be denied admittance to the bar since he was not a citizen. Later he studied engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York and worked as a civil engineer until the Civil War.
During Civil War, Parker was first told by the Secretary of War, that he could not join the Union army since he was Indian. Parker was nonetheless admitted into the Union military after his lifelong friend Ulysses S. Grant intervened. This started him on a path towards the great prominence he achieved among both Seneca tribe and the Union. He was commissioned a captain in 1863 and rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel. Parker became the adjutant to his friend Ulysses S. Grant and was present when Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse in April 1865. The surrender documents are in his handwriting. During this surrender, Lee mistook Parker for a black man, but apologized saying "I am glad to see one real American here." Parker purportedly responded, "We are all Americans, sir."
After the Civil War, Parker was head of the Federal Commission on Indian Affairs from 1869 to 1871. Leaving government service, he involved himself in the stock market, but eventually lost the fortune he accumulated. He lived his last years in poverty. His body was exhumed and moved to Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York, to lie with other notables of Western New York.