ELY SAMUEL PARKER
1828 – 1895
Seneca Indian, Sachem of the Six Nations,
Brigadier General in the U.S. Army

The Seneca Indian, Ely Parker, was born in Indian Falls, New York which, at the time, was still within the boundaries of the Tonawanda Reservation. His initial schooling was at the Baptist mission school in Tonawanda, NY. He later studied at Yates and Cayuga Academies in the Finger Lakes region of New York. At age eighteen, he studied law in Ellicottville, NY. Although he passed the bar exam, he was denied the opportunity to practice law because of his heritage. He instead studied civil engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.

During the Civil War (1861-1865) Parker became General Grant's Chief of Staff and Military Secretary with the rank of Brigadier General. Because of his superior penmanship, at Grant's dictation, Parker transcribed the terms of surrender of General Lee's army at Appomatox Courthouse in 1865.

When Grant became president, he appointed Parker as the first Native American named commissioner on Indian Affairs in 1869, a position which he served until 1871.

General Parker died in Fairfield, Connecticut on August 30, 1895. Parker is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo next to Seneca Chief Red Jacket.

This chair, circa 1860, was once the property of General Ely S. Parker. It is now part of the collection of the Holland Land Office Museum.

Several books on the Senecas, including Warrior in Two Camps: Ely S. Parker, Union General and Seneca Chief by William H. Armstrong, Iroquois Legends Volume II by Marian Miller, Genesee Country Senecas by Irene A Beale, Red Jacket: Iroquois Diplomat and Orator by Christopher Densmore, and The Six Nations of New York: The 1892 United States Extra Census Bulletin (Cornell University Press), are available at the Joseph Ellicott Book and Gift Shop.