19. Ely S. Parker
Ely Parker was born in New York State, on the Tonawanda Seneca Reservation, a tribe of which he was a full member. Educated at first by missionaries, then by reading the law in New York, he was denied admittance to the bar because at the time Indians were not considered American citizens. He later attended college at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, gained an engineering degree, and worked as a civil engineer when Lincoln issued his call for volunteers in 1861. Parker attempted to raise a company from the Iroquois tribes, but his services were rejected by the War Department. He then attempted to enlist himself, and was again denied. Parker appealed for help from his long-time friend, Ulysses S. Grant.
Grant obtained a commission for Parker as a Captain of Engineers during the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863. Following Grant’s promotion to command of all the Union Armies in the field, Parker went with him as his adjutant. After Grant and Lee discussed the terms of surrender at Appomattox, it fell to Parker to draft the document to which Lee affixed his signature. Afterward, Lee commented to Parker that he was glad to see at least one “real American” present at the surrender. Parker replied to the Confederate General, “We are all Americans” as he shook Lee’s hand. When Grant became President he appointed his former adjutant as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Native American to hold the office.
