XIV. GEN. ELY S. PARKER.
Was a full-blooded Seneca Indian, born on the Tonawanda reservation in New York, in 1820. He was chief of the Seneca tribe and head of the Iroquois Confederation. His Indian name was Do-No-Hoh-Ga-Wa, which means "Keeper of the Western Gate." General Parker was educated at Ellicottsville, where he studied the profession of civil engineering. He also studied law and was admitted to the New York bar, but never practiced.
He lived for a time in Galena, Illinois, where he was a friend of General Grant. General Parker received a commission as captain in the United States army from President Lincoln and joined Grant at Vicksburg in 1862, where he was made a member of the general's staff, with the rank of colonel. He wrote the famous surrender of Lee at Appomattox in 1865. Grant made him a brigadier-general, and when he became President he appointed him Commissioner of Indian Affairs, which place he held until 1871. For several years he had been superintendent and architect of police stations in New York city.
General Parker married Miss Minnie Sackett of Washington, D. C, in 1867. President Grant attended the marriage ceremony and gave the bride away.
An old veteran who was present at the surrender of Lee at Appomattox, told the author that General Parker, who was then Grant's military secretary, had the appearance of a mulatto, and was mistaken for one by some of the Southern generals, who were indignant that General Grant should dictate the terms of capitulation to a "nigger." They were mollified, however, when it was explained to them that the secretary belonged to another swarthy race, which was never enslaved.
General Parker died at Fairfield, Connecticut, August 31, 1895.