Eli Samuel - A mixed blood Seneca, grandson of the celebrated
Chief Red jacket, who rose to the rank of brigadier general in the United
States Army and later was appointed by President ulysses S. Grant as Commissioner
of Indian Affairs. General Parker had the distinction, as General
Grant's secretary, of drawing up articles of General Robert E. Lee's surrender
at Appomattox Courthouse.
General Parker was born on the Tonawanda
Reservation in New York in 1826. He later became an "eighth chief"
of the Seneca Indians.
After his education in the common schools
he studied civil engineering and at the start of the Civil War was employed
as an engineer on a government project at Galena, Illinois, then the home
of General Grant. He and Grant became fast friends and joined the
Union Army together. Grant made him a member of his staff, after
Parker had distinguished himself at Vicksburg.
Following the war Parker was appointed
Commissioner of indian Affairs, a position he held for three years.
He practiced his profession at Fairfield, Connecticut, until his death
on August 21, 1895. With his friend, Lewis H. Morgan, he wrote The
league of the Iroquois, a work of value, as Parker, a sachem of his
tribe, had full knowledge of the institutions of his people.
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