Tag: US history

Recently, the New York State Bar Association admitted a lawyer who was not permitted to practice law in the courts during his lifetime. Hasanoanda, later named Ely Samuel Parker, Tonawanda Seneca, was born in 1828 in western New York. His parents were of prominent families, both descendants of spiritual and military leaders of the Tonawanda band of Seneca nation. Ely received a classical education at a missionary school. He excelled in his studies, went on to college and eventually studied law through apprenticeships with established lawyers. However, Parker was denied admittance to the New York State bar. Why? Because he was not a US citizen. Ironically, while born in what comprises the United States, Native Americans were not recognized as Americans by the US government until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.

Parker was disappointed, but undeterred. He used his legal expertise to represent Tonawanda treaty claims in front of the United States Congress and Supreme Court. While gaining some support, the case was defeated. Since Parker was barred the legal profession, he studied engineering instead. Eventually, he landed a project with the U.S. Treasury Department. He was sent to Galena, Illinois, to oversee the construction of a customs house. There, he met Ulysses S. Grant and they formed a strong friendship. Soon after the American Civil War began, Parker offered to form a regiment of Iroquois volunteers and to serve in the engineering corps. Both offers were refused by the officials in Washington. However, during the siege of Vicksburg in 1863, Grant’s forces were in need of experienced engineers. He made arrangements for a commissioned military position for his friend and requested that he join his army there to oversee projects during the campaign against Confederate’s stronghold on the Mississippi.

By the final stages of the war Grant was named head of the Military Division of the Mississippi. He appointed Parker his adjunct and secretary. He became Grant’s trusted advisor, accompanying him in the most important stages of the latter half of the Civil War. He eventually had the rank of Brigadier General, which awarded some status but of little consequence. Soon after Grant was elected president, he appointed Parker as Commissioner of Indian Affairs tasking him with developing a policy establishing relationships with the several tribes throughout the United States.

Parker and Sherman

There’s a similarity in the career trajectory of Parker and Sherman. Both were faced with professional disappointments and uncertainty in their professions until the throes of the Civil War put them in situations where they brilliantly applied their knowledge and skills to the crisis. Grant saw the potential of both men and relied on them to launch and carry out the siege on Vicksburg.

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Both Parker and Sherman made singular contributions, defeating the Confederate armies and together with Grant developed the terms of surrender for the Confederate armies in April of 1865 that were originally outlined by Lincoln.

Parker prepared the drafts and final ink copy of the terms of surrender of General Lee’s armies at Appomattox. Undoubtedly, Parker’s studies of law prepared him for that task. But he also had the cultural knowledge of his own people, the Onondaga (Seneca) who formed part of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederation. Formed by five nations of Indigenous peoples as early as the late 16th century, the confederacy had had a long history of negotiations and decision-making in common council to avert violent conflicts against each other and later British and French advancing into their territories. Parker’s own ancestors had helped form the confederacy and were sachems that voted in these councils on behalf of their people. As a child, Parker gleaned practical wisdom from the stories and wisdom of his relatives.

Family Legacy

Parker and Sherman also share similar family legacies. Both are descendants of prominent leaders that contributed to the outcome of the Revolutionary War; the War of Independence. Sherman’s very distant relative was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Parker was related to Red Jacket a Seneca sachem known for his oratory skill. He was a leading figure in future relations with the newly formed US government and was presented with a ‘peace medal’ by George Washington.

^{Images in public domain and accessed through Wikimedia commons}

Both Sherman’s and Parker’s fathers were involved in of the War of 1812. Sherman’s father named his son Tecumseh, after the Shawnee leader of the Ohio territories was killed at the close of that war. Why Charles Sherman chose to name his third son after an Indian warrior allied with the British “remains unclear” to biographers. According to family accounts, Sherman’s father, a lawyer, named his infant son after the great Shawnee leader, because he was well known for his oratory skills and early efforts to achieve peace through diplomacy. Maybe C.T. Sherman had dreams that his son would eventually become a man who seeking to create conditions for peace in an emerging yet fragile country of many peoples and cultures. Interestingly, before Parker was born his mother had a dream that her son, who eventually was known as Donehogawa/Open Door would be a a leader who walking two worlds opening doors of understanding and dialogue in both of them.

Shortly after the Civil War both Parker and Sherman were tasked to with the management of Indian affairs. To what extent did Sherman and Parker collaborate? Did they meet in person? How often? What were the outcomes? I’m curious, but will need to look for those answers at another time. Here I return to the close of the years of the Civil War.

Sherman and Parker became acquainted with each other through their mutual friend, Grant. Even after the Vicksburg Campaign Sherman met with Grant to discuss their campaign strategies. It’s possible that Grant introduced Parker to Sherman as early as July of 1863. Perhaps Grant pointed out Parker’s engineering experience. Sherman would have appreciated that since roads, tracks, and bridges were critical for supply lines to assure successful military strategy. Sherman sought advice from reliable sources regardless of skin color or social status, and he would have had reasons and opportunity to consult Parker about such matters.

Several of the communiqués Sherman received from Grant were prepared and signed by Parker. Although not depicted in the artist rendition of the event, Parker was present at the meetings of Grant and Sherman with President Lincoln aboard the USS River Queen. In that meeting on March 27, 1865, Lincoln outlined possible peace settlement terms for the inevitable surrender of the Confederate armies. Parker would have been tasked with transcribing the matters discussed using those notes to draft the peace settlement terms signed by Grant and presented to Lee at the surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomattox several days later. The NPS at Appomattox records: “Seeing that Parker was an American Indian, General Lee remarked to Parker, “I am glad to see one real American here.’ Parker later stated, ‘I shook his hand and said, ‘We are all Americans.’”