Ely Samuel Parker is best known for his role in the surrender of the Confederate Army. A friend and comrade of Ulysses S. Grant, Lieutenant Colonel Parker acted as military secretary and wrote out the articles of surrender. It is reported that his excellent penmanship was already much appreciated but it was his calm demeanour when other officers were overwhelmed at the momentous occasion, which made him the perfect man for the job. One story goes that when the entourages of the Confederate and Union generals came together, Lee stared at Parker before extending his hand, saying 'I am glad to see one real American here.' Parker is said to have replied, 'We are all Americans.'

By April 1865 Parker had already lived a varied life. He was born in 1828 into the Seneca Indigenous community and named Hasanoanda. His English name of Ely was taken from a Baptist minister, Elder Ely Stone, whose school he attended. Parker initially struggled with school but went on to excel and win tuition-free admission to a prestigious Academy. He mastered English as his second language and become a noted orator. From his mid-teens he acted as a representative for his reservation and undertook legal training. Unfortunately his fledgling legal career was curtailed when he was declared ineligible for the bar as he was not considered an American citizen.

Parker turned his attention to engineering and in 1849 he accepted a position as second assistant engineer on a project to extend the Genesee Valley Canal. In 1851 he was promoted to first assistant engineer, which he would remain for four years. It was though his flourishing engineering career that Parker would later meet Ulysses S. Grant.

Also in 1851 Parker become a key representative of the Iroquois confederacy when he became Grand Sachem of the Six Nations. He acquired the sacred name of Donehogawa and held both ceremonial and secular duties. He defended their case in ongoing treaty negotiations with limited success but did save 60 percent of their land from the federal government.

At the outbreak of the Civil War Parker attempted to follow Grant’s lead and join the Union Army. He was refused on the grounds of his race and it would take two years before Parker’s work and Grant’s influence allowed him to join as a captain of engineers. A successful career and several military promotions saw Parker finish his official service in 1869 as a Brigadier General.

Parker’s post-military career followed Grant into government. Parker held office as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Indigenous American to have done so. He held the post for two tumultuous years but his honesty and defence of his own race did not make him popular. He eventually resigned, forced out by restrictive rule changes and accusations of corruption, of which he was exonerated.

His later life brought ill health and less prestige but he remained well respected. He died on 30 August 1895 and was buried with full military honours at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Fairfield, Connecticut. Two years later he was reinterred in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, New York, in his ancestral homeland.