Ely S Parker

Bio

(1828-1895) Engineer, journal-keeper, secretary to U. S. Grant. Ely Parker was born on the Tonawanda reservation in New York. He was one of the first Native Americans noted for succeeding within the white mans higher institutions of learning. He was an engineer in Rochester and later a military secretary for Ulysses S. Grant. Henry Lewis Morgan worked closely with Parker to publish “League of the Iroquois” (1851). As a Military Secretary for Ulysses S. Grant, he later became the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Ely S. Parker was a letter writer and journal keeper who contributed greatly to the bulk of written work attributed to Native Americans during his time. Red Jacket was his grandfather.