Existing comment:
Ely S. Parker, 1860–65
At the surrender at Appomattox in 1865, Ely S. Parker (Seneca, 1828–1895) was the highest ranking American Indian in the Union Army, a lieutenant colonel. As General Ulysses S. Grant's secretary, he drafted the terms of surrender. General Lee, noticing that Parker was an American Indian, remarked, "I am glad to see one real American here." Parker later recalled, "I shook his hand and said, ‘We are all Americans.'"
Photo by Mathew Brady. National Archives and Records Administration 529376 |