Meet Ely Parker: A Niagara Region Legend — Seneca Sachem, Civil War Hero, and Brilliant Engineer
The roar of Niagara Falls has always echoed louder than the history books. And somewhere in that mist—between land and legend—lives the story of Ely Samuel Parker.
Born in 1828 in Indian Falls, a Seneca settlement just east of Buffalo, Parker wasn’t just a child of the Niagara Region—he was Native royalty. A sachem (chief) of the Seneca Nation, part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, his given name was Hasanoanda, meaning “Leading Man.” And that he was.
Parker stood at the crossroads of two civilizations. Raised in Seneca traditions, fluent in ancient languages and Latin, he was also educated at white institutions, trained in both diplomacy and engineering. From his youth, he navigated the impossible task of bridging two worlds—his own, and one that refused to fully accept him.
He studied law in the hopes of defending his people in court. But when he tried to take the bar exam, New York denied him—not because of his education, but because Native Americans weren’t considered citizens. They told him: you do not belong.
So he pivoted.
With the help of his friend Lewis Henry Morgan—a lawyer who is best known for his groundbreaking work on kinship systems and his deep collaboration with the Haudenosaunee—Parker became a civil engineer, graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. One of his earliest projects brought him home again: working on the Erie Canal’s expansion in Lockport. There, he helped shape the infrastructure of a young America, laying stones that still carry barges through the Niagara Region today.
Later, while supervising a federal customs house in Illinois, he met a struggling store clerk—Ulysses S. Grant. They struck up a friendship that would shape history.
When the Civil War began, Parker once again offered to serve—and once again was rejected. It was a “war between white men,” he was told. Only Grant’s personal intervention got him into the Union Army.
From there, he rose to become Grant’s aide-de-camp, his confidant, his voice. And when the war finally ended, it was Parker—the Native son of Niagara, denied his chance to be a lawyer—who wrote the surrender terms at Appomattox.
Imagine that.
The man who wasn’t even allowed to take the bar exam drafted the legal instrument that reunited the nation.
When Robert E. Lee entered the room and saw Parker, he said:
“I’m glad to see one real American here.”
And Parker replied, with quiet defiance:
“We are all Americans.”
After the war, President Grant appointed Parker as the first Native American Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He served with hope and dignity. But racism, corruption, and political betrayal undid his efforts. Though he was later cleared of all wrongdoing, he resigned in disgrace. The door that had briefly opened was slammed shut.
He died in 1895, nearly forgotten and nearly penniless—until his remains were returned home to Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, close to the land and water that had once given him strength.
At Go Niagara Tours, we tell the stories that matter.
Ely Parker’s story is more than local history. It is a national epic of injustice, genius, perseverance, and grace.
A Seneca sachem.
A nation builder.
A man of war who longed for peace.
A visionary who helped hold the country together—even as it tried to push him aside.
Left to right: Brig. Gen. Ely S. Parker, Col. Adam Badeau, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Lt. Col. Orville E. Babcock, and Lt. Col. Horace Porter, circa 1865. John A. Whipple; Harvard Art Museum