Ely S. Parker was not allowed to practice law. The Native American leader and aide to Ulysses S. Grant has posthumously been admitted to the New York state bar

Parker, seated second from right, with Grant again, and after the war (Library of Congress, National Archives)

Ely S. Parker was many things: Orator, soldier, engineer, administrator, translator and tribal diplomat, among other accomplishments.

But one title Parker was not afforded – although he was richly qualified -- was attorney and counselor in his native New York state. That’s because Native Americans were not recognized as U.S. citizens until 1924 and he could not be admitted to the state bar.

The injustice was remedied Friday morning when the state’s Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department, posthumously admitted Parker to practice law in western and central New York.

“The failure was never his. It was the law itself,” descendant Melissa Parker Leonard said during a courtroom ceremony in Buffalo. She spoke of her ancestor's dogged efforts as a sachem (leader) to protect his tribe's culture and land.

It’s a fair bet to say most Americans who have followed 19^th century American history might best know Parker for his role as an aide and secretary to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant during the last two years of the Civil War. He can be seen in numerous photographs kept by the Library of Congress and the National Archives.

Col. Parker, born into the Tonowanda Seneca Nation, was present at Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox and he helped formulate documents. Lee famously called Parker the one “real American” there. “We are all Americans,” the officer responded.

Friday’s events did mention Parker’s Civil War service, but as one speaker made clear, he was more than a footnote in Grant’s life.

Parker, born in 1828 with the name Hasanoanda, studied law in Ellicottville, N.Y., in the late 1840s but was denied consideration for admission.

Ely S. Parker, seated far left, at the Grand Review of the Armies in 1865 (Library of Congress)

“Despite the injustice of not being able to do so as a recognized member of the bar, Mr. Parker nonetheless utilized his legal training to assist in litigation to protect the ancestral homelands of the Tonawanda Seneca, including two successful cases before the United States Supreme Court,” the appellate court said in an article about its action.

Ely (pronounced Ee-Lee) Parker became an engineer after studying at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Early in the Civil War, he was denied an opportunity to form an Iroquois regiment in New York.

He served in the Army of the Tennessee and eventually joined up with Grant, who he had met before the war.

When hostilities ended, the officer remained as an aide to Grant and served in the 2^nd U.S. Cavalry before retiring at brevet brigadier general. Parker then became the nation’s first Native American commissioner of Indian Affairs during the Grant presidency. He died in 1895.

Lee Redeye (center) and Melissa Parker Leonard (far right) speak Thursday (The Buffalo History Museum)

Speakers at Friday’s event and a program Thursday evening at The Buffalo History Museum spoke of the prejudice Native Americans have endured, from relocation to boarding schools. Parker, they said, fought for his people.

Lee Redeye, deputy counsel for the Seneca Nation, said Parker is now a victor, instead of a victim.

“We must never forget our roots. We must remember where we come from. We must honor our people. We must honor our nations,” Redeye said.

Kathleen Sweet, president of the New York State Bar Association, issued a statement about the court’s action:

“The posthumous admission of Ely S. Parker to the New York Bar today corrects a longstanding injustice. Parker wrote the final draft of the Confederate surrender terms at Appomattox and was a lawyer in every sense of the word. As a Native American, he could not be a citizen nor a counselor at law. Finally, he has received this overdue recognition.”

A Department of War article on Parker is here.