The Seneca Man Who Wrote The Surrender Terms At Appomattox – Then Became America’s First Native Commissioner Of Indian Affairs
He had served the Union through four years of war.
He had been at Appomattox.
He was subsequently appointed to a cabinet-level position.
None of this automatically made him a citizen.
That required a specific act of Congress, passed in 1871.
The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 — which finally extended citizenship to all Native Americans — was still more than half a century away when Parker died in 1895.
The war that Parker helped conclude had settled the question of citizenship for millions of formerly enslaved people.
For Native Americans, the question remained legally unresolved for another generation and more.
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