1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,079 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. This is part two of 4 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: our episode on Eli S. Parker. In part one, we 5 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: talked about his early life and his many years long 6 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:31,479 Speaker 1: involvement in the Tonawanda Seneca's two decade fight to have 7 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:36,600 Speaker 1: their reservation land restored in western New York. That effort 8 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: led to a new treaty being signed between the United 9 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 1: States and the Tonawanda Seneca in eighteen fifty seven. Parker 10 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 1: had also trained as an engineer, and that same year 11 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: he was appointed to work for the Treasury Department, overseeing 12 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: the construction of a customs house in Galena, Illinois. In Galina, 13 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,120 Speaker 1: he met someone who would become a big part of 14 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: a lot of the rest of his life, and that 15 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:05,960 Speaker 1: was Ulysseses Grant. That's where we are picking up today. 16 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 1: This is a heavier episode than Monday's was. There will 17 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: be various discussion of warfare and massacres, and will also 18 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: be reading from some historical documents that include racist descriptions 19 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: of indigenous peoples. When Eli S. Parker met future Civil 20 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: War general and US President Ulysses S. Grant. Grant was 21 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 1: working as a clerk in his family's leather goods store. 22 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: After graduating from West Point and serving in the Mexican 23 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: American War, Grant had resigned from the army and taken 24 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,320 Speaker 1: over a farm that his wife's father gave him. That 25 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 1: farm failed, and Grant started a real estate venture, which 26 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: also failed. Alcohol may have been a factory. In all 27 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: of this, Parker described Grant as reminding him of the Seneca. Apparently, 28 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: Grant did not like to make small talk with customers. 29 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: He was quiet and reserved, and he did not open 30 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: up to people until he got to know them. And 31 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:11,919 Speaker 1: when people came into the store, he'd go into the back, 32 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: which is obviously not a great sales tactic. Over time, 33 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:20,919 Speaker 1: these two men became friends. Yeah, it absolutely did not 34 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: seem in this moment that Eli Parker was becoming friends 35 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,840 Speaker 1: with a future president of the United States. When the 36 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: Civil War began in eighteen sixty one, Grant returned to service. 37 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: Parker went home and asked his father, William's, permission to 38 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: join the army, as William had done during the War 39 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: of eighteen twelve. One of Parker's frequently repeated stories was 40 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: about showing his father an illustration of the US Army 41 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: generals from Harper's Weekly. His father pointed to Grant and 42 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:57,800 Speaker 1: said that man will be the great captain. If you 43 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:01,920 Speaker 1: follow that man, you too will become a great war captain. 44 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: But Parker's efforts to join the military were initially denied 45 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: because he was indigenous. He tried to recruit a Seneca 46 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: force for the war, but the army denied that too. 47 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,080 Speaker 1: Parker even wrote a letter directly to Secretary of State 48 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: William Seward. According to a letter Parker wrote to his 49 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: friend Harriet Maxwell Converse much later on, Seward replied, quote, 50 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: the fight must be made and settled by the white 51 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: men alone. Go home, cultivate your farm, and we will 52 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: settle our own troubles without any Indian aid. But the 53 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: army was short on engineers, and Parker was an engineer, 54 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: and eventually, apparently thanks to the involvement of Ulysses S. Grant, 55 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: Parker received a commission to become a captain, which he 56 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: accepted on June fourth, eighteen sixty three. He became chief 57 00:03:55,640 --> 00:04:00,080 Speaker 1: engineer of the seventh Division under Brigadier General John Eugene's. 58 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 1: Parker served in this capacity until eighteen sixty four, when 59 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: President Abraham Lincoln appointed Grant as General in chief. Grant 60 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: then recruited Parker onto his staff as his aide de camp, 61 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: and Parker was promoted to lieutenant colonel. Parker essentially acted 62 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 1: as Grant's secretary, and his education was a big asset 63 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 1: in this role, as was his immaculate handwriting. While he 64 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: was working as an engineer and a secretary rather than 65 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:34,279 Speaker 1: being in a combat role, his work often took him 66 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: into the line of fire, such as carrying messages through 67 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 1: active battle zones. During his service, Parker also became seriously 68 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: ill with fever and agu which has been described as 69 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 1: either malaria or dysentery, and it was treated with quinine 70 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: and whiskey. Parker's most memorable act during the Civil War 71 00:04:56,080 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: took place at Appomattox Courthouse on April ninth, eighteen sixty five, 72 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:06,159 Speaker 1: when General Robert E. Lee surrendered. Grant's adjutant, General Colonel 73 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: Theodore S. Bawers, was supposed to write out the formal 74 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: copy of the terms of surrender that was in the 75 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:17,159 Speaker 1: form of a brief letter written from Grant to Lee. 76 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: Bower's penmanship was too poor, or maybe he was just 77 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:26,160 Speaker 1: overcome by the magnitude of what was happening to do 78 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:31,839 Speaker 1: this well. I found contradictory descriptions. The task fell instead 79 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 1: to Ele S. Parker, who also worked with Grants on 80 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:40,840 Speaker 1: drafting those surrender terms. Another often repeated story from Parker's 81 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:45,040 Speaker 1: life was about meeting Lee at the surrender. In Parker's account, 82 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: Lee seemed startled for a moment when he saw him. 83 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:53,039 Speaker 1: Most sources interpret this as Lee initially thinking that Parker 84 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: was black, but then Lee shook his hand and said, 85 00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: I am glad to see one real American here, and 86 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: to that Parker replied, we are all Americans. On the 87 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:10,359 Speaker 1: day of the surrender, Parker was promoted to brevet brigadier general. 88 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: Brevet means that while he was given the higher title, 89 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:16,840 Speaker 1: he did not receive the pay or the authority that 90 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,279 Speaker 1: came with that rank. This was really meant to be 91 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:24,279 Speaker 1: an honorific and recognition of outstanding service. This was the 92 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 1: highest rank awarded to any Indigenous soldier during the Civil War. 93 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 1: After serving in the Army during the Civil War, Parker 94 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:37,360 Speaker 1: was also regarded as a US citizen, when most other 95 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:41,479 Speaker 1: Indigenous people still were not. Indigenous people in the United 96 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: States didn't automatically have US citizenship until the Indian Citizen 97 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:49,839 Speaker 1: Act of nineteen twenty four, and that was controversial because 98 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,479 Speaker 1: some Indigenous people did not want citizenship or just did 99 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:56,880 Speaker 1: not want to have it unilaterally granted to them by 100 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 1: the United States. After the war, Parker worked with the 101 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:03,720 Speaker 1: War Department and was part of the Southern Treaty Commission, 102 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:08,279 Speaker 1: which renegotiated treaties with tribes that had sided with the Confederacy. 103 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: Under their new treaties, these tribes were required to free 104 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: anyone they had enslaved and to be placed under more 105 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:20,120 Speaker 1: stringent federal jurisdiction. Some of the terms addressed in these 106 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 1: negotiations continue to have ramifications today, including issues of whether 107 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: the people enslaved by these tribes or today those people's 108 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:34,200 Speaker 1: descendants are eligible for tribal citizenship. Delegates from the Choctaw 109 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: and Chickasaw nations are quoted as saying, the fact that 110 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: the United States Government have seen fit to include a 111 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,440 Speaker 1: member of an Indian tribe with its commissioners has inspired 112 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: us with confidence. We are anxious to have the benefit 113 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: of his presence and council in any deliberations or interviews. 114 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: Parker also started working as Grant's military advisor on Indigenous affairs, 115 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: and in eighteen sixty seven Vin the two men worked 116 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: together on a four point plan to establish a quote 117 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: permanent peace between the United States and indigenous nations. There 118 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 1: had been a lot of warfare and a lot of 119 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: that was still ongoing, and so they were looking for 120 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: a different way to do things to try to bring 121 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: that warfare to a stop. This included a plan to 122 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:26,720 Speaker 1: reform the Bureau of Indian Affairs and to transfer it 123 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 1: from the Department of the Interior to the War Department. 124 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:34,680 Speaker 1: Parker thought the War Department was a better choice because 125 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: there were widespread issues with civilian agents working in collusion 126 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,320 Speaker 1: with traders to basically do as little as possible while 127 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:46,000 Speaker 1: making as much money for themselves as possible. This was 128 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: a whole network of corruption and graft known as the 129 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:53,560 Speaker 1: Indian Ring. He thought that soldiers would be motivated by 130 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:56,840 Speaker 1: honor and duty and would follow their orders, and could 131 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: also be removed through the chain of command if they 132 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:04,520 Speaker 1: did not follow orders. This may seem surprising considering that 133 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:10,079 Speaker 1: army units had already carried out multiple massacres against indigenous peoples, 134 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:15,320 Speaker 1: and Parker knew about these massacres and other misconduct. It's 135 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:19,960 Speaker 1: possible that Parker believed that a smaller, professionalized peacetime military 136 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 1: would be less prone to these kinds of atrocities than 137 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 1: a wartime force largely built through conscription, but it's clear 138 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: that he thought that white settlers were a much bigger 139 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 1: threat to Indigenous people than the army was, and that 140 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:36,719 Speaker 1: the army was more equipped to deal with white encroachment 141 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: onto Indigenous lands than anyone else. In the years after 142 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:44,359 Speaker 1: the Civil War, the War Department also had a more functional, 143 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: established bureaucracy than any other department that might have been 144 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:55,440 Speaker 1: given this responsibility. Their plan also involved land protections, educational resources, 145 00:09:55,600 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: money and opportunities provided by the federal government to indigeniness people, 146 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: basically as compensation for centuries of colonialism and dispossession. A 147 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:11,120 Speaker 1: board under this plan would oversee distributions of all of 148 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:13,560 Speaker 1: this to make sure that everything that was due to 149 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,880 Speaker 1: the tribes and the nations was delivered promptly and that 150 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: all of the things that were delivered were suitable, so 151 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:25,040 Speaker 1: no sending people things like spoiled food or bad quality goods. 152 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:28,800 Speaker 1: And their plan there would also be a commission involving 153 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 1: quote such white men as possessed in large degree the 154 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:35,679 Speaker 1: confidence of their country, and a number of the respectable 155 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:40,679 Speaker 1: educated Indians selected from different tribes, and this board would 156 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 1: individually meet with every indigenous community to try to work 157 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:49,320 Speaker 1: toward peace. Boundaries would be clearly established for Native land, 158 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:53,719 Speaker 1: and then those boundaries had to be absolutely maintained and respected. 159 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 1: But at the same time, under this plan, the people 160 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,760 Speaker 1: living on that land also had to understand and that quote, 161 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: civilization was coming, including large numbers of people as the 162 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,440 Speaker 1: United States expanded westward, and that they would be swept 163 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:12,720 Speaker 1: away if they did not adapt. In eighteen sixty seven, 164 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:16,319 Speaker 1: Parker got married to Minnie Sackett, who was described as 165 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:19,800 Speaker 1: one of the bells of Washington d c. Society. E 166 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:23,360 Speaker 1: Lee was thirty nine and Many was eighteen, but for 167 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: most people, the bigger issue was that e Lee was 168 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:30,319 Speaker 1: Seneca and Minnie was white. Some people were scandalized, but 169 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:33,199 Speaker 1: at the same time there was another train of thought 170 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,560 Speaker 1: that supported this marriage, seeing it as an example of 171 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: a successfully assimilated indigenous man. Grant was supposed to be 172 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 1: the best man. On December seventeenth, eighteen sixty seven. The 173 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 1: church where Eely and Many were supposed to get married 174 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:53,160 Speaker 1: was packed with onlookers who wanted to see or maybe 175 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:57,559 Speaker 1: wanted to disrupt, this spectacle of an Indigenous man marrying 176 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 1: a white woman. But Parker didn't show up. There was 177 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 1: a ton of speculation about where he was, including rumors 178 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: that he had been murdered for intending to marry a 179 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:13,520 Speaker 1: white woman. Arthur C. Parker's biography of him claims that 180 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 1: Parker had been drugged by arrival. We don't really know 181 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:23,079 Speaker 1: what happened privately between Eely and Minnie after he reappeared, 182 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:28,040 Speaker 1: but the wedding was rescheduled for Christmas. Onlookers who arrived 183 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:30,640 Speaker 1: at the Church of the Epiphany for this second attempt 184 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:35,319 Speaker 1: found the doors closed. Eli and Minnie instead got married 185 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 1: quietly and privately at a smaller church not far away. 186 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: Eli Parker continued to serve as Grant's secretary until eighteen 187 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 1: sixty nine, when Grant retired from the Army to become 188 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,880 Speaker 1: President of the United States. And we will get to 189 00:12:49,920 --> 00:13:03,120 Speaker 1: that after a sponsor break. On March fourth, eighteen sixty nine, 190 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:07,640 Speaker 1: Ulysses S. Grant was inaugurated as President of the United States. 191 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,360 Speaker 1: One of his first appointments was Eli S. Parker as 192 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,840 Speaker 1: Commissioner of Indian Affairs. As we said back at the 193 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:18,200 Speaker 1: beginning of part one of this episode, Parker was the 194 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:21,760 Speaker 1: first Indigenous person to hold a cabinet level position and 195 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:25,160 Speaker 1: the first Indigenous person to serve in this particular role. 196 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: On April sixteenth, eighteen sixty nine, the Senate confirmed Parker 197 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 1: with a vote of thirty six to twelve. Parker also 198 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:37,720 Speaker 1: resigned from the Army to take this appointment. Estimates vary, 199 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:40,440 Speaker 1: but there had been millions of people living in North 200 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:45,080 Speaker 1: America prior to European colonization, and those estimates ranged from 201 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:47,920 Speaker 1: as little as two million people to as many as 202 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 1: twenty million. But by the time Parker became Commissioner of 203 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: Indian Affairs, centuries of introduced disease, enslavement, warfare, and genocide 204 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:01,560 Speaker 1: had left only about three hundred thousand Indigenous people in 205 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:05,599 Speaker 1: the United States. This, of course does not include Hawaii, 206 00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 1: which the United States had not annexed yet, and Parker 207 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,600 Speaker 1: had very little information to go on about Alaska, which 208 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:16,040 Speaker 1: the United States purchased from Russia only two years before 209 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 1: he took on this role. The ongoing wars between the 210 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: United States and indigenous nations were destructive, they were expensive, 211 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:28,560 Speaker 1: they were awful in all ways, and Grant and Parker 212 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:32,040 Speaker 1: started trying to implement many of the proposals they'd worked 213 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:34,880 Speaker 1: on together while serving in the Army to try to 214 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:38,400 Speaker 1: bring those wars to an end. Parker got the War 215 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:42,440 Speaker 1: Department to assign sixty eight officers to the Indian Affairs Office, 216 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: and also appointed eighteen Quakers to work as Indian agents. 217 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: A federal delegation was sent to the West to meet 218 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 1: with nations that were still at war with the United 219 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:54,880 Speaker 1: States to try to find out what it would take 220 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,320 Speaker 1: to reach some kind of settlement, and Ely was one 221 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:01,320 Speaker 1: of the members of that delegation. They had already concluded 222 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: that the United States entire Indian Affairs system was inefficient 223 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:10,040 Speaker 1: and flawed. Article one, section eight of the US Constitution 224 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:14,200 Speaker 1: gives Congress the power to regulate commerce with the tribes, 225 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:18,720 Speaker 1: and Congress had passed various laws about that commerce, specifically 226 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:22,960 Speaker 1: in what was then known as Indian Country. Traders within 227 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:27,560 Speaker 1: this system were federally licensed, and Indian agents and superintendents 228 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:32,000 Speaker 1: were political appointees who were not paid very much. That 229 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: Indian ring we referenced earlier was a corrupt system meant 230 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 1: to enrich both the traders and the agents. Parker started 231 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,560 Speaker 1: working on efforts to get the military to assume most 232 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:47,440 Speaker 1: of the responsibility for all of this. I will add 233 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: that people do use the term Indian country still, but 234 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:54,600 Speaker 1: this area is now states. It was not States at 235 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 1: the time. Parker also thought the federal government had an 236 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:03,160 Speaker 1: obligation towards indigenous peoples who had been progressively stripped of 237 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:07,600 Speaker 1: their land, their opportunities, and their autonomy. As we mentioned before, 238 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:11,240 Speaker 1: he thought it was inevitable that indigenous peoples would ultimately 239 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: assimilate with white society. His writing on this absolutely mirrors 240 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: the prevailing view of a lot of reformers, including reformers 241 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:24,640 Speaker 1: who genuinely wanted to help Indigenous peoples as well as 242 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:29,160 Speaker 1: some Indigenous leaders, and that view was that Indigenous peoples 243 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: needed to be Christianized and quote civilized. This was also 244 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: happening alongside the post Civil War reconstruction, which often had 245 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:43,400 Speaker 1: a similarly paternalistic attitude toward free black people and an 246 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:48,200 Speaker 1: ultimate goal of their assimilation to white norms. It's clear 247 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: from Parker's personal and professional writings that he had come 248 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 1: to believe that civilization as defined by white norms was superior, 249 00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:00,000 Speaker 1: and that by extension, that the people who conformed best 250 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: to those norms were also superior. This applied to how 251 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:08,199 Speaker 1: he wrote and spoke about both black and Indigenous people. 252 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:13,399 Speaker 1: At the same time. He thought this inevitable assimilation should 253 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: happen according to the tribes and nations' own timelines and 254 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:22,000 Speaker 1: on their own terms. So he thought any federal efforts 255 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 1: should be focused on assistance and incentives, not on coercion 256 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:31,000 Speaker 1: or punitive measures. And there were aspects of this that 257 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:34,000 Speaker 1: mirrored what we talked about in our recent episodes on 258 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:38,800 Speaker 1: Sarah Winnemucca. While Parker was focused on, in his words 259 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 1: the quote humanization, civilization, and Christianization of the Indians, he 260 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:47,399 Speaker 1: also thought that the tribes should be able to retain 261 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,600 Speaker 1: their languages and their heritage, and that they should have 262 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: autonomy and respect and defense of their reservation lands. In 263 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:59,760 Speaker 1: the words of Arthur Parker quote, two ideas controlled his policy. 264 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,320 Speaker 1: The first was to make the Indian himself see his 265 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: duty in becoming a useful and constructive member of society, 266 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:11,520 Speaker 1: to make him economically independent, contributing his share to the 267 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: sum total of human welfare. The second idea was to 268 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 1: impress the various departments of the government with the idea 269 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,800 Speaker 1: that the people of the United States owed the Indians 270 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 1: a clean administration of their affairs, and not only that, 271 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,879 Speaker 1: but that they must take upon themselves the burden of 272 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,359 Speaker 1: rescuing the Indian from the unhappy state into which he 273 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:35,639 Speaker 1: had been thrust, and of lifting him up into an 274 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:41,920 Speaker 1: understanding of civilization and Christianity. In eighteen sixty nine, Parker 275 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:45,119 Speaker 1: filed what was to be his first annual report on 276 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:49,000 Speaker 1: Indian affairs. It began with a forty five page summary, 277 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: and it was followed by another five hundred and fifty 278 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:58,400 Speaker 1: pages of additional documents and correspondents. This report really highlights 279 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:02,160 Speaker 1: how he was making recommendations that he really thought would 280 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:07,320 Speaker 1: help indigenous peoples living in US territory, while also basing 281 00:19:07,359 --> 00:19:11,760 Speaker 1: these recommendations on racist ideas and a perception of European 282 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:17,360 Speaker 1: culture as superior to Indigenous culture. He characterizes indigenous peoples 283 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 1: as ignorant and superstitious, especially those who had not yet 284 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:25,359 Speaker 1: been forced to live on reservations and adopt European style 285 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: farming methods as a way to sustain themselves. At the 286 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:33,520 Speaker 1: same time, he advocated for more land for indigenous peoples, 287 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,760 Speaker 1: including additional lands for reservations that needed it and new 288 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:41,399 Speaker 1: reservations for peoples that did not have one yet. He 289 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 1: called on Congress to pass appropriate legislation to provide for 290 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,680 Speaker 1: these people quote until they become capable of taking care 291 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:53,280 Speaker 1: of themselves. He also offered an update on what came 292 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:57,040 Speaker 1: to be known as the Peace Policy, describing a quote 293 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:02,000 Speaker 1: different class of men being appointed as superintendents and agents 294 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:05,080 Speaker 1: due to the dishonesty and the inefficiency of the men 295 00:20:05,119 --> 00:20:09,399 Speaker 1: who had been holding those roles in the past. He wrote, quote, 296 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:13,359 Speaker 1: the experiment has not been sufficiently tested to enable me 297 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:16,639 Speaker 1: to say definitely that it is a success. For but 298 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: a short time has a lapse since these friends and 299 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:23,960 Speaker 1: officers entered upon duty. But so far as I can learn, 300 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:28,399 Speaker 1: the plan works advantageously and will probably prove a positive 301 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:31,719 Speaker 1: benefit to the service. And the indications are that the 302 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: interests of the government and the Indians will be subserved 303 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:39,560 Speaker 1: by an honest and faithful discharge of duty, fully answering 304 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:43,320 Speaker 1: the expectations entertained by those who regard the measure as 305 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:48,159 Speaker 1: wise and proper. Another of Parker's recommendations was that the 306 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:52,639 Speaker 1: United States respect and uphold treaties with indigenous peoples that 307 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:56,200 Speaker 1: were already in place, and ratify any treaties that have 308 00:20:56,320 --> 00:21:01,119 Speaker 1: been negotiated over the previous two years, but he recommended 309 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 1: against negotiating new treaties. He argued that a treaty was 310 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,960 Speaker 1: a compact between two or more sovereign powers quote, each 311 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:14,399 Speaker 1: possessing sufficient authority and force to compel a compliance with 312 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: the obligations incurred. He went on to say that the 313 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:22,160 Speaker 1: tribes were not sovereign nations capable of making treaties quote, 314 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:24,960 Speaker 1: as none of them have an organized government of such 315 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:29,000 Speaker 1: inherent strength as would secure a faithful obedience of its people. 316 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:32,679 Speaker 1: In the observance of compacts of this character, they are 317 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,159 Speaker 1: held to be the wards of the government, and the 318 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:37,840 Speaker 1: only title the law concedes to them to the lands 319 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:42,080 Speaker 1: they occupy or claim is a mere possessory one. But 320 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: because treaties have been made with them, generally for the 321 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: extinguishment of their supposed absolute title to land inhabited by 322 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:53,560 Speaker 1: them or over which they roam, they have become falsely 323 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:57,680 Speaker 1: impressed with the notion of national independence. It is time 324 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:01,320 Speaker 1: that this idea should be dispelled, the government ceased the 325 00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:05,359 Speaker 1: cruel farce of thus dealing with its helpless and ignorant wards. 326 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:09,280 Speaker 1: I will say the United States also did not have 327 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,359 Speaker 1: a government of such inherent strength that it could secure 328 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:16,840 Speaker 1: a faithful obedience of its people and observation of these treaties. 329 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: But aside from that, some historians have interpreted this as 330 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:26,920 Speaker 1: Parker really buying into the federal government's colonial efforts and 331 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:31,920 Speaker 1: opinions on whether Indigenous people were capable of governing themselves. 332 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: The federal government thought they were not. But others have 333 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: seen it more as an acknowledgement of how absolutely destructive 334 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,879 Speaker 1: that colonial effort had already been to the nations that 335 00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:47,440 Speaker 1: had maintained their own sovereignty and their own systems of 336 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:52,160 Speaker 1: government for centuries before colonization. It's also been noted that 337 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:56,119 Speaker 1: Parker clearly understood that the United States could never be 338 00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:00,320 Speaker 1: fully trusted to uphold these treaties, so like I go 339 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:02,600 Speaker 1: through the farce of making more of them. If that 340 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:06,919 Speaker 1: was the case, Congress did formally outlaw the making of 341 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:10,840 Speaker 1: new treaties under the Indian Appropriation Spill of eighteen seventy one, 342 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:15,480 Speaker 1: which Grant signed into law. In this report, Parker went 343 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:18,399 Speaker 1: on to say, quote many good men, looking at this 344 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:21,880 Speaker 1: matter only from a Christian point of view, will perhaps 345 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:24,720 Speaker 1: say that the poor Indian has been greatly wronged and 346 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: ill treated, that this whole country was once his, of 347 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:31,399 Speaker 1: which he has been despoiled, and that he has been 348 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:34,480 Speaker 1: driven from place to place until he has hardly left 349 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:38,560 Speaker 1: him a spot where to lay his head. This, indeed, 350 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:41,920 Speaker 1: may be philanthropic and humane, but the stern letter of 351 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:45,800 Speaker 1: the law admits of no such conclusion. And great injury 352 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 1: has been done by the government in deluding these people 353 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:52,760 Speaker 1: into the belief of their being independent sovereignties, while they 354 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:56,199 Speaker 1: were at the same time recognized only as its dependents 355 00:23:56,280 --> 00:24:00,840 Speaker 1: and wards. As civilization advances and their sessions of land 356 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:04,960 Speaker 1: are required for settlement, such legislation should be granted to them, 357 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:08,800 Speaker 1: as a wise, liberal and just government ought to extend 358 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:13,400 Speaker 1: to subjects holding their dependent relation. In regard to treaties 359 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 1: now in force, Justice and humanity require that they be 360 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 1: promptly and faithfully executed, so that the Indians may not 361 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:24,680 Speaker 1: have cause of complaint or reason to violate their obligations 362 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:29,159 Speaker 1: by acts of violence and robbery. He also addressed the 363 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:33,280 Speaker 1: subject of people of African descent who had been enslaved 364 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,600 Speaker 1: by one of the tribes. As we said earlier, inn 365 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:38,439 Speaker 1: issue that has continued to be relevant through to today. 366 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:42,400 Speaker 1: Quote attention is invited to the condition of the freedmen 367 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,080 Speaker 1: among the Choctaws and some of the other tribes in 368 00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:49,239 Speaker 1: the Indian territory, whose status as slaves became changed by 369 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,200 Speaker 1: the results of the late war, and who now appeal 370 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:56,600 Speaker 1: to the government for kind treatment and protection. Denied the 371 00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: rights and privileges of all the members of the tribes 372 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:03,639 Speaker 1: with whom they reside oppressed and persecuted. This people have 373 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:08,679 Speaker 1: claims which should not, injustice, be longer disregarded. They prefer 374 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,240 Speaker 1: to remain with those among whom they were raised, but 375 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:16,200 Speaker 1: fear losing the protection of the laws of the United States. 376 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,359 Speaker 1: Parker's summary also walked through the status of the different 377 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: tribes and nations across the country. Here's how he described 378 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:28,959 Speaker 1: his own people. Quote. New York Indians residing on several 379 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,359 Speaker 1: reservations in the state of New York number four thousand, 380 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,960 Speaker 1: nine hundred ninety one against four thousand, one hundred thirty 381 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:40,240 Speaker 1: six reported last year, an increase accounted for by including 382 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:43,600 Speaker 1: the Saint Regis Indians who were not enumerated in the 383 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:47,800 Speaker 1: census of eighteen sixty eight. These tribes, the descendants of 384 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,920 Speaker 1: the powerful six nations, who filled so large a space 385 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,919 Speaker 1: in the early history of this country, have to a 386 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:58,240 Speaker 1: great extent, if not altogether, abandoned the habits and customs 387 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:01,560 Speaker 1: of their forefathers, and are now now steadily and successfully 388 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:05,639 Speaker 1: following the pursuits of a higher style of life, many 389 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,480 Speaker 1: of whom will compare favorably in their attainments with the 390 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:12,800 Speaker 1: whites by whom they are surrounded. Their schools, farms, and 391 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:16,680 Speaker 1: houses regard for morality and religion are the evidence of 392 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:19,159 Speaker 1: a real and marked advancement in the scale of a 393 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:24,480 Speaker 1: Christian civilization. An increase of interest is manifested in reference 394 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:28,959 Speaker 1: to education. On the several reservations, twenty six schools are 395 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:33,120 Speaker 1: in operation, besides which there is a large institution known 396 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:37,159 Speaker 1: as the Thomas Orphan Asylum established for their benefit, and 397 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:40,040 Speaker 1: a large manual labor school is about to be opened 398 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: upon the Tanawanda Reservation, the Senate having passed an act 399 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:48,879 Speaker 1: appropriating three thousand dollars for that object, the Indians giving 400 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:52,919 Speaker 1: the necessary land. Therefore, I would call attention to the 401 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:57,560 Speaker 1: interesting report herewith from their agent, Captain Ames United States 402 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:01,320 Speaker 1: Army in regard to the agricultural as held by these 403 00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:05,120 Speaker 1: people Friday. This report was, of course, not the only 404 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: thing Parker did as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and we 405 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:21,960 Speaker 1: will have more after another sponsor break. On January twenty third, 406 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy, Major Eugene M. Baker of the US Second 407 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:30,440 Speaker 1: Cavalry attacked a Pagan encampment on the Marias River in Montana. 408 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:34,400 Speaker 1: Most of the people at this camp were women, children, 409 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:39,080 Speaker 1: and elders who had quarantined themselves due to a smallpox outbreak. 410 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:43,480 Speaker 1: Baker had been told that these people were stealing horses, 411 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,280 Speaker 1: and in response, he attacked the camp before dawn, while 412 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:51,359 Speaker 1: almost everyone was asleep. His force massacred more than one 413 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:54,480 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty people, some sources say more than two hundred, 414 00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:58,919 Speaker 1: and they took at least one hundred and fifty people prisoner. Afterward, 415 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:03,800 Speaker 1: Baker's force destroyed the camp's food and lodges, claiming this 416 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,320 Speaker 1: was necessary because of the smallpox outbreak, and they also 417 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: captured hundreds of horses. This would have been an atrocity 418 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:16,520 Speaker 1: under any circumstance, but to make things worse. Pagan Chief 419 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 1: Heavy Runner carried papers specifying that he was on peaceful 420 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,120 Speaker 1: terms with the United States, and he was bringing those 421 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:28,399 Speaker 1: papers to the soldiers when they shot and killed him. Initially, 422 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,960 Speaker 1: the army covered up this massacre, but eventually Lieutenant William B. 423 00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:37,440 Speaker 1: Peas reported it. In the aftermath, John A. Logan, chair 424 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,800 Speaker 1: of the Committee on Military Affairs, requested that the Bureau 425 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,840 Speaker 1: of Indian Affairs be kept in the Department of the Interior, 426 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: rather than being moved into the War Department as Parker 427 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:52,760 Speaker 1: had been proposing. Meanwhile, Parker still continued to defend the army, 428 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: including in this massacre as the best choice. I think 429 00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:01,520 Speaker 1: this massacre could be its own episode for sure. Beyond 430 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:06,320 Speaker 1: this one, another of Parker's efforts in eighteen seventy involved 431 00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:11,120 Speaker 1: negotiations with Oglala Chief Red Cloud and Lakota Chief Spotted Tail. 432 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:15,240 Speaker 1: The Oglala and Lakota are both part of the Ocheti 433 00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 1: Sacohen also called the Sioux, who were party to the 434 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 1: Treaty of Fort Laramie in eighteen sixty eight. Red Cloud 435 00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,880 Speaker 1: and Spotted Tail both believed that the terms of this 436 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,640 Speaker 1: treaty had given them rights to a reservation in their 437 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 1: ancestral homeland. They thought that because that was how it 438 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 1: had been explained to them, but now they were being 439 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 1: told they had to move hundreds of miles east to 440 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:44,240 Speaker 1: the banks of the Missouri River. Parker, hearing about this, 441 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 1: invited them to Washington, and when their delegation arrived, he 442 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:52,280 Speaker 1: heard them out and arranged a meeting with Grant. Parker 443 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:55,040 Speaker 1: had to explain to them that the treaty did not 444 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:59,040 Speaker 1: give them the right to a reservation in their ancestral 445 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 1: homeland as the interpreters had told them that it would, 446 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:05,320 Speaker 1: but it did give them the right to hunt there. 447 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,720 Speaker 1: Parker told them that there was nothing in the treaty 448 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 1: to prohibit them from also living on their hunting grounds. 449 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,080 Speaker 1: So this indigenous delegation really saw this as a victory, 450 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 1: but then they return home to find that nothing had 451 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:22,640 Speaker 1: actually changed in practice. This treaty is one of many 452 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:24,920 Speaker 1: things in this episode that is still relevant today, with 453 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:27,280 Speaker 1: cases going all the way up to the Supreme Court 454 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:33,000 Speaker 1: during our lifetimes. Also in eighteen seventy, Parker visited indigenous 455 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:37,320 Speaker 1: communities and attended a general council in Indian Territory in 456 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:41,160 Speaker 1: what is now Oklahoma. He hoped to work toward establishing 457 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:44,680 Speaker 1: a government for Indian Territory that would be exclusively made 458 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:48,320 Speaker 1: up of Native people, who would govern themselves and have 459 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:52,600 Speaker 1: autonomy over their own affairs. He conceived this as an 460 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:56,480 Speaker 1: eventual home for all indigenous peoples in the United States, 461 00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 1: which would eventually become its own state. Unsurprisingly, there were 462 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:05,600 Speaker 1: people who opposed Parker in his role as Commissioner of 463 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:09,000 Speaker 1: Indian Affairs due to racism, or to his policies, or 464 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:13,120 Speaker 1: a combination of both, and when he returned to Washington 465 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:17,200 Speaker 1: after this council, he learned that William Welsh, chair of 466 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:21,440 Speaker 1: the Board of Indian Commissioners, had accused him of fraud, 467 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:25,000 Speaker 1: claiming that Parker was part of the Indian ring he 468 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:29,560 Speaker 1: had been trying to dismantle. Unlike the Bilateral Commission that 469 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:33,040 Speaker 1: Parker had envisioned, the Board of Indian Commissioners was made 470 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: up of white men only, and unlike Parker, who advocated 471 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,600 Speaker 1: for tribes and nations to progress toward assimilation on their 472 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,520 Speaker 1: own terms and with their own autonomy, Welsh and the 473 00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,840 Speaker 1: Board were focused on getting Native people to assimilate by 474 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 1: any means necessary as fast as possible. When Parker was 475 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:56,040 Speaker 1: creating his first report, in eighteen sixty nine, the Board 476 00:31:56,120 --> 00:32:00,200 Speaker 1: was creating its own document that was focused on forced assimilation, 477 00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:06,000 Speaker 1: further concentrating indigenous people into smaller reservations, and discouraging what 478 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:11,120 Speaker 1: it called tribal relations, which meant any semblance of tribal sovereignty. 479 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:17,080 Speaker 1: In addition to this, Congress passed legislation prohibiting army officers 480 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:20,720 Speaker 1: from serving in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and limited 481 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:24,680 Speaker 1: the President's authority. In the winter of eighteen seventy one, 482 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:28,400 Speaker 1: Parker was called before the House of Representatives on thirteen 483 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:32,800 Speaker 1: different corruption charges, relating to things like how much he 484 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,280 Speaker 1: had spent on food and supplies and weather that food 485 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:41,040 Speaker 1: and supplies had been needed. While the investigation found quote 486 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:45,880 Speaker 1: much to criticize and condemn, it found no evidence of 487 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:50,320 Speaker 1: fraud or corruption. But in the face of ongoing scrutiny 488 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:54,520 Speaker 1: and a board that was really continually undermining him, Parker 489 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:58,720 Speaker 1: resigned on June twenty ninth, eighteen seventy one. In his 490 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:03,200 Speaker 1: resignation letter, he said that Congress had divested his office 491 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:06,920 Speaker 1: of its importance, leaving the Commissioner of Indian Affairs as 492 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:10,840 Speaker 1: a clerk to the Board of Indian Commissioners. He wrote, quote, 493 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:14,600 Speaker 1: I would gladly and willingly do anything in my power 494 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:18,560 Speaker 1: to aid in forwarding and promoting to a successful issue, 495 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:23,200 Speaker 1: the President's wise and beneficent Indian policy, but I cannot, 496 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:27,520 Speaker 1: in justice to myself longer continued to hold the ambiguous 497 00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:33,320 Speaker 1: position of Commissioner of Indian Affairs. After this, Parker left Washington, 498 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: d c. He and his wife moved to Fairfield, Connecticut, 499 00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:41,040 Speaker 1: where she had family, and they basically started over. He 500 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:43,719 Speaker 1: went into business and commuted back and forth to New 501 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:47,320 Speaker 1: York City, and he initially did quite well, but then 502 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:51,840 Speaker 1: lost almost everything in the Panic of eighteen seventy three. 503 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:55,280 Speaker 1: By eighteen seventy six, Parker was basically out of money. 504 00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:59,720 Speaker 1: After years away from the field of engineering, his knowledge 505 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 1: was no longer up to date. In his words, quote, 506 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:06,520 Speaker 1: the profession ran away from me. So he became a 507 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:09,520 Speaker 1: desk clerk for the New York City Police Department, and 508 00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:13,279 Speaker 1: he also did some public speaking. Eli and Minnie had 509 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:17,120 Speaker 1: a daughter named maud in eighteen seventy eight. She was 510 00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:21,520 Speaker 1: raised without any connection to the Seneca. Elie and Minnie's 511 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:25,560 Speaker 1: marriage had also been controversial among the Seneca because Seneca 512 00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:29,440 Speaker 1: kinship lines are matriarchal, so by marrying a white woman, 513 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 1: any children Eli had with Minnie would not be considered Seneca. 514 00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:39,040 Speaker 1: In eighteen eighty one, Parker met Harriet Maxwell Converse. She 515 00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:43,359 Speaker 1: was an author poet. He described Minnie as the love 516 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:46,200 Speaker 1: of his life, but he and Harriet developed a really 517 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:51,280 Speaker 1: deep friendship. Arthur Parker's account describes Harriet and her husband Frank, 518 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:53,960 Speaker 1: as being friends with both e Lee and Minnie Parker, 519 00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:57,040 Speaker 1: so the four of them were all very close. In 520 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,160 Speaker 1: a lot of his letters, e Lee addresses Harriet as 521 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:05,279 Speaker 1: my dear cousin. Through their correspondence, Harriet developed a really 522 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:10,080 Speaker 1: deep interest in the Seneca, and Parker started to rekindle 523 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:14,040 Speaker 1: his own sense of himself as indigenous. Over the course 524 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:17,799 Speaker 1: of their friendship, Harriet became a vocal advocate for the 525 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:21,560 Speaker 1: Seneca and the Hadenashawnee more broadly, and she was eventually 526 00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:25,120 Speaker 1: adopted into the Seneca nation, as her father and grandfather 527 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:29,520 Speaker 1: had been in earlier years. Parker's letters to Converse are 528 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:33,799 Speaker 1: often very reflective and introspective. He expresses a lot of 529 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 1: disappointment in himself and a sense that he wasn't sure 530 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,000 Speaker 1: whether the actions that he had taken in his life 531 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:44,080 Speaker 1: had been the correct ones. They're simultaneously a sense of 532 00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:47,920 Speaker 1: pride in what he accomplished and a lot of regret. 533 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:51,600 Speaker 1: Around eighteen eighty five, he wrote to her quote, I 534 00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:54,799 Speaker 1: have little or no faith in the American Christian civilization 535 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:58,759 Speaker 1: methods of healing the Indians of this country. It has 536 00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:05,000 Speaker 1: not been honest or sincere. Black deception, damnable frauds, and 537 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:09,440 Speaker 1: persistent oppression has been its characteristics, and its religion today 538 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:13,160 Speaker 1: is that the only good Indian is a dead one. 539 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,480 Speaker 1: In another letter, he described himself as haunted by the 540 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:20,520 Speaker 1: accolades of his youth, writing quote, I have lost my identity, 541 00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:23,440 Speaker 1: and look about me in vain for my original being, 542 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:28,600 Speaker 1: I am pursued by a still small voice, constantly echoing 543 00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:33,160 Speaker 1: Thou art a genius, great and powerful. Over the course 544 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:35,799 Speaker 1: of these letters, Parker seemed to come to see his 545 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:40,080 Speaker 1: earlier life as a chief as truer and more important 546 00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:43,239 Speaker 1: than his later life as an engineer, a soldier, and 547 00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:47,160 Speaker 1: a part of the federal government. He became increasingly focused 548 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:50,319 Speaker 1: on the idea of indigenous people needing to retain their 549 00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:54,439 Speaker 1: own languages and traditions and identities, but he was never 550 00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:58,120 Speaker 1: able to put these ideas into practice with his own people. 551 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:02,080 Speaker 1: He had developed diabetes and kidney disease, and he also 552 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:06,279 Speaker 1: had a series of strokes. His diabetes diagnosis actually came 553 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:10,280 Speaker 1: from doctor J. H. Salisbury, who he saw at Harriet's urging. 554 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:13,960 Speaker 1: We talked about Salisbury in our fourth installment of our 555 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:17,920 Speaker 1: eponymous Foods episodes. He is the namesake of Salisbury's steak. 556 00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:22,799 Speaker 1: Doctor Salisbury's health recommendations included an all meat diet, and 557 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:26,040 Speaker 1: in one of Parker's letters to Converse, he describes being 558 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:30,480 Speaker 1: placed on a diet of beef and water. Ely. Samuel 559 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:34,080 Speaker 1: Parker died on August thirty first, eighteen ninety five, at 560 00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:37,960 Speaker 1: the age of sixty seven. He was buried at Oaklawn 561 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:43,640 Speaker 1: Cemetery in Fairfield, Connecticut, with full military honors. Also present 562 00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:46,560 Speaker 1: were delegates from the Grand Army of the Republic and 563 00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:50,440 Speaker 1: the New York Police Department, and elders and clanmothers of 564 00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:55,600 Speaker 1: the Haddenishawnee Nations. On January twentieth, eighteen seventy nine, with 565 00:37:55,840 --> 00:38:00,000 Speaker 1: Many's permission, he was exhumed and reinterred at Forest lah 566 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:04,520 Speaker 1: On Cemetery in Buffalo, New York. In Hodenashawnee ancestral homeland. 567 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:09,640 Speaker 1: Seneca orator and leader Red Jacket had also been reinterred there. 568 00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:14,160 Speaker 1: Their burial places are next to one another. After Parker's death, 569 00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:17,640 Speaker 1: Many was left without many resources aside from a war 570 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:21,520 Speaker 1: widow's pension of eight dollars a month. She sold off 571 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,880 Speaker 1: a lot of his possessions in order to survive, including 572 00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:27,680 Speaker 1: the Red Jacket Peace Medal, which she sold to the 573 00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:32,160 Speaker 1: Buffalo Historical Society. She also sold his copy of the 574 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:36,040 Speaker 1: Surrender Terms from Appomattics for two thousand dollars to the 575 00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:40,640 Speaker 1: Loyal Legion, whose members had raised money for it. Congress 576 00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:44,920 Speaker 1: later increased her pension to thirty dollars a month. She 577 00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 1: eventually remarried to James Talmadge van Rensseler, and although he 578 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:52,239 Speaker 1: died only a couple of years later, her inheritance from 579 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:56,520 Speaker 1: that marriage made her a lot more financially comfortable. Eli 580 00:38:56,680 --> 00:39:01,480 Speaker 1: Parker's legacy continues to be really controversial. He's one of 581 00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:05,799 Speaker 1: many nineteenth century reformers and advocates who wanted to help 582 00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:09,440 Speaker 1: indigenous peoples, but whose methods of helping were based in 583 00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:13,920 Speaker 1: racism and were ultimately destructive. He had advocated for some 584 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:18,239 Speaker 1: degree of autonomy for Indigenous peoples, and he had stressed 585 00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:22,000 Speaker 1: the need to protect Indigenous lands. But less than a 586 00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:26,480 Speaker 1: decade before his death, federal policy toward Indigenous people shifted 587 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:31,680 Speaker 1: from moving people to reservations to breaking up those reservations 588 00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:34,680 Speaker 1: and forcing people to assimilate. We've talked about a lot 589 00:39:34,719 --> 00:39:37,880 Speaker 1: of things related to that on the show before his 590 00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:41,840 Speaker 1: efforts to protect Indigenous lands were really starting to be 591 00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:46,200 Speaker 1: rolled back while he was still alive. The bureaucracy that 592 00:39:46,239 --> 00:39:49,560 Speaker 1: Parker helped to establish at the Bureau of Indian Affairs 593 00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:53,719 Speaker 1: also really helped facilitate the United States effort to rid 594 00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:58,879 Speaker 1: itself of its Indigenous population through assimilation and cultural genocide 595 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:03,640 Speaker 1: in later years. In the nineteen ninety nine documentary Warrior 596 00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:07,200 Speaker 1: in Two Worlds Eli S, Parker is described as being 597 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:11,520 Speaker 1: perceived as a sellout among the six nations of the Hodenashani. 598 00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:16,080 Speaker 1: In an interview conducted for that documentary, the late Seneca 599 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:21,120 Speaker 1: historian John Mohawk describes him as ambitious, with that ambition 600 00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:25,239 Speaker 1: leading to the loss of his Seneca identity. Mohawk went 601 00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:27,360 Speaker 1: on to say, quote, I don't think he lost his 602 00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:30,680 Speaker 1: loyalty to the Seneca world. I think he lost his 603 00:40:30,719 --> 00:40:33,799 Speaker 1: connections to it, and I think after he was gone 604 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:37,000 Speaker 1: for thirty to forty years, people felt kind of like 605 00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:40,240 Speaker 1: he wasn't one of us anymore. I think he felt 606 00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:44,279 Speaker 1: like he wasn't one of them anymore. Tuscarora historian and 607 00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:48,160 Speaker 1: artist Rick W. Hill Senior was also interviewed for this 608 00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:53,440 Speaker 1: documentary and similarly described Parker as failing because he forgot 609 00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:57,040 Speaker 1: where he came from and what he was about. Hill 610 00:40:57,080 --> 00:41:01,280 Speaker 1: also described finding legitimacy both in the idea that Parker 611 00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:03,839 Speaker 1: was a trader because there was a betrayal to his 612 00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:08,960 Speaker 1: people and that he was trying to blend these two worlds, 613 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:13,200 Speaker 1: and that there's also a lesson in that. In twenty twenty, 614 00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:16,600 Speaker 1: the Seneca Nation requested that the Red Jacket peace metal 615 00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:20,520 Speaker 1: be returned from the Buffalo History Museum, and that medal 616 00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:25,719 Speaker 1: was repatriated in May of twenty twenty one. So that 617 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,799 Speaker 1: is Eli s. Parker. I feel like we've had two 618 00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:38,160 Speaker 1: a quick succession, complicated indigenous figures, yes, whose complexities are 619 00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:43,200 Speaker 1: interconnected with one another. I also have some listener mail. 620 00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:47,600 Speaker 1: This is from Alana, who wrote after a conversation that 621 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:53,520 Speaker 1: hollyood I had about the terms Britain and Ireland and 622 00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:58,120 Speaker 1: British Isles and how neither of them really sums up 623 00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:03,120 Speaker 1: everything perfectly. So the email says, hello, just an additional 624 00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:05,160 Speaker 1: note to help with what term to use for the 625 00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:09,319 Speaker 1: islands here writing from Ireland. A term we use is 626 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:12,640 Speaker 1: British and Irish Isles, as it includes all the small 627 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,480 Speaker 1: and not so small islands around both Ireland and Britain. 628 00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:18,360 Speaker 1: It's also the term used by the rugby team, the 629 00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:21,680 Speaker 1: British and Irish Lions, when all the nations here team 630 00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,680 Speaker 1: up into a super team. I hope that helps. I'm 631 00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:27,040 Speaker 1: an American who's been living in Ireland for seven plus 632 00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:28,759 Speaker 1: years now and it took me a while to get 633 00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:31,200 Speaker 1: a handle on all the terms. Hope you're keeping well 634 00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:36,759 Speaker 1: in these difficult times. Kind regards, Alana, thank you very 635 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:40,839 Speaker 1: much for this, and now that you've said that, boy, 636 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:45,960 Speaker 1: that seems obvious to me that British and Irish Isles 637 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:51,359 Speaker 1: also works really well, so thank you for that. If 638 00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:53,719 Speaker 1: you'd like to send us some notes about this or 639 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:57,600 Speaker 1: any other podcast or history podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com, 640 00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:01,760 Speaker 1: and you can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio 641 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:06,200 Speaker 1: app and anywhere else you'd like to get your podcasts. 642 00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:13,240 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 643 00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:18,200 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 644 00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:20,320 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.