Ely Samuel Parker, the son of William and Elizabeth Parker, was born in a log cabin overlooking the waterfalls at Indian Falls, New York, then part of the Tonawanda Indian Reservation. He volunteered into the army and became General Grant's Military Secretary. He was instrumental in drafting the final terms of the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865. On March 2, 1867, he was commissioned a Brigadier General in the regular army. President Grant appointed him the first Commissioner of Indian Affairs on April 13, 1869. He died August 31, 1895, at Fairfield, Connecticut. His remains lie at rest in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, New York.