PARKER, ELY SAMUEL (1828-95) Union Brevet Brigadier General; Seneca Indian; Friend, Aide, and Military Secretary to Ulysses S. Grant; Transcribed the official Confederate surrender documents at Appomattox; U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs – 1869-71

Civil War-Date Autograph Document Signed – Rations for Grant’s teamsters before the Battle of the Wilderness

Autograph Document Signed, 6 ¾” x 11”, partly printed, Culpeper, Virginia, May 2, 1864, “By command of Lieu[tenan]t Gen[era]l Grant, E.S. Parker, Ass[istan]t Adj[tan]t Gen[era]l.”  Just three days before the Overland Campaign commenced at the Battle of the Wilderness, Parker, as General Grant’s adjutant, approves rations for thirteen men employed as teamsters in the Quartermasters Department of Grant’s Headquarters.  With the exception of the signature of Captain Henry Warner Janes, formerly of the 55^th Illinois Infantry, at lower right, remaining manuscript portions of the document are also in Parker’s hand.

Overall condition is very good, with heavier toning and minor staining at three vertical folds.