Albumen CDV three-quarter length studio portrait of Major General John G. Parke, U.S. Volunteers General Staff. New York: Mathew Brady, n.d. Brady imprint to mount recto and verso. SIGNED by Parke with rank to mount verso: “Jno. G. Parke / Maj. Gen'l Vols.”

A fine portrait of General John Parke. His posture, position, and major general shoulder boards project confidence as he strikes a Napoleonic pose, his eyes emphasizing focus and determination. To his right, sitting on a cloaked chair, is a uniform cap. To Parke’s left, at roughly elbow-level, a mantle or decorative stand peeks into the portrait. 

A Pennsylvania native, he attended the University of Pennsylvania, followed by the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated second in the Class of 1849. Parke was commissioned into the Topographical Engineers as a second lieutenant; his work included surveying for the transcontinental railroad and boundaries in both Iowa and Arizona. On 1 July 1856, Parke was promoted to first lieutenant, and the following year, as chief surveyor, he led the group tasked with mapping the boundary between the northwestern section of the United States and Canada.

Shortly after the onset of the Civil War, Parke was promoted to captain in the U.S. Army; another advancement followed on 23 November 1861 when he was promoted to brigadier general. In 1862, Parke and his brigade participated in General Burnside’s North Carolina Expedition and the Siege of Fort Macon, which resulted in Parke’s promotion to Major General. Parke was then named Burnside's Chief of Staff, serving during Antietam and Fredericksburg.

In 1863, the corps moved west and joined Grant’s advance on Vicksburg, followed by fighting at Jackson, before rejoining Burnside in his advance into East Tennessee. 

In the spring of 1864, Parke and the IX Corps joined Grant’s Overland Campaign. Once again serving as Burnside’s chief of staff, Parke was present for the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House, though an illness prevented him from service during the Battle of Cold Harbor. Following the 30 July 1864 Battle of the Crater during the Siege of Petersburg, in which Union troops failed to successfully capitalize upon their destruction of Confederate defenses, Burnside was relieved of his command. Grant, writing to his chief of staff, Henry Halleck, stated “It was the saddest affair I have witnessed in the war,” and that “such an opportunity for carrying fortifications I have never seen and do not expect again to have.” As a result of Burnside’s departure, Parke was named commander of the IX Corps, a position he held until March 1865; as commander, Parke oversaw the corps through the remainder of the Siege of Petersburg, including the Battles of Globe Tavern, Peebles’ Farm, and Boydton Plank Road. On 25 March 1865, Parke oversaw the successful repulse of General Robert E. Lee’s last major attack of the war at Fort Stedman.

After the war’s end, Parke continued to command the IX Corps, mustering out of volunteer service on 15 January 1866. At that time, Parke resumed his prewar career as an army surveyor, returning to the northwest boundary survey he oversaw before the war, then joining the office of the Chief of Engineers in Washington, D.C., eventually reaching the rank of colonel in the regular army. On 28 August 1887, Parke was named superintendent of the United States Military Academy. Parke retired on 2 July 1889, a 40-year veteran of the United States Army.

Parke died on 16 December 1900 in Washington, D.C. He is buried at the Church of St. James the Less in Philadelphia. He is buried near his wife, Ellen Blight Ricketts Parke, whom he married after the war. The widow of an engineer colleague who died in 1862 from typhoid, she and Parke married after the war; they had no children.

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