Born: London, England, 1811.Died: Ball's Bluff, Virginia, Battlefield, 1861.
Born: London, England, 1811.
Died: Ball's Bluff, Virginia, Battlefield, 1861.
At the age of four years this boy was brought to Philadelphia, and at the age of fifteen he was teaching school. He was admitted to the bar in Carrollton, Illinois, in 1830; the next year married Mrs. Mary Ann Lee, and in 1832 participated actively in the Black Hawk War.
It was shortly after his marriage that he was immersed and became a member of the church in Carrollton. It is not probable that he was formally set apart to the Christian ministry, but his ardent disposition, superior ability as a public speaker and his sincere devotion to the pure gospel led him to its public proclamation for near a decade. He also baptized some converts. Min. W. H. Cannon, pastor of the Central Church, Decatur, says that his own grandfather, Hardin Goodin, whom he knew well, was immersed by Mr. Baker in Honey Creek, Pike County. Nor was this an exceptional instance. He was also associated with those Disciples in the early thirties at Jacksonville in their first efforts looking toward co-operative missionary work.
In 1835 he moved to Springfield. There he met and became the sincere and lifelong friend of Abraham Lincoln. Two such magnificent and magnanimous souls could easily understand and love each other. This friendship proved of incalculable value to the Federal Union in the black night of bloody horrors in which both suns went down.
In 1837, Mr. Baker was elected to the House in the Legislature and in 1840 to the Senate. In 1844 he beat Mr. Lincoln for the nomination for Congress on the Whig ticket, and was elected. But Mr. Lincoln's feelings were reflected in the fact that a baby boy who came into his home in 1846 was named Edward Baker Lincoln. While representing the Springfield district in Congress, Mr. Baker raised a regiment of infantry and saw active service as its colonel in the Mexican War.
Meanwhile, his official duties calling him to Washington, he addressed the House of Representatives wearing his military uniform. In 1848, Colonel Baker, rather than contest a second time with Mr. Lincoln the nomination for Congress, moved to Galena. There he was nominated on the Whig ticket, and elected. Mr. Lincoln was returned from the Springfield district. In 1851, Colonel Baker was engaged in superintending the construction of the Panama Railroad.
In 1852 he moved to California. In San Francisco he quickly took a leading place at the bar, and for eight years was one of the representative and most influential citizens of the State.
Upon the urgent invitation of friends he was induced to move to Salem, Oregon, in February, 1860. Such was his fidelity to principle, his commanding ability, his matchless eloquence and urbanity, that he was elected to the United States Senate at the next meeting of the Oregon Legislature.
In 1912, Mr. E. R. Kennedy published a volume entitled "The Contest for California in 1861," in which he clearly shows that it was chiefly through the statesmanship of Colonel Baker that the Pacific Coast was then saved to the Union. The book is charmingly written and is a distinct contribution to American history.
With the coming of the Civil War, Mr. Baker was busy in the United States Senate. However, he raised a regiment in New York and Philadelphia of sixteen hundred men and was commissioned to command the brigade to which it belonged. It was encamped near the Capital. On August 1, 1861, members of the Senate hastily summoned Colonel and Senator Baker to the chamber to reply to a speech to be delivered there that day by Senator Breckenridge, of Kentucky. He came in, laid his sword upon his desk, and sat down to listen. His reply is classed among the great orations of the world. James G. Blaine says that its delivery was the most extraordinary of any occurrence that ever transpired in the Senate chamber.
October 21, having stood at the head of his brigade for hours against great odds, he was struck by four or five rifle balls almost simultaneously and fell in death-- "as gentle and pure and unselfish and generous and eloquent and valiant a man as ever cheerfully gave h a life for a noble cause."
Mrs. Judith Bradner, a charter member of the First Church in Bloomington, passed on in 1912 at the age of ninety-eight years. She at one time entertained at dinner in her home Stephen A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln and Edward D. Baker. She described Mr. Baker as a most attractive personality, a fine conversationalist and an engaging presence, at once commanding and kindly. A marble statue inscribed "Baker" stands in one of the rooms of the nation's Capitol.