Denver County CO Archives Biographies.....Baldwin, Frank Dwight ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/co/cofiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 August 8, 2009, 11:42 pm Source: See Additional Comments Below Author: Wilbur Fiske Stone (1919) GENERAL FRANK DWIGHT BALDWIN. Frank Dwight Baldwin is a direct descendant of Joseph Baldwin who first settled in Milford, Connecticut, in 1639. The record and names of the Baldwins that appear in all important events in connection with the protection of the colonies, both in war and commerce against the French and Indians, and during the great war against the mother country for the independence of this nation, is a long one, as shown in the Baldwin genealogy, compiled by Judge C. C. Baldwin of Cleveland, Ohio, where much of interest is chronicled, that space here will not permit of reciting. Francis Leonard Baldwin, the father of General Baldwin, was born March 14, 1814, in Hope, New York. On the 26th of September, 1841, he was married to Betsy Ann Richards, of Michigan, to which state he had removed with his father in 1835. He died February 28, 1842. On the 26th of June, 1842, Frank Dwight Baldwin was born at Manchester, Michigan. He was educated in the public schools of Constantine. Michigan, and at Hillsdale College in that state, an institution which in 1904 conferred upon its distinguished student the degree of Doctor of Laws. Genera] Baldwin was married on January 10, 1867, to Alice Blackwood, of Northville, Wayne county, Michigan. Their only child Juanita Mary, was born October 12, 1867, as the genealogy has it, "under canvas at Trinidad, Colorado, while the parents were on the march from Kansas to Fort Wingate, New Mexico." A grandson, Baldwin Williams-Foote, is now serving in our army in France, as a captain of infantry, on duty with the Fifty-eighth Regulars. His military service finds inspiration in the record of his grandfather. Frank Dwight Baldwin entered the United States Volunteer Army as a second lieutenant of the Michigan Horse Guards, September 19. 1861, and was honorably mustered out with his company on the 22d of November following. He reentered the service as a first lieutenant of the Nineteenth Michigan Volunteers, the 5th of September, 1862. He was in the engagement at Brentwood, Tennessee, March 25, 1863, which command was captured by General Forrest. After the regiment was exchanged and reorganized in August, 1863, it went to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. On the 5th of October, 1863. General Wheeler's division captured Company D of the Nineteenth Michigan Volunteers, commanded by Lieutenant Baldwin, while they were guarding the railroad bridge three miles south of Murfreesboro; but Lieutenant Baldwin and his men were set at liberty the same evening, returning to Murfreesboro the following day. His service there afterward led to his being recommended for a medal of honor by congress, the recommendation being made by Colonel John Coburn, who was commanding the brigade at the time. Lieutenant Baldwin spent the winter of 1863-4 at McMinnville. Tennessee. He was promoted to a captaincy January 23, 1864. and in April of that year proceeded with his regiment to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he was assigned to the Third Brigade, Third Division, Twentieth Army Corps, of Sherman's army, participating in the great campaign under Sherman from Chattanooga, Tennessee, through Atlanta, Milledgeville, Savannah. Georgia, Columbia, South Carolina, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia, to Washington. D. C. During that period he participated in many ot the hotly contested engagements of the campaign and was awarded a medal of honor "for distinguished bravery in the battle of Peach Tree Creek. Georgia, July 20, 1864, while serving as captain, Nineteenth Michigan Infantry." He led his company in a countercharge, under a galling fire, being ahead of his own men, and singly entered the enemy's line, capturing and bringing back two commissioned officers, fully armed, besides a guidon of a Georgia regiment. At the close of the war, with his command, he proceeded to Detroit, Michigan, where he was finally discharged as captain June 10, 1865. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel but owing to the depleted condition of the regiment was not mustered. Mr. Baldwin, commissioned February 23, 1866, as a second lieutenant of the Nineteenth United States Infantry, was promoted to first lieutenant February 23, 1866. He was transferred to the Fifth Infantry. May 19, 1869, was stationed at Fort Hays, acting as quartermaster and commissary, and at Fort Larned in the same capacity, until December, 1872. He was then on recruiting service at Detroit, Michigan, and Newport, Kentucky, until June, 1874, when he was relieved to join the Indian Territory expedition at Fort Dodge, Kansas, under command of General Nelson A. Miles, Fifth Infantry. As chief of scouts he was on duty during the campaign against confederated bands of Cheyennes, Kiowas, Arapahoes and southern Comanches, and went through all of the experiences of Indian warfare, participating in various engagements with the red men. He was brevetted captain "for gallant service in actions against Indians on the Salt Fork of Red River, Texas, August 30, 1874, and on McClellan's Creek, Texas, November 8, 1874," and was awarded a congressional medal of honor "for most distinguished gallantry in action against Indians on McClellan's Creek, Texas, November 8, 1874, in attacking the Indians with two companies, D, Sixth Cavalry, and D, Fifth Infantry, forcing them from their strong position and pursuing them until they were utterly routed; while first lieutenant, Fifth Infantry." The citation continues: "Rescued, with two companies, two white girls, by a voluntary attack upon Indians whose superior numbers and strong position would have warranted delay for reinforcements, but which delay would have permitted the Indians to escape and kill their captives." After the successful termination of Indian warfare, resulting in the utter defeat and surrender of all the hostile Indians in that region, Captain Baldwin commanded the escort to Lieutenant E. Ruffner of the Engineer Corps during the summer of 1875 and in September of that year returned to Fort Leavenworth. He was next engaged in successfully settling the threatened troubles with a band of Apache Indians in New Mexico, under General Nelson A. Miles and later under command of General Miles as acting adjutant of six companies of the Fifth Infantry, started for the Yellowstone, where he participated in operations against Sitting Bull and confederated hands, under General Terry until he left the field, when the District of the Yellowstone was organized, with General Miles in command. Captain Baldwin participated in various engagements during the Indian campaign in that region, resulting in the capture or surrender of the Sioux under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, and the Nez Perces and Bannocks. He was brevetted major "for gallant and successful attack on Sitting Bull's camp of Indians on Red Water River, Montana, December 18, 1876, and conspicuous gallantry in action against the Indians at Wolf Mountain, Montana, January 8, 1877." He was promoted captain March 20, 1879, and from 1881 until November, 18S5, was judge advocate of the Department of the Columbia and during that time, in 1884, consummated a successful and satisfactory settlement of the then seriously threatened disturbances with the Indians of the Moses and Colville reservations in Washington territory. He was with his regiment from the winter of 1885 until November, 1890, when he was ordered to the scene of hostilities near Pine Ridge, South Dakota, where, as acting inspector general of the Division of the Missouri, he served until the Indians surrendered in January, 1891. He next became inspector of small arms practice of the department in Chicago, where he continued until 1894. when he was ordered to duty as Indian agent at Anadarko, Oklahoma, where he remained until May, 1898. On the" 26th of April of that year he was promoted to major. He was appointed inspector general with the rank of lieutenant colonel of volunteers May 9, 1898, serving at Chickamauga Park as inspector general of- the Third Army Corps and afterwards of the separate army there; at Lexington as inspector general of the First Army Corps; and in Cuba as inspector general of the Department of Matanzas. In 1899, he was assigned to duty as acting inspector general of the Departments of the Colorado and Missouri, where he remained until December, 1899, when he was relieved, at his own request, to join his regiment in the Philippines. His service there was of an important character and resulted in the surrender of Lieutenant General Trias "next to Aguinaldo the most important and influential leader in the islands." In this connection we quote from the annual report of the lieutenant general commanding the army. "During the past year there have been no serious engagements except that of the troops under General Frank D. Baldwin in Mindanao, P. I., with the Moros. For the number of men engaged, this was a very spirited and desperate engagement. Our forces were commanded by one of the most experienced and efficient officers of the army, whose record has always been of the highest order, and his achievement, together with that of his troops, in this engagement, made another chapter of fortitude, tenacity and heroic sacrifice in the history of American arms." In the report of the secretary of war appears the following: "The Moros of the Sulu archipelago and Palawan, and those living upon, or in immediate communication with, the sea coast of Mindanao, have been as a rule friendly and well behaved. Some of the Malano Moros who inhabit the borders of Lake Lanao, in the interior of Mindanao, resented attempts made by Americans to examine the interior of the country, and in the spring of this year entered upon a regular system of attacking our men when found alone or in small parties, and stealing our horses and mules. Several of our men were murdered, and in April a demand was made for the return of the property and the surrender of the murderers. This demand was met by defiance, and after long continued and repeated efforts to secure redress and a discontinuance of the practice by peaceable means, an expedition was organized under Colonel (now brigadier general) Frank D. Baldwin, which on the 2d and 3d of May attacked and captured the strongholds of the sultan of Bayang and the datto of Binidian on Lake Lanao, with a loss of seven killed and forty four wounded. A part of the Twenty-seventh Infantry and the Twenty-fifth Mountain Battery were engaged. It was a brilliant affair, and the conduct of officers and men merited the high praise conveyed in the following dispatch from the president: 'Washington, D. C, May 5, 1902. 'Chaffee, Manila. 'Accept for the army under your command, and express to General Davis and Colonel Baldwin especially, my congratulations and thanks for the splendid courage and fidelity which have again carried our flag to victory. Your fellow countrymen at home will ever reverence the memory of the fallen, and be faithful to the survivors, who have themselves been faithful unto death for their country's sake. 'Theodore Roosevelt.' " On being relieved from duty in the Philippine islands, on account of illness, General Baldwin was assigned to duty as commanding general of the Department of Colorado, with headquarters at Denver, where he arrived April 1, 1903, retaining that command until ordered to the command of the Southwest Division. General Baldwin was retired from active service June 26, 1906, by operation of law, at which time he was in command of the Southwest Military Division, with headquarters at Oklahoma City. In every branch of the service in which General Baldwin has been engaged he has received the highest commendation and indorsement of his superiors. His promotions have come as the merited reward of loyalty, ability and thorough knowledge of military science. On the 4th of March, 1915, Frank Dwight Baldwin was appointed major general, U. S. A., and placed upon the retired list by act of congress, approved that date. This promotion and retirement with increase of rank, was the nation's tribute to a hero of the Civil war, the Indian wars, the Spanish-American war and the Philippine insurrection. a military record of bravery which has few parallels. On the 1st of April, 1917, the state of Colorado, his adopted state, called him out of his retirement, when he was appointed and commissioned the adjutant general of the state by Governor Julius C. Gunter, and he is now on duty in one of the most critical periods of American history. This was his state's tribute to his military knowledge and skill and to the active and alert mind which seems to set age at defiance. General Baldwin's first glimpse of Colorado occurred during the latter part of June, 1867, when in command of the escort to Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, which had left Fort Harker, Kansas, the early part of the month. General Baldwin's command camped in the Cottonwood grove, where now is located the Country Club of Denver, and while resting there the beauty of the Colorado country so impressed him that he there made the decision to make this his home state in later years. General Baldwin became a member of Siloam Lodge, No. 35, A. F. & A. M., at Constantine, Michigan, in 1863 and in 1892 was made a member of Colorado Commandery of the Loyal Legion. He was admitted to the National Geographic Society at Washington, D. C, in 1916; in 1897 he was made a member of the Order of Indian Wars, joining the National Commandery at Washington; was made a member of the Army & Navy Club of Washington in 1913, and at various other places in the country has received distinguished honors of similar character. He was made an honorary member of the Denver Club in 1903, of the Commercial Club of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the same year, and of the Yavapai Club of Prescott, Arizona, in 1903, in which year he also became a member of the Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States, Colorado Commandery. He is likewise an honorary member of Camp General Henry W. Lawton, No. 1, United Spanish War Veterans, with which he has thus been identified since January 12, 1905. The military records and reports of the country continuously bear testimony to his splendid service from the time of his enlistment as a second lieutenant in the Michigan Horse Guards to the present hour, in which he is bearing his part in defending the interests and honor of the nation as adjutant general of the state of Colorado. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF COLORADO ILLUSTRATED VOLUME III CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1918 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/co/denver/photos/bios/baldwin297nbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/denver/bios/baldwin297nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cofiles/ File size: 15.3 Kb