Sangamon County IL Archives Biographies.....Baker, Edward Dickenson 1811 - 1861
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Deb Haines http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000719 August 9, 2008, 9:13 am

Author: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary

BAKER, Edward Dickenson, senator, was born in London, Eng., Feb. 24, 1811. He 
was brought by his father to Philadelphia in 1815. Being left fatherless at an 
early age, he supported himself and his brother by following the occupation of 
a weaver. In 1830 he removed with his brother to Springfield, Ill., where he 
studied law, was admitted to the bar, and established himself in practice. His 
oratorical ability brought him into prominence, and in 1837 he was elected a 
member of the state legislature. In 1840 he took his seat in the state senate. 
In 1842 he was one of three Whig candidates for the office of representative 
in Congress from Illinois before the nominating convention, John J. Harding 
and Abraham Lincoln being the rival candidates, and Harding was nominated and 
elected to the 28th Congress. In 1844 the three same candidates, presented 
themselves, and Baker was nominated and elected a representative to the 29th 
congress. In 1846 the three candidates again presented their names, and 
Abraham Lincoln was elected to the 30th Congress. He volunteered for service 
in the Mexican war in 1848, raised a regiment in Illinois, and fought 
gallantly in the battles between Vera Cruz and the city of Mexico. General 
Shields being incapacitated in the engagement at Cerro Gordo, Colonel Baker 
was given the command of his brigade and led it during the remainder of the 
campaign. Returning to Illinois at the close of the war he was elected a 
representative to the 31st Congress in 1848. In 1850 he declined a nomination 
to the 32d Congress and became interested in the Panama railroad. He removed 
in 1851 to California, where he led the bar as the most eloquent orator in the 
state. In 1860 he took up his residence in Oregon, and was elected in the same 
year U. S. senator. He took his seat, March 4, 1861. At the extra session of 
Congress, called July, 1861, Senator Baker supported the administration in an 
able and eloquent speech. He addressed a mass meeting in Union Square, New 
York, after the firing upon Fort Sumter, urging eloquently the preservation of 
the Union. He volunteered for active service, and raised in Philadelphia and 
New York the California regiment and commanded a brigade at the battle of 
Balls Bluff, where he fell from his horse, mortally wounded, Oct. 21, 1861.

Additional Comments:
Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans.
Vol. I-X. Rossiter Johnson, editor. Boston MA: The Biographical Society. 1904.

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