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Edward D. Baker was a man of far-reaching experience, but like
many other regimental commanders who populated the novice armies at this early
stage of war, he lacked the requisite military experience to lead
citizen-soldiers. As a former member of the California Regiment wrote years
after the fact, the senator’s martial seasoning "was slight, when compared with
that of the regular army officers." Edward Baker was born in London on February
24, 1811, to poor but educated parents who were members of the Society of
Friends. When he was five-years-old, Edward and his family emigrated to
Philadelphia where his father established a school. Apparently seeking a more
enlightened existence, the Baker’s departed Philadelphia in 1825 bound for New
Harmony, Indiana, an idealistic community founded along the Ohio River by
British social reformer Robert Owen. Five years or so later they moved to
Belleville, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. It was
here that Edward attracted the attention of Governor Ninian Edwards who provided
the young man full access to his well-stocked law library. Before long, however,
the nomadic family packed its belongings and moved again, this time to the
village of Carrollton, Illinois, about 60 miles north of Belleville, where
Edward began reading law in the office of the town’s leading attorney. Shortly
after his twentieth birthday Baker married Mary Ann Lee of Baltimore,
Maryland.
Baker’s first taste of military action, other than some early
militia training, was rather benign. In the spring of 1832, Black Hawk, the
elderly chief of the Sac warriors, crossed the Mississippi River and entered
northern Illinois where he attempted to reclaim land that he believed had been
stolen from his people. Edward and a jobless young man named Abraham Lincoln
were among the first to respond to Illinois Governor John Reynolds’ call for the
state militia. Although he had volunteered for service as a private, Baker was
immediately elected second lieutenant of his company followed 10 days later by
promotion to first lieutenant. Edward’s command existed for about one month
before it mustered out, apparently having never fired a shot in anger.
Nevertheless, one of his biographers maintained that this brief and bloodless
martial episode "improved the opportunity afforded of gratifying his [Baker’s]
early predilection for martial pursuits." Later that summer, Baker and his
family, which by now included four chil
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