The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1861-10-31
Senator Baker.
THE COLONEL THE CALIFORNIA REGIMENT
HIS EyENTFUL LIFE AND UNTINELY DEATH.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. %.
! The country will be profoundly affected
! by the intelligence that the Hon. E. ID.
Baker, Senator from Oregon, Colonel Of
! the California Regiment recruited in this
city, and commander CT brigade mostly
made up of Philadelphia regiments, was
| killed in battle yesterday, near Leesburg.
Virginia, while gallantly leading his men
into the fight A more noble and patri-
otic statesman and soldier did not live,
and it is a sad, sad task to chronicle his
untimely death.
Senator Bakers life has been almost a
romance. He is an old Philadelphia,
and of Quaker lineage. His ancestors
were English Friends. Col Baker him.
self was born in England, but was brought
| to Philadelphia when an infant, where he,
with younger brother, were left orphans
| soon after their arrival.
This calamity left them no resource but
to work their way through the world with
| their own hands. For while young
| Baker, the present Senator, worked as a
| hand loom weaver in a small manufactu-
| ring establishment near Thirteenth and
South streets, where the loom upon which
he labored is still stending. 1t is likely,
| now, to become an object of interest. Be
| fore he reached manhood he paid some
attention to the study of the law, and left
Philadelphia for the Great West. His
purse being light, he and his younger
brother crossed the Alleghanies, and went
through Ohio and Indiana, all the way on
foot, until they reached the Wabash river,
| which they descended in canoe, and at
| last found themselves on the broad prai-
ries of Illinois. In this State, Col. Baker
took up the study of the law in regular
way, and soon made for himself name,
even at the bar of Springfield, where he
met-sometimes as colleagues and some
times as adversaries-both the deceased
Douglas and President Lincoln.
Being of active mind, he cook part In
| the politics of Illinois, but as he was a
Whig, and in strongly Democratic State,
he did not appear in public life until lS45,
when he was elected to Congress. Short
ly after this, the Mexican War having oc-
| Cured, he raised a regiment in his State
and went out to re-enforce General Taylor.
Returning home as bearer of dispatches,
after several months service on the Rio
Grande, he resumed his seat in Congress,
but almost Immediately resigned and re-
Joined his regiment. He participated in
| the seige of Vera Cruz, and in the bloody
struggle at Cerro Gordo, and after General
Shields received his apparently mortal
wound at the latter battle, Colonel Baker
took command of the brigade.
After the war was over, Col Baker was
again elected to Congress from Illinois,
| where he served with distinction during
the sessions of 1849 and 1850. In pur-
suance of a contract with the Panama
Railroad Company, he raised, equipped
and led to the Isthmus four hundred men,
with whom he surveyed and cleared much
of the track of that important highway.
| Here, in common with many of his labor
ers, he was seized with the deadly Panama
fever, and nearly lost his life. He re-
turned to Illinois with both health and
fortune impaired, and in 1852 went with
his family to California. In San Fran
cisco Col. Baker soon took front rank In
his profession of the law, and acquired
most lucrative practice. His fame as
lawyer and orator penetrated every part of
that remarkable State. But he was ia
NOUS also as an orator, and his panegyric
of Broderick, over the body of the muir
dered Senator, is said to have been one of
quence ever seen or heard on this CONT
! nent.
But little more than a year ago, the
spirit of progress being in full vigor in his
breast, Col. Baker removed to Oregon
| His character and fame had preceded him,
and almost Immediately after his arrival,
| he was elected to the Senate of the United
States for six years. True to his instincts
as patriot, he second time, under almost
similar circumstances, laid aside the robes
of the legislator for the armor of the sol
dier.
At the outbreak Of the rebellion, he
raised regiment called the California Reg
iment, mostly enlisted in this city. Sub
sequently, he added another battalion to
| it, also of Philadelphians. Not satisfied
! with this, he undertook to organize bri-
/ gade, which he successfully accomplished
out of several Philadelphia regiments. 1t
was at the head of one of these that he
yesterday lost his life, falling in defense
of his country's life and honor.
An EXTRAORDINARY PREsENrINENT.
Mr.. George Wilkes, IN biographical
sketch Of Col. Baker, published it the
J New York Tribune, gives the following