Baker, Edward Dickinson

Life Span
to
Dickinson Connection
When very young he met Ninian Edwards (class of 1792) in Belleville, Illinois when Edwards was territorial governor; Edwards allowed him the use of his law library for his studies.
    Full name
    Edward Dickinson Baker
    Place of Birth
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Free State
    No. of Spouses
    1
    No. of Children
    5
    Family
    Edward Baker (father), Lucy Dickinson Baker (mother), Mary Ann Lee (wife)
    Occupation
    Politician
    Military
    Attorney or Judge
    Relation to Slavery
    White non-slaveholder
    Political Parties
    Whig
    Republican
    Government
    US Senate
    US House of Representatives
    State legislature
    Military
    US military (Pre-Civil War)
    Union Army

    Edward Dickinson Baker (Congressional Biographical Directory)

    Reference
    BAKER, Edward Dickinson, a Representative from Illinois and a Senator from Oregon; born in London, England, February 24, 1811; immigrated to the United States in 1815 with his parents, who settled in Philadelphia, Pa.; moved to Illinois in 1825; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1830 and commenced practice in Springfield; member, State house of representatives 1837; member, State senate 1840-1844; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-ninth Congress and served from March 4, 1845, until his resignation on December 24, 1846, to take effect on January 15, 1847; commissioned colonel of the Fourth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, on July 4, 1846, and served until he was honorably mustered out on May 29, 1847; participated in the siege of Vera Cruz and commanded a brigade at Cerro Gordo; after the Mexican War moved to Galena, Ill.; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first Congress (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1851); was not a candidate for renomination in 1850; moved to San Francisco, Calif., in 1851 and resumed the practice of law; moved to Oregon in 1860; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy in the term beginning March 4, 1859, and served from October 2, 1860, until his death; raised a regiment in New York City and Philadelphia during the Civil War; commissioned brigadier general of Volunteers May 17, 1861, but declined; colonel of the Seventy-first Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and major general of Volunteers 1861; killed in the Battle of Balls Bluff, Va., October 21, 1861; interment in San Francisco National Cemetery, San Francisco, Calif.
    "Baker, Edward Dickinson," Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000059.
    Chicago Style Entry Link
    Snigg, John P. “Edward Dickinson Baker—Lincoln’s Forgotten Friend.” Lincoln Herald 53 (Summer 1951): 33-37. view record
    Vandenhoff, Anne. “Edward Dickinson Baker.” Pacific Historian 23 (Winter 1979): 1-8. view record
    Vandenhoff, Anne. Edward Dickinson Baker, Western Gentleman, Frontier Lawyer, American Statesman. Auburn, CA: Pony Express Printers, 1979. view record
    How to Cite This Page: "Baker, Edward Dickinson," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/12790.