Baker, Edward Dickinson

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 Carrollton, Ill., in 1825; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1830 and commenced practice in Springfield; member of the State house of representatives in 1837; served in the State senate 1840-1844; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-ninth Congress and served from March 4, 1845, until he tendered his resignation in writing on December 24, 1846, to take effect on January 15, 1847; orally resigned from the House of Representatives on December 30, 1846; commissioned colonel of the Fourth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, on July 4, 1846; participated in the siege of Vera Cruz and commanded a brigade at Cerro Gordo; honorably mustered out May 29, 1847; after the war moved to Galena, Ill.; elected as a Republican 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, June 22, 1861; appointed major general of Volunteers September 21, 1861; killedin the Battle of Balls Bluff, Va., October 21, 1861; interment in San Francisco National Cemetery, Presidio of San Francisco, Fort Mason, Calif.