A Daughters of the American Revolution monument on Camp Baker Road commemorates Civil War-era Camp Baker west of Phoenix, Ore. The camp served the soldiers of Company A, Oregon Volunteer Cavalry, established in December 1861 to “keep an eye on the secessionists in Jacksonville.”
The camp was named for Oregon’s second U.S. senator, Col. Edward Dickinson Baker. The State Legislature appointed him a few weeks after he had moved to Oregon. As a good friend of Lincoln and a former Illinois congressman, he was a compromise choice.
Baker was an outstanding orator and a Mexican War veteran. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he formed a company of Oregon volunteers in the East. He turned down appointment as a general because he would not be able to serve simultaneously in the Senate. In October 1861 he commanded a unit in the battle of Ball’s Bluff in Virginia. Baker was killed instantly and nearly 1,000 Union troops were lost in the resulting stampede.
Baker is still the only serving U. S. senator killed in battle. He became an instant Union hero, and with his death fresh on the minds of the authorities, Camp Baker was named after him.
Sources: "Edward Dickinson Baker." Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation, 4 Feb. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Dickinson_Baker; "War of the Rebellion p.886." United States Congressional Serial set 3583. Google e-books, 1897. Web. 16 Mar. 2015. Path: Camp Baker Oregon 1862.
