biography
| name: |
Baker, Edward Dickinson
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1811–61)
|
| biography:
| US representative, senator, and soldier, born in London, UK. Brought to the USA as a child, he became a lawyer and practised in Springfield, IL where he became a friend of Abraham Lincoln. After defeating Lincoln in a Whig party primary for the US House of Representatives, he took the seat in 1845, but resigned the next year to volunteer for service in the Mexican War. Lincoln (who would name his second son after Baker) took the seat (1847–9), but Baker regained it (1849–51) in part because of Lincoln's opposition to the War. He moved to the West Coast, where he practised law in San Francisco and represented Oregon as a Republican in the US Senate (1860–1), resigning to serve as a colonel with a California volunteer unit. He was killed (21 Oct 1861) at Ball's Bluff, VA. |
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