PVT William H. Baker

[Jenny]

A man of action. Here's the bio to go with Baker's portrait.


For a 27-year-old William H. Baker had amassed a fair amount of drama in life by the time he was killed in Battle of Little Bighorn.



He was born December 3, 1848 in Pope County, Illinois and worked there as a farmer, likely on his family’s 240 acres originally purchased by his grandfather, Benjamin Baker.



On his 20th birthday, William married Nancy Ellen Broadway, who bore his daughter, Minnie June Baker in October 1869. He and Nancy Ellen, however, were not living together in 1870, with William remaining on his family’s farm. Nevertheless, in January 1870 William quietly married a second time to Dianah Brown (this was illegal under Illinois law, and carried a penalty of up to two years in prison.) Once Dianah became obviously pregnant William skipped town and enlisted in the Army. On September 26, 1870, Baker reported for duty at Fort Riley, Kansas, the heart of Indian territory, having been assigned to Battery E, 3rd U.S. Artillery. Meanwhile, in December 1870 Dianah bore William’s second daughter, Gertrude Baker. The following June, William’s first wife Nancy Ellen was granted a divorce from the absent William. She remarried less than two weeks later.



Although the Army discharged him September 1, 1875 after five years of service, William may have considered the hornet’s nest back home when he re-enlisted 30 days later. Soldiers who re-enlisted within 30 days of an honorable discharge were given a pay raise, so William had a monetary incentive as well. William was assigned to Company E, 7th U.S. Cavalry at Fort Totten, Dakota Territory. On the day of the Battle of the Little Bighorn Baker was on temporary duty with the scout detachment. Like nearly everyone else William’s body was never identified on the battlefield but his remains were likely buried where they were first encountered. In 1881 all known battlefield burials were moved to a mass grave on Last Stand Hill.



An Army pension in William’s name was claimed on Christmas Eve 1877 on behalf of his first daughter, eight-year-old Minnie June. William’s second wife, Dianah, remarried and by 1880 his second daughter, Gertrude Baker, had been adopted by her new stepfather.

Attachments:

[noggy]

Feb 16, 2023 17:54:44 GMT -6 Jenny said:

William was assigned to Company E, 7th U.S. Cavalry at Fort Totten, Dakota Territory. On the day of the Battle of the Little Bighorn Baker was on temporary duty with the scout detachment. 

He was  with the scouts, but died on LSH? Does this not sound strange?  Can anyone check what Fred had about this? 

Noggy

[Jenny]

Haven't you heard? Everyone died with Custer on LSH! This narrative was likely written by a relative who was told something about Baker being a scout. The information came from correspondence with a Baker relative via Ancestry. Fred's "Participants" book says he may have been one of the unknowns in Deep Ravine or S. Skirmish Line. I will take out the part about being a scout, or else add a disclaimer to it. Neither "Men with Custer" nor "Military Register of Custer's Last Command" has info about Baker being a scout.

See, this is the kind of fine-tuning I need from you (singular and plural!) because I am unable to see the forest for the trees.

Thanks much,

Jenny

[noggy]

Feb 17, 2023 9:52:29 GMT -6 Jenny said:

See, this is the kind of fine-tuning I need from you (singular and plural!) because I am unable to see the forest for the trees.

Thanks much,

Jenny

This is what makes the subject both interesting and frustrating; you can find dozens of claims wit just as many holes in them, and it's difficult to get to the truth. But with a little analyz...ana...looking more closely at stuff and checking out which dots seemingly can't be connected, it can get you a little along the way

Really interested in what you can find regarding that diary btw, and i like your art too.

Noggy

[Jenny]

Well, look at what Fred wrote in "Participants." This explains the confusion about Pvt. Baker being a scout.

William Baker (half – breed Ree; aka, William J. Bailey)—b. Alexandria, VA, Apr50 –
d. some time after 1930. Had been on Reno recon. Claimed he was in valley fight and on hilltop, but Varnum, Gerard, and others say he was left at Yellowstone Depot. Even Gray, who places him on Reno’s skirmish line, admits to only guessing. Willert claims it was Tall Bear rather than Baker, who accompanied Reno on his scout [LBH Diary, p. 119]. Walter Camp carries him at the battlefield for the entire fight, but this appears to be incorrect [Hammer/Camp, Custer in ’76, p. 283]. Camp asked Young Hawk if it was Young Hawk and Baker who went out and met LT Bradley on 27Jun76. Young Hawk responded, no, it was himself and his father, Forked Horn. This is more proof Baker was nowhere around [Hammer/Camp, Custer in ’76, p. 193].

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

William J. Bailey was a mixed blood Arikara who enlisted as a scout with the US Army, on May 4th, 1876, with the alias William Baker. Lt. Charles A. Varum recorded Baker present at Little Bighorn June 30, 1876.

I cannot pin down some old family records which seem to have been re-indexed in the World's creeping curse from hell with no-one bothering to tag old records into new databases, so, from memory when I ripped into Gerrards remarkable stories and history, Bailey was a mate of his, before and after the cluster shambles.

Bailey will have had an Arikaree name and probably family (what was quaintly termed 'squaw man'), which should unlock the thing. He may be buried at the Ree scouts cemetery. link

Answers for deep divers probably revolve around Beauchamp if you definately, absolutely, feel a need to be thorough.

The Friend's roster gives the following - Not present - on steamer Far West – Died at St. Cloud, Florida Oct. 14,1933. Which is interesting since messages were going back and forth from Far West to Terry and Reno during 27-30 June 1876.

I also believe that he left an account of the battle, and will hunt it up. Seems like a misguided association by later distant relatives. The roster throws up 12 Baker's with 7th Cavalry who obviously were not short of bread.

Well, that was a strange tag.......... one loaf or two. A quick toast!

The Dupuyer Mon. July 6, 1899 Facts Concerning Custer's last Battle, Dupuyer Montana.


BillyJackson's Recollections of the Battle of the Little Big Horn" given by........... source

I (Jack Monroe), Pinch, Billy Jackson and a pack train camed at upper end of Swan lake while on an investigation trip for the foresty service of the Big Blackfoot country for a suitable trail for pack trains. Jackson was baking bread in a dutch oven for pinch and me to take along with us when the subject of the Custer fight came up. We all knew Billy was with reno's command as a scout. There were 40 or 50 plainsmen acting as scouts. These men had seen the camp of Sitting Bull the night before and had reported it to Custer. It wasn't possible to estimate the number of people there but it looked like the whole of the Sioux nation with tens of thousands of fighting men. Mitch Bouyer was the last to speak to Charley Reynolds who said "Goodby, boys, you'll never see us again". At four a.m. both Custer's and Reno's commands were at the mouth of Reno Creek. Reno had taken his orders from Custer to wait 30 min., to give Custer time to get down to the lower end (?) they had come down to the mouth of Reno Creek where it goes into the Little Big Horn where the Indian camp was on the west side while Custer and Reno were on the east side with their men, June 25th. It was high water in the Little Big Horn where the soldiers had to cross to attack. Custer took 270 men and Reno had a little over 300. The forces split, Custer going down Reno creek leaving instructions for Reno to wait 30 or 40 minutes and then to cross the creek and attack. Sitting Bull was aware of every move made by the 700 cavalry men. They (?) traveled all the night before. Custer went on down the creek. The early risers in the sioux camp could have seen him any time while he was coming down the creek over rough country. Four o'clock, June 25th, it just sunup. Reno Creek runs nearly east and west, Little Big Horn runs pretty nearly north and south with high cutbanks, high bad lands on the side Custer and Reno were on. (east) Sitting Bull covered 2 or 3 miles square on a bottom on the west side. There at the mouth of Reno Creek they halted, Custer took out his men, gave Reno his orders to wait 30 or 40 minutes and then give them hell. (move across the river and attack.) The pack train supplies, camp equiipment, ammunition, packers and scouts remained with reno, who was facing the Sioux encampent, direcly across the Little Big Horn. Custer evidently attempted to cross 3 miles further down where they found the first 12 dead men in the Little Big Horn, 3 miles below Reno and directly down from where Custer's monument stands today, 1 mile from his last stand. Curly was scared so bad he would never talk about it. Jack tried to talk to him about it years later and Curly went all to pieces. he was a full blood Crow Indian, Carlisle graduate and acted as interpret. He said the fight began at 10 o"clock. sioux have a tactic of pounding the enemy into the ground in a first rush with horses..................

Still hunting, there's more. What you had among the scouts was a cadre of 'old' young frontiersmen who loosely hung together turning a buck anyway they could. The type who would be quietly sipping a saloon bar whiskey bothering no-one until the James gand arrived and got drunk beyond stupid. Well Sheriff. The quiet dude was just stood being quiet and bothering no-one. The brothers had been braving it up and bothering all when the older picked on him. Dude just stayed quiet, staring and then spit on the floor. Bro went for his piistol but left the left hand flat on the bar. That was his mistake, see..... Dude whipped a knife.... huge thing like a sabre, and plunged it through the hand into the bar..... Things kinda quieted down straight away after. Except bro..... he was a hollering and bitching good...............

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

William James Bailey Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia - Plot 81-A

This is very interesting in a new vein................. You see, a scout named Sellew, is recorded arriving to the Far West from 7th Cavalry (Custer) and delivering despatches after riding down Tulloch Ck. We know this from the Officer of 6th Infantry's Company B which was aboard the steamboat guarding it. Sellew's ancestors posted here a while back.

A bit of fun, a bit of history.

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

Did I say fun, ho hum....

Bailey Baker....

Fiddling the green............. link

I give up with........ this chap.

I shall go back to the spurious cartridge trails on Luce/Blummer and NC ridges.

As i'm sure everyone knows, not a single warrior participant in the battle ever recalled heavy firing along those ridges where hundreds of non-headstamped casings were suddenly discovered half a century late - next to other casings headstamped 1877, 1878 and 1879 found during reconnaissance surveys by Park Historian Don Rickey in 1957-1959. It is likely those cartridges were fired during target practice by the garrison of Fort Custer. Furthermore, “cavalry exercises were held on the battlefield once Fort Custer was established in 1877, and live firing was employed” (Du Mont’s Custer’s Battle Guns, p. 56).

The o;d ways really were the best. Bailley Baker........... whatever next!

My grandfather was Custer's illigitimate daughter but we have to keep it secret, to inherit!)

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

Lead the Way: Researching U.S. Army Indian Scouts, 1866–1914 Summer 2009, Vol. 41, No. 2 | Genealogy Notes by Trevor K. Plante - Prologue Magazine. National Archives

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

Hi, glad you are well.

Baker is given being with Custer in 1875 to the bat cave and painted rocks.... which I'm struggling with. link. There was a hoard of gold dust dumped into a river when Santee' wiped out a mining party boating home with their riches. Gerrard sent two or three Arikara to see what happened to the boat and they returned to him with a coffee pot filled with gold dust. They couldn't be bothered humping anymore along or fishing it from the bottom where Sioux had tossed it. Looks like Custer found out about it. Any way Baker is mentioned as being a Sioux interpretter with two sons.

It's about two miles looking across the valley to the markers which can be seen

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

Jenny,

There is a resource HERE related to work done by Mike Nunnally, who posted here as scout. He had an interest in 'sole survivors' and included family members so, small steps. Every little hepls.

With Pvt. Baker, there are some anomolies such as the scout of same name enlisted by Varnum. The scout survived and terein may lay the final solution to Little Bighorn since he was probably a messenger. That aside, there is a page HERE replete with photo of William James Bailey. Oorah........

Mike Nunnally put up an image of Daniel Newell on Find a Grave, link. There is no doubt the image is of Newell - none.

Facebook has this for Bailey,

Newell's image has been used for the Bailey/Baker posts. The original Newell image was reimaged from a print which was not flattened and is hence slightly distorted. The Bailey/Baker is also flipped horizontally.


Not directly relevant to the Company E trooper who died on the hill, in the ravine, but have fun.

[herosrest]

Mar 2, 2023 8:54:05 GMT -6 @rosebud said:

Mar 1, 2023 18:23:48 GMT -6 herosrest said:

Hi, glad you are well.

Baker is given being with Custer in 1875 to the bat cave and painted rocks.... which I'm struggling with. link. There was a hoard of gold dust dumped into a river when Santee' wiped out a mining party boating home with their riches. Gerrard sent two or three Arikara to see what happened to the boat and they returned to him with a coffee pot filled with gold dust. They couldn't be bothered humping anymore along or fishing it from the bottom where Sioux had tossed it. Looks like Custer found out about it. Any way Baker is mentioned as being a Sioux interpretter with two sons.

It's about two miles looking across the valley to the markers which can be seen

HR

I think that part of your problem is that you keep digging up articles  written 40 years after the battle is over.   These fish stories have had 40 years to grow and mature.   Most of them are not worth reading.      That small fish you caught 40 years ago is now as big as a whale.  It does not resemble anything like the actual fish caught on that day in June of 1876.

Rosebud

^Ducemus

I absolutely, entirely, completely and utterly, AGREE. Always have until we start on Boston Custer. Be well.

mcDougall spoke to Boston Custer on 25th June. So, there was either a conspiracy the size of a golf ball on the moon amongst the Officers or Boston Custer rode back and changed his horse.

[Jenny]

Mar 2, 2023 9:13:08 GMT -6 herosrest said:

Mar 2, 2023 8:54:05 GMT -6 @rosebud said:

HR

I think that part of your problem is that you keep digging up articles  written 40 years after the battle is over.   These fish stories have had 40 years to grow and mature.   Most of them are not worth reading.      That small fish you caught 40 years ago is now as big as a whale.  It does not resemble anything like the actual fish caught on that day in June of 1876.

Rosebud

^Ducemus

I absolutely, entirely, completely and utterly, AGREE. Always have until we start on Boston Custer. Be well.

mcDougall spoke to Boston Custer on 25th June. So, there was either a conspiracy the size of a golf ball on the moon amongst the Officers or Boston Custer rode back and changed his horse.

Please start a new thread for Boston (or continue on one that already exists) or it's impossible to find these discussions later! Thanks!

J

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

No problem. It's just good to R engaged.

Regards