On October 21, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln lost a friend and confidant and Santa Cruz County, California, lost its most illustrious Civil War casualty.

Edward Dickinson Baker was born in London, England on February 24, 1811, immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1815 and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1825 he moved to Illinois where he practiced law in Springfield. As a Whig politician he became a close friend and neighbor of Abraham Lincoln.

During the Mexican War, Baker was commissioned a colonel and fought at the battles of Vera Cruz and Cerra Gordo. Following the war, he moved to Galena, Illinois, and served a term as a member in the US House of Representatives from that district.

In 1851 the Gold Rush attracted Baker to California and he moved to San Francisco. It was during this period that he became involved in Santa Cruz County. Following statehood in 1850, the southern portion of Santa Cruz County became highly sought after by Americans attempting to acquire rancho tracts from local Californios. In the fall of 1852, Edward Baker was among settlers who "squatted" on the rich lands of the Salsipuedes area of the Pajaro Valley. By subdividing his land Baker helped to open the Pajaro Valley to American settlement. In 1860 Edward Baker moved to Oregon and after a successful election campaign, he became its first US senator.

When the Civil War began, Senator Baker, who was serving in Washington, D. C., raised a regiment of infantry to help meet California's enlistment quota and became colonel of the regiment. He was later given the command of a brigade and promoted to brigadier general. On October 21, 1861, Baker marched off to war and led his 1st California (71st Pennsylvania) Regiment across the Potomac River to attack a Confederate camp at Leesburg, Virginia. After his disastrous defeat, news reached Washington as described by Margaret Leech in her book Reveille in Washington.
“Near sunset of a lovely autumn day, a newspaper correspondent heard the insistent clicking of the telegraph in the inner room at McClellan's headquarters [in Washington, D. C.] and saw Mr. Lincoln stumble out, with tears rolling down his face. Baker, with that gallantry which effaces a want of discretion, had been killed at the head of his battalion.”

Following an elaborate state funeral in Washington, Edward Baker was interred in Washington, D. C. At the end of the Civil War his remains were sent to San Francisco for burial at Laurel Hill Cemetery and in 1940 they were re-interred at the San Francisco National Cemetery in the Presidio. The first Santa Cruz County Grand Army of the Republic post was named in honor of Edward Baker.

(Santa Cruz County, Margaret Koch, Valley Publishing, Fresno, 1973, pg. 165; Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War, Patricia L. Faust, Editor, Harper's, New York, 1986, pg. 34; Reveille in Washington, Margaret Leech, Harpers, New York, 1941, pg. 116; SCSn November 12, 1972)