Civil War Veterans Buried In Washington State - Daniel Baker

Daniel S. Baker

Representing: Union


Unit History

  • 20th Maine Infantry K

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Daniel  Baker
Full Unit History

U.S. ARMY:
20th MAINE VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
Organized:
Summer, 1862
Mustered In: 8/29/62 Portland, ME
Mustered Out: 7/16/65

U.S. NAVY:

U.S.S. NORTH CAROLINA
Keel Laid: 1818
Launched: 9/7/20
Commissioned: 6/2/24 & ca. 1837
Decommissioned: 10/30/36 & 1867
Fate: 1867 Sold

U.S.S. NEW HAMPSHIRE
Keel Laid:
June, 1818
Launched: 4/23/64 Portsmouth, NH
Commissioned: 5/13/64
Decommissioned: 5/3/21
Fate: July, 1922 Sank

U.S.S CLOVER           
Keel Laid:
Unk.
Acquired: 11/11/63
Commissioned: 11/28/63
Decommissioned: 7/26/65 Philadelphia, PA
Fate: 9/21/65 Sold

U.S.S. PRINCETON                        
Keel laid: June, 1851 Boston Naval Yard, Boston, MA
Launched: October, 1851 Boston Naval Yard, Boston, MA
commissioned: 5/18/52 & ca. Mid 1863
Decommissioned: 1/1/53 & 10/9/66
Fate: ca. 10/9/66 Sold

Regimental History

U.A. ARMY
REGIMENTAL HISTORY:

The 20th, a three year-eastern theater-regiment, was the last such unit raised in the State of Maine. It came together at Portland and was mustered into Federal service in late August, 1862. The unit left the state on 9/3/62 and shortly thereafter went into camp in Washington City.

During the 9/17/62 battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg, MD the regiment was held in reserve. It came under first fire at the battle of Fredericksburg, VA on 12/13/62. At that location it was under fire for 36 hours.

In early May, 1863, the 20th was active during the battle of Chancellorsville, VA.  After that action regimental Colonel Ames was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. This move lead to Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Francis Chamberlin being up warded into that vacated position. Under Colonel Chamberlin's command, the 20th held the extreme left of the Union line during the second day of the July 1st, 2nd and 3rd battle of Gettysburg, MD. During that day's bloody conflict the regiment lost 3 officers and 134 enlisted men killed or wounded.

1864. Shortly after the opening of that year's spring campaign as Union General U.S. Grant moved his armies southward into Virginia; Col. Chamberlain was assigned to a brigade command.  During the 9/30/64 charge on Peebles farm the 20th lost 57 men killed or wounded out of 167 taken into action. Even with such high casualties the unit captured 6 commissioned Rebel officers, 70 enlisted men and an artillery piece.

In April, 1865 the 20th was one of the regiments assigned to handle the surrender of Confed. Gen. Robert E. Lee's forces at Appomattox Court House, VA.

The War ended, original members of the 20th were mustered out of U.S. service at Washington, D.C. on 6/5/65. Remaining soldiers were then joined by 16th ME sharpshooters and troops of the 16th ME Infantry before final muster on 7/16/65.

  
U.S. NAVY
Vessel History: (North Carolina)
 
The construction order for this three masted sailing vessel was issued in April of 1816. Built in the Philadelphia Naval Yard, Philadelphia, PA, her keel was laid down in 1818. Christened after the State of North Carolina she was launched September 7, 1820. Her commission into the U.S. Navy, however, did not occur until June 24, 1824.

One of nine 74-gun ships of the line constructed during this period, North Carolina actually had gun ports for 102 guns and by 1845 mounted a total of 90.  Because of her heavy armament, she was considered by many to be one of the most powerful naval vessel then afloat.

After initial service in the Mediterranean as a flagship for Commodore John Rodgers, she was refitted to serve in the Pacific Squadron, the one other area where ships of her vast size (196 ft.) and draft (21 ft. 6 in.) could be deployed because of the availability of deep water ports.

Since her great size made her less flexible than smaller ships, she was returned to the New York Navy Yard in June, 1839 and served as a receiving ship - induction center - until placed in ordinary (mothballs) in 1866. She was sold from New York on October 1, 1867. 

Vessel History: (New Hampshire)
Construction on this three masted sailing vessel, to be named after the State of Alabama, was begun in June of 1819. She was one of nine ships built during this period to carry not less than 74 guns. Although ready for launch by 1825 she remained on the stocks (dry-docked) for preservation to avoid the expense of equipping, manning and maintaining a large ship of the line.  

During the American Civil War the Alabama, after being renamed the U.S.S. New Hampshire because the Confederacy already had a ship by that name, was re-launched and commissioned into the U.S. Navy as a store/depot ship for the South Atlantic Blockade Squadron. Sailing from Portsmouth, NH, she took up duty on 7/29/64 at Port Royal, SC and served there until the end of the War. 
   
The War of the Rebellion having ended, New Hampshire returned to Norfolk, VA in June of 1866 and served there as a receiving ship (induction center) until May, 1876 when she sailed back to Port Royal.  She resumed duty in Norfolk in 1881, but was soon shifted to Newport, RI where she became the flagship of a newly formed Apprentice Training Squadron.

In 1891 New Hampshire was towed from Newport to New London, CN where she again served as a receiving ship; this time until June 5, 1892 when she was decommissioned. The following year she was loaned to the New York Naval Militia to serve as a training ship. In this role, during the Spanish-American War, she was to provide the U.S. Navy with nearly a thousand officers and men.

On 11/30/04 the vessel name was changed from New Hampshire to Granite State, so the original name could be used on a new warship then under construction.  Stationed on New York's Hudson River, Granite state continued providing training service throughout the years leading to WWI.

On 5/23/21, after the Great War, while moored on the Hudson, Granite State caught fire and sank.  Sold for salvage, her hull was raided in mid-1922. While under tow to the Bay of Fundy her towline parted and she again caught fire.  She sank off the coast of Massachusetts.

Vessel History: (Clover)

Constructed as a steam powered tugboat named the Daisy 11, this vessel was acquired by the U.S. Navy during the Rebellion from the Winsor and Co., Philadelphia, PA and outfitted as a gunboat at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. She sailed on 12/1/63 to join the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Beaufort, SC. There she was employed on picket duty guarding the armored monitors as well as in tug and dispatch service.  In her role to prevent other countries from trading with the South, on 1/26/65 she captured the schooner Coquette and brought her into Port Royal, SC. 

The War ended, Clover she assisted in dragging for torpedoes (mines) off Charleston, SC. Arriving at the Philadelphia Navy yard on 7/26/65, she was decommissioned and later sold.

Vessel History: (Princeton)

USS Princeton was a large (177' 6") three masted steam powered clipper ship. The second Navy ship with that name, some of her timbers came from the first USS Princeton, the U.S. Navy's first screw steam ship. Her hull was constructed in Boston, MA after which, in May, 1852, it was towed to Baltimore, MD where her machinery was installed. She departed Baltimore that November for Norfolk, VA.

Originally assigned to sail with Admiral Matthew C. Perry's squadron to Japan, her boilers broke down just as that voyage was getting underway.  Laid up until mid-1853, with her boilers refitted she served as flagship of the squadron responsible for protecting fisheries off Nova Scotia, Canada. Duty in the Gulf of Mexico and the West Indies then preceded being placed into ordinary (mothballs) until 1857 when she was taken to Philadelphia, PA were she was stationed as a receiving ship (Navy induction center) until October, 1866.  Shortly after that she was sold. 

Soldier History

SOLDIER:
Residence:
Winterport, ME   Age: 18.6 yrs.  
Enlisted/Enrolled: 8/29/62 Winterport, ME   Rank: Pvt.
Mustered In: 8/29/62, Portland, ME
Discharged For Transfer: 5/3/64
Highest Rank: Pvt.

SAILOR: (North Carolina)
Residence: Winterport, ME   Age: 20.2 yrs.
Enlisted/Enrolled: 5/9/64 Brooklyn, NY   Rank: Ordinary Seaman
Transferred Out: 5/26/64
Highest Rank: Ordinary Seaman

SAILOR: (New Hampshire)
Transferred In: 5/26/64 Portsmouth, NH   Age: 20.3 yrs.
Transferred Out: 5/31/64   Rank: Ordinary Seaman
Highest Rank: Ordinary Seaman

SAILOR: (Clover)
Residence: Winterport, ME   Age: 20.3 yrs.
Transferred In: 5/31/64   Rank: Ordinary Seaman
Transferred Out: 5/15/65
Highest Rank: Quarter Gunner

SAILOR: (Princeton)
Residence: Winterport, ME   Age: 21.2 yrs.
Transferred In: 5/15/65    Rank: Quarter Gunner
Discharged: 5/21/65 Philadelphia, PA
Highest Rank: Quarter Gunner

Family History

PERSONAL/FAMILY HISTORY:
     

 To the best of his belief and knowledge, Daniel S. Baker was born February 23, 1844 in or near the community of Hampden, Penobscot County, Maine. His parents were Nathan (b. 1808 ME) and Sarah M. (Nee Smith b. 1827 ME) Baker.  The Bakers were a farm family.

It appears Daniel was the second oldest of six Baker children.  His older sister was named Hanna (b. 1839 ME). His younger siblings were brother Eugene (b 1845 ME) and sisters Alice M. (b. 1850 ME), Cora (b. 1854 ME) and Flora (b. 1857 ME). By the time of the 1860 U.S. Census the Baker clan had quitted Hampden and Penobscot County and were farming in Winterport, Waldo County, Maine.

Residing in Winterport in July, 1862, Daniel enlisted in the U.S. Army infantry for a period of three years.  His vital statistics at the time were noted as follows: 18 years of age; 5' 10.2" in height; dark complexioned; blue eyes and brown hair.  Although he listed his occupation as "farmer", as we shall see young Daniel, residing along the banks of the Penobscot River, had obviously picked up some sailing and/seafaring talents. For enlisting Private Baker was awarded a $100 enlistment bonus or "bounty", $25 of which was paid up front with the balance to be received incrementally on a later date/dates.

As a member of the 20th Maine infantry, Daniel was always listed as present for duty during the latter months of 1862. The same pattern continued into 1863 including his being at the battle of Gettysburg, PA on July 1st, 2nd and 3rd.  Later that same month he was detailed to his division's provost (military police) guard. That assignment would continue throughout the remainder of the year.  

1864.  Present for duty with the 20th throughout January, February and March, on April 4 at Rappahannock Station, VA Daniel went before a captain and judge advocate and, under oath, swore that prior to enlisting in the infantry, he had served two years as a sailor in the merchant (marine) service.  Having been considered a good seaman, he was requesting he be allowed to serve his remaining period of enlistment in   the U.S. Navy.  That request being granted in late April/early May, 1864 Daniel became an "ordinary seaman" assigned to four different vessels prior to being honorably discharged. One of those assignments may have been as quartermaster aboard the U.S.S. Clover.  His final position was that of quarter gunner aboard the U.S.S. Princeton.

Departing the U.S. Navy Daniel - apparently sporting two tattoos mentioned in later years and received while either in the merchant service or the Navy; an India ink “spread eagle” on the outside of his right arm and an “anchor star and maltese cross” on the inside of his left - returned to Winterport.  There, a few months later, on 9/2/65 he married to Melissa I. Littlefield (b. 1845 ME). According to census and pension sources, the union produced three children: Fred A. (b. 10/12/66 or '67 ME), Idella/Della A. (b.12/20/68 ME) and George A. (b. 9/29/69).Many years later, Daniel's obituary would make note of a fourth child/third son: Freeman A. Baker.

The census of 1870 found the Baker family - Daniel, Melissa and their three children - farming in Winterport Maine.  "Next door" lived Daniel's father and mother.

According to one source, on 1/0/72 Melissa died. Another, however, says her death was circa 1881. Whatever the year, no details pertaining to her passing are available.

In 1873 Daniel and family moved from Maine to Minnesota.  Around two years later, in 1875, they quitted Minnesota for Michigan and, in about another two years, departed Michigan to return to Maine. This being said, the Baker family cannot be found in the 1880 census.

Pension documents indicate that in 1881 - either before or after his wife's death if one accepts '81 as her death year - the Bakers removed from Maine to Arkansas. As with the family's prior moves, exactly why this one was made is not known. Also, as in prior instances, the Arkansas stay - likely in Clark County - was not lengthy as in December, 1883 the family moved westward to the Washington Territory. 

The Baker family's initial stop in Washington may have been a homestead in the western area of the territory near the Pierce County city of Tacoma. However, 1885 documentation places Daniel, daughter Della and son George north of there in a King County community dubbed Titusville which was located near present-day Kent.  Two years later, 1887, the Bakers had moved to the county of Snohomish north of King where Daniel was farming.  In his household at the time were children Fred, Della and George.  The same four were together there in 1889.

Because it was mostly destroyed by fire, there is no data on the Bakers from the 1890 census. However, they were apparently in Snohomish County that year as one source would later note that from 1890 to 1892, as a pioneer active in the development of that county, Daniel would politically serve as one of the area's commissioners. He reportedly also served on the town council of Arlington when that community was incorporated  in 1903, was active in the organization of a Masonic lodge at Arlington (and was chosen its first Grand Master)l and was a patron of the Order of Eastern Star shortly after that order was instituted in Arlington.  

Documentation from February 1, 1892 the date when Daniel appears to have begun the paperwork process to obtain a U.S. Government disability pension based on his suffering from rheumatism which he traced back to his Civil War soldiering/sailoring days,  points to the four Bakers homesteading  in the community of Trafton in Snohomish County.  Trafton would, in later years, be noted as a voting precinct within the town of Arlington. Based on this data as well as that provided in the preceding paragraph, plus the fact that Arlington was where Daniel would live out his days, that is likely where the family settled in 1887 when they arrived in Snohomish County.

In addition to his political activities and onset of his attempt to receive a monthly government pension stipend, 1882 was to prove important in another way for Daniel.  On October 19th of that year, in Litchfield, Minnesota, he remarried to Anna "Ann/Annie" E. Rowley (b 4/52 OH). Although this would be her first and only marriage, the union would produce no offspring. The couple settled on Daniel's Arlington area farm.

Returning to Daniel's attempts to receive a monthly disability stipend, on 4/1/93 a medical exam conduction in Everett, Washington Terr. concluded the 59 year old farmer, showed no limitation of motion or joint swelling in terms of his rheumatism complaint, but found that permanent disability due to dyspepsia, a weak heart and general disability warranted a pension rating of $12 per month.  When submitted to Federal officials, however, that claim was rejected. That being the finding for 1892, on 4/1/95 a $6 per month pension commenced based on partial inability to earn a living by performing manual labor.  Later increased to $8, the pension would continue (an increase to $24 was requested in January, 1914) until the time of the former soldier/sailor's death.

1900. The first census in the newly founded Washington State found Daniel and Ann residing in the Trafton Precinct of Arlington where Daniel described himself as a farm laborer.  Also in the home at the time was a 33 year (b. 10/1867 ME) identified only as T.A.

A decade later; Arlington, WA, 1910. In this census Daniel reported that he was employed as bookkeeper. Besides Ann, in the household at the time was Daniel's 19 year old single granddaughter. Perhaps the latter was present in order to care for Ann who may well have been in failing health because, on September 9th of that same year, she died. Burial was in the Arlington Community Cemetery. 

Daniel appears to have remained in his Arlington area home until sometime in 1919 or '20 - the 1920 census placed the 75 year old widower in Arlington.  He then left that community to reside with his married daughter Della in Priest Rapids/White Bluffs, WA.  He remained there until just prior to his death.

 

With his health failing rapidly, Daniel requested his daughter transport him to his old Arlington area home then inhabited by his son Fred.  There, on 8/3/34 he passed away age of 90 years and months.  Burial was in in the Arlington Community Cemetery beside Ann.



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Editor's Note: The following are previously printed pieces relating to Daniel's life. The first is his obituary, while the second is taken from An illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; 1906, pg. 1033.The third is from Snohomish County: "The Karyn Project."  As is often found such printings contain erroneous data.  Within the above biographical profile, information from these three sources has been included when it appears to fit census, military service and pension documentation. Other data, which cannot be corroborated, has been omitted.

CIVIL WAR VETERAN AND COUNTY PIONEER DIES AT ARLINGTON
Daniel Baker, Former County Commissioner succumbs Friday

Daniel S. Baker, 90, who fought on both the land and sea during the Civil War and who was a pioneer resident of Snohomish County and the state of Washington, died Friday at the home of his son Fred A. Baker, at Route 4 Arlington.  He was born February 23, 1844, at Hampden Me.  Mr. Baker enlisted in the army and he served 20th ME Inf co K in the army of the Potomac until 1865, when he was discharged from the service.  He re-enlisted, this time joining the Navy and serving on the seas as Quartermaster mostly on Scout and Dispatch steamer "Clover" until the close of the war.  He was discharged in the fall of 1865, as Quarter Gunner on the "Princeton" at Philadelphia, PA.

In 1865 he was married to Melissa Litlefield and to this union four children were born, Fred Baker of Arlington, Mrs. Della Sisk of Priest Rapids and George A. and Freeman A. Baker both deceased. Mrs. Baker died in 1879 and ten years later Mr. Baker brought his children to WA. Territory, settling on a homestead near Arlington where he remained until his death.   In 1892 he married Miss Anna Rowley, who died in 1910.

Mr. Baker took an active part in the early development of Snohomish County.  He served as County Commissioner from 1890 to 1892.  He also served on the Town Council of Arlington when that community was first incorporated.  He was active in the organization of a Masonic lodge at Arlington and was chosen as its first master. He was also a patron of the Order of Eastern Star shortly after that order was instituted at Arlington.  In addition to his son and daughter, Mr. Baker is also survived by six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.  Funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon at 1 o'clock at the Arlington Congregational Church, Arlington lodge #129 F & A.M. will be in charge of services.  Arrangements are under the direction of the A.H. Moll funeral home.

Cemetery

Buried at Harwood Cemetery Arlington
Row: 23
Site: 2

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