A Firebrand Meets His End

   Edward D. Baker was a one-time Illinois lawyer and an intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln. He went west during the California gold rush and wound up in Oregon in 1860, where he was elected to the United States Senate.
   When the Civil War broke out, no one was more pro-Union than Senator Baker. "I want a sudden, bold, forward, determined war," he proclaimed after the firing on Fort Sumter. So intent was he on punishing the South that he joined the army as a colonel while holding on to his seat in the Senate. Colonel/Senator Edward Baker divided his time between the Army and the Senate. From time to time he would return from the field, appearing in full uniform on the floor of the Senate, where he would unbuckle his sword, lay it across his desktop, and launch into an oratorical attack upon those of his fellow lawmakers who appeared to favor any compromise with secession.
   Then on October 21, 1861, he took leave of his Senate desk to lead his regiment up Ball's Bluff, on the Potomac. His task was to cross the river and disperse the Confederate snipers who fired at will from the brush and timber atop the bluff. There was no doubt in Baker's mind that his troops would carry the day. He reckoned, however, without the tenacity of the Mississippi and Virginia soldiers who commanded the bluff.
   For the Rebels it was a turkey shoot. panic quickly ran through the Union ranks, and in short order they were frantically sliding back down the bluff and heading toward the Maryland side. as telegraphic accounts of the rout reached the president, both he and Congress awaited the fiery report from Baker that was sure to come, but this was not to be. Baker had taken the Senate floor for his last time. His body lay back up on the bluffs, the victim of the deadly snipers fire that took 200 other lives.
   Thus the senator who had so dramatically prodded his fellow legislators while adorned in his military garb, had fallen victim to his own rhetoric. It was one thing to harangue the halls of Congress in favor of military action. it was quite another to put one's own words into action. As a senator and a soldier, Edward Baker did both and paid for it with his life.

"17-Vietnam" Memorial

He had the guts to fight and die,
he paid the price, what did he buy?
He brought you life by giving his,
who gives a damn what a soldier gives?

You watch your TV from your easy chair,
but you don't know what it's like out there.
You burn the kids for marching at dawn,
to plant their flags on the White House lawn.

You knock our ways but have your fun,
and then you teach us to use a gun.
There's nothing else that you can do,
yet, I'm supposed to die for you.
 
I'll hate it 'til the day I die,
you made me hear my buddy cry.
I saw his arm, a bloody shred,
I heard them say, "This one's dead."

Copyright 1972 

Dedicated to childhood friends:   www.mrmulcahy.com

PFC Johnny Mailloux, USMC, K.I.A., casualty of war on 24 Nov 68. Found on panel 38 on the west wall, line #50.

CPL Billy Flint, US Army, K.I.A., casualty of war on 01 Sep 68. Found on panel 45 on the west wall, line #18 of the "Vietnam Veteran's Memorial."

Denny Gray, dying later from problems stemming from the war. We grew up in the projects of East Lynn, MA, the po side of town.

Also, to the men and women K.I.A. and P.O.W./M.I.A. in Southeast Asia.

Some gave all!

PFC Michael "Yank" Mulcahy RA 71-73
"17-Vietnam" was composed when I was a young soldier at Fort Hood, Texas
HHC 1st Bn (M) 50th Inf "PLAY THE GAME" 2d Armd Div, "HELL ON WHEELS"

FIFTH US ARMY