Monday, June 20, 2016

John Harris Baker.

Push.
John Harris Baker.

Birth: Aug. 7, 1824.
Death: Apr. 7, 1905.

Wife: Louisa A Trice Baker (1829 - 1885).

Children: Edgar Harvey Baker (1855 - 1951).

Burial: Eastview Cemetery, Zebulon, Pike County Georgia.

From Muster Roll of Company A, 13th Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry Evans' Brigade, Gordon's Division Army of Northern Virginia C. S. A. Pike County, Georgia "Confederate Guards:" Baker, John H. - Captain July 8, 1861. Wounded at Sewell's Mountain, Va. September 25, 1861. Elected Major February 1, 1862. Wounded at Cold Harbor, Va. June 27, 1862; Malvern Hill, Va. July 1, 1862. Elected Lieutenant Colonel September 17, 1862. Cap tured at Gettysburg, Pa. July 4, 1863. Elected Colonel December 14, 1863. Exchanged May 4, 1864. Wounded at Monocacy, Md. July 9, 1864; Winchester, Va. September 19, 1864; Fort Steadman, Va. March 25, 1865. Paroled April 21 ,1865. Served in Mexican War. Died in Pike County, Ga.

Col. Baker was a veteran of two wars, having served with distinction in the Mexican as well as the civil war. When the civil war broke out he raised Co. A of the Confederate Guards in Zebulon and was made its captain. He soon became a major of the 18th Georgia Regiment, then lieutenant colonel and later colonel of that famous regiment. For the last nine months of the war, he was in command of Gen. Evans old brigade, when Evans was promoted to be a major general, and he had been chosen as a brigadier general, but as no commissions were sent out for several months previous to the close of the war, he never received his as a general though he had been selected as a brigadier and had been serving in that capacity for several months.

He served several terms in the general assembly of Georgia both as representative and senator, being nominated each time without his solicitation and elected without opposition. He made an able and conscientious legislator.

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