A fate worse than death?

PVT William H. Baker

 

 

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.