Newell Baker was the son of two of the earliest settlers of Pierpont, Ohio, Ashtabula County.

The Civil War was taking men in great numbers, and although Newell had not been drafted, many of his friends, relatives and neighbors had already gone.

He felt that his duty lay with his family while the children were so young, but with President Lincoln made his plea for more volunteers in the late summer of 1864, and told of the great need of men to replace those lost by bullets, disease, and other casualties of war, Newell felt that the time had come when it was his duty to enlist and to do his share in the war.

The President and other national authorities felt sure that with more men and with persistent effort the already tottering Confederacy could be overturned within one year .They did, therefore, what they had not done before. They authorized the raising of regiments to serve for one year only, to aid in giving the final blow to the "slaveholder's rebellion.?

Newell probably thought that his family was better able to carry on without him at that time. Everett would be five years old in November of 1864. Vandalia was already a big help to her mother at six years of age. They would be able to raise their own fruit and vegetables on the farm with the help of Hattie's brothers. David had already said he would help in any way he could. Hattie, herself, could make extra money with her sewing if she wanted to, and of course he would be earning army pay. On September 7, 1864, therefore, when he was twenty-eight years old, Newell went to Warren, Ohio, and enlisted in the 191st Regiment, Infantry Division.

He filled out a form entitled, Declaration of Recruit in the War as a Volunteer in the Infantry, which showed that he desired to volunteer and knew of no impediment to his serving honestly and faithfully as a soldier. When he handed it back to the Lieutenant Recruiting Officer, D. H. H. Wheaton, the "three years" enlistment was scratched out, and "one" year written in, thus indicating the intention to transfer Newell to the new one-year regiment to be organized.

The Enlistment which Newell signed read: "I, Newell Baker, born in Pierpont, in the State of Ohio, aged twenty-eight years, and by occupation a fanner, do hereby ac- knowledge to have volunteered this 7th day of September, 1864, to serve as a Soldier in the Army of the United States of America, for the period of one year , unless sooner discharged by proper authority: Do also agree to accept such bounty , pay, rations, and clothing, as are, or may be, established by law for volunteers. And I, Newell Baker, do solemnly swear, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States of America, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies or opposes whomsoever; and that I will observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the Rules and Articles of War. "

The examining surgeon certified on his honor that he had examined the above named Volunteer, and in his opinion found him free from all bodily defects and mental infirmity .George W. Howe was the examining surgeon.

D. H. H. Wheaton, Recruiting Officer, then certified on his honor that he had "minutely inspected the Volunteer Newell Baker, previously to his enlistment, and that he was entirely sober when enlisted; that, to the best of my judgment and belief, he is of lawful age; and that, in accepting him as duly qualified to perform the duties of an able-bodied soldier, I have strictly observed the Regulations which govern the recruiting service. This soldier has '.blue eyes, brown hair, dark complexion, is five feet nine and one-quarter 'inches high. " Clothing amounting to $36.82 was issued, and he was in the Army.

Twenty-six one-year regiments were raised in Ohio alone. They were to be composed, in large proportion, of the men and almost all officers who had served in other organizations, so that the regiments, though new, were by no means "green," but able to play their part with credit from the very first. One of

These one-year regiments, organized in Cleveland, Ohio, in October, 1864, was known as the 177th OVI, and included 351 Cuyahoga County men, but it needed more. One of the men transferred to this regiment's Roster was Newell Baker, "an exceptionally strong and healthy your man," but green in military experience.

The "Muster and Descriptive Roll of a Detachment of U.S. Volunteers forwarded for the 191 Regiment of Ohio Infantry. Roll dated Warren, Ohio, September 7, 1864" was sent to Camp Cleveland. The 177th Regiment number was put above the 191st Regiment number on Newell's record, and he was listed thereafter as "Newell Baker, Private, Company K, 177th Regiment Ohio Infantry. Roll dated Cleveland, Ohio, October 4, 1864." There was also a notation about his enlistment at Warren, Ohio, which included the following facts:

"Bounty Paid: no/lOO. Bounty Due: $100/no/100 cents. Where credited: Saybrook, Ashtabula County, 19th District of Ohio."

The 17?th Regiment was ordered to report to Major General Thomas at Nashville, Tennessee, as soon as it was ready to march. On reporting to Major Thomas, the regiment was ordered immediately to Tullahoma, Tennessee, where it did garrison duty until Hood's invasion.

Newell wrote from Camp Tullahoma on October 29, 1864; "Dear Wife and Children, I thought I would write to let you know how we live here in camp. We have one hardtack at a meal. I have had money to buy bread, so I have not suffered yet. ..If you get this letter, please answer it. I have written fifty letters since I have been here. I have had no answer from anyone but you, Hat. We don't have half enough to eat. I had $5.00 when I came here; if I had not money, I don't know what I would have done. I have no dollars left. Save all you can, I ought to have $100 a month. ..This is a hard place."

To his mother he confessed, "Yes, I do get homesick a little sometimes, but only ten months more. Tell Father Clark that I should like to see him."

In one of his letters he asked his wife, "Hat, do you go to meeting? We have to go to meeting every Sunday. ..Well, Hat, I have written every day to you. ..Frank Wright is here. Lampson Wright is here, too ?Lampson Wright was Newell's brother-in-law.

On November 1, 1864, he wrote to his family, "I have been out washing today. I have three shirts now... I don't get any letters from you anymore. When I get homesick I must write to you. Don't forget me. We are building log huts for winter to winter in... I have been mustered out for pay. We expect to get it on the 15th... We have had to buy all of our living. For the last week we have drawn our ration. Today I bought a corn pone. I had to pay 10 for it... Tell Davey Clark I should like to see him, and to take good care of you. When I come home I will pay him for it... Hat, I want to see you. I am writing on a box and will write as good a letter as I can ...I hope you will be a good girl. ..Tell the children to write to me. ..Teach the little ones to read so when I come home they can read for me. I dreamed that Everett got hurt. Be sure to tell me how the children get along. Hat, I want a cake for the first time. I should like to come home and get one. Now what do you think of that? Please tell me if you get this letter. ..I live in hopes of seeing you again. I should like to hear from you. Have your thoughts of me gone? Have you forgotten me? I am as true to you as the sun. I hope I shall live to come home to you..."

On November 9th he wrote to his family to tell them if had rained for two weeks and was very muddy there. Reports from other soldiers told of seeing horses start to sink into the mud if they stood still for more than a few minutes. Many was the time when such horses had to be pried out of the mud before they could go on, according to these reports. In the same letter he talked about a Jane Baker, but whether it was his sister, Janey, or a cousin Jane, he didn't indicate in any way. He wrote: "Do you think that I wrote to Jane Baker, and then she and Mother wrote to me? I never wrote to her. Frank Wright sleeps with me. He writes to his wife, and that is the way she knows so much about what I do." Later on the letter's emotional atmosphere changed and he wrote, "I am glad you have bought the place. Keep up your courage. Don't you mind what they say about you. It makes no difference to me. I am true to you, and don't care what anyone says about you. I think you have done first rate. You do as you see fit every time, Hat. What suits you will suit me. When we get our pay I will send it to you every time to pay for your land. Now I hope you will sleep better after this. Take good care of yourself. I want you to enjoy yourself first - rate. For myself, I have not played a card or drank a thing since I have been here. I save every bit of money I can to send to you, Hattie." He told her in a piece of another letter which was without a date that the boys in camp called him the "Old Man" sometimes, but when he sent all his pay home and wouldn't gamble with them they called him something worse, something he said he had not better say in a letter, but would tell her about it when he came home.

In a later letter, in answer to one in which she had asked him not to write to anyone but her, he replied somewhat jokingly, "All right, Hat, perhaps I shan't write any more to my ~!

"November lOth. I got the papers this morning for you to make the deed," he wrote to his wife... It makes me feel bad, Hat... I'll have to make out the power of attorney. Now you know I received your kind letter, and I was glad to hear from you. I am sorry you felt so bad about that old slip of paper I put in the letter. Please burn it up, oh, Hat, please, I want you to sell that place in Richmond to Segar if you can, and pay it on the place you bought in Jefferson, but keep the place you bought, and we will go down there when I come home... I'11 fix your house just as you want me to. .

"November 13. I was glad to get your kind letter. It was dated November 4th, and was eight days on the road. There was not any money in it. Hat... Don't worry about me. I had a bad cold. That was all. It was so bad it made me sick. We have a good place here-for the Am1y-but I don't like to be in the service! When my time is up, I shall come home, but while here I shall try to do the best I can... Everett Baker, your Maw says I don't like you. I LOVE you; Evy .How is your little doggie? And to Miss Daley Baker, I take my pen in hand to let you know how I miss you. Do you miss your Paw, Daley? Your Mother will read this to you. And to Mrs. Harriet Baker I say, "Please tell Dalia and Everett that their Paw would like to see them-and you, Hat. I love you all and miss you.

"November 19, 1864, Camp Tullahoma... The log huts we are building for winter are fifteen feet long, seven feet wide. There are six of us in each shanty .There are George Reed, Lampson Wright, Frank Garrison, Peter L. Bar , and T. Williams here with me. "

"November 29, Camp Tullahoma. ..We got through November here, and the boys say that we are going to North Carolina. They are making such a noise about it I will bring my letter to a close for now. .."

"December 30, 1864. Columbia... We have to march every day. I can't get time to write, very often. I have to stand up to write in turn, and must close now. Tell the children to be good...Keep up your courage for my sake, Hat...Do right and God will bless you. ..P .S. We have not got our pay yet, but we are going to be mustered out for it this afternoon. I hope we get it. "

On January 21, 1865, he wrote to his wife: "Dear Wife, I dream about you almost every night now. Keep up your courage till my time is out. I don't expect to get more pay for two months, and then I will send it to you as soon as I get it... We have been on the Ohio River for five days now... To Miss Daley Baker: How are you getting along? I was so glad to get your letter. I hope you will be a good girl. ..To Mr. Everett Baker: I will write a few lines to my big boy too. I want you to be good. Kiss your mother for me, Everett, will you. ..?" This letter was the last one he was able to write until March. The second Lieutenant in his Company, Alvin Schramlin, and a friend and near neighbor of his for over eight years before he enlisted, wrote the following account for the War Department's records:

"Soon after it (177th Reg.) was organized at Camp Cleveland, it was ordered to Tennessee, where they who were raw recruits were called upon to perform very hard duty , and during Hood's raid were at or near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where the D;1en were put on fatigue duty days, and had heavy guard duty to do nights. When Hood retreated, this Regiment was put in immediate pursuit and had very heavy forced marches to make every day. On one of those days we had to wade icy Buffalo Creek seven or eight times. Sometimes the men went into the water to their waists, and it was a very cold day. On that night we did not get our rations cooked and lay down until two o'clock. And when we did get into camp, we only had in our company seven Privates. The others had become exhausted and fell out and had to be left behind.

Schramlin's report continued: "Baker, who had never failed in doing his whole duty, from sickness, or any other case, was so tired out and sick when he reached camp that he fell out, but would not go to the hospital, and in a few weeks recovered and took ~is place in the company.? The records of the 177th Regiment showed that it had reached its position at Buffalo Creek on December 2, and that the " 177th displayed the utmost readiness for the conflict, and was sharply engaged." It also told that a great many of the men lost their personal belongings during the battles at the Creek while the fighting see- sawed back and forth across the icy Buffalo, first one gaining ground only to lose it to the other. This would account for the letter Newell wrote home in December using a borrowed stamp and Stationery and apologizing for not sending home all of his pay as usual. He said he had to buy a blanket and some other things he had lost in a recent battle. He asked her if she could get him some stamps for his next letters home.

The records also told of its engagement with the Rebels before Murfreesboro on the seventh of December. It said that Milroy's command, of which it was a part, charged the rebels behind breastworks, driving them away and capturing two pieces of artillery .A few days afterwards, while on a foraging expedition the regiment charged a rebel battery and compelled it to retreat; having, itself, eleven men killed and wounded.

After? they drove Hood from Tennessee, the 177th was ordered to join the eastern army. Newell had barely recovered from the last battles when they were carried in stock cars by rail to Annapolis, Maryland, over the Baltimore and Ohio Road. This was during the coldest weather of a particularly cold winter.

Alvin Schramlin's report of this trip read: "We had no fires at all. Baker ha not fully recovered yet, and he and the rest of the men suffered terribly. ?Officers had complained about the treatment soldiers got when they had to travel long distances by railroad back in 1862, when one of them wrote, "Brave men, including many sick and wounded, have been crowded into common boxcars in the dead of winter without fires, or fuel, or lights, or any other conveniences that had been enjoyed by the cattle that occupied the cars before them, and in this condition the poor fellows were compelled to make journeys of hundreds of miles." It would seem that from Schtamlin's report, the railroads had not as yet changed their ways. It was said that there was no water or toilet facilities on trains, and

the instant the train stopped the men would rush out to take care of these necessary things, and in this way; too, many of the would-be deserters had their chance to desert. They just saw to it that they "got left behind" when the train left. And the conductor sometimes knew who was going to desert, but refused to help catch the ones who had paid him enough, saying that he had to "make his schedule".

After going to Washington for a short time, as ordered, they were ordered to go to Fort Fisher. Alvin Schtamlin told about that trip, too. He wrote, "From Annapolis we were taken to Fort Fisher on board of the Streamer Nevada, and were several days on her before landing. The last four days it was so stormy, and the sea was so rough that the hatch was closed, and all the ventilation was closed to keep the heavy waves from filling the boat. Our Regiment, and part of another one, was in the hold of the vessel. It became very warm, and the air in thee was so impure that it was very offensive, and many of men were taken sick. Finally, we were landed on the point at Fort Fisher and there camped." This was on February 7, 1865. "The men taken out of that hot hole were exposed to the biting cold sea winds, and so many of the men were not fit for duty that we had only eighteen men in the Regiment who were reported fit for duty when we were called upon to go on secret duty to flank the Rebels at Fort Fisher. " Newell was one of the men who reported for duty.

The 177th Regiment participated in two attacks upon the enemy's works, and was then engaged in the flank movement which forced the rebels to evacuate Fort Anderson. It also fought the enemy at 1\vin Creek and captured the entire command.

Leaving Wilmington after the surrender of that place, it was ordered to join Sherman at Goldsboro, North Carolina, and it was during the march to Goldsboro that Newell first came down with Typhoid Fever and had to be taken to the hospital. He was in the Smithville, North Carolina Hospital, recovered, went back to 'soldiering", had to be put in the General Hospital in Wilmington, North Carolina, in March and in April. From here he wrote more letters. On March 15, 1865, he wrote: "The plum trees are in bloom out here, Negroes are making their gardens. They have the Yellow Fever here. We lost 10 men in Company K.

"1 was sick for four weeks. I am better now, and am so I can walk about and get what I want. We have fresh fish to eat, soft bread to eat, peas and potatoes, cheese, butter and also tea--half powder. We don't have much to do here but to try to get better. There are seventy-five with me. The Regiment has been gone a long time from us, and we don't know where they are. We don't know how long we will have to stay here. I don't want to ever see any more soldiers if I can help it. I have been 'too long out of bed. I can hardly walk back, but I think I shall get better. I would like to come home to see you, Harriet Baker. We lost twenty-six men in twenty-six days last month. One died here last night. Goodbye.

On April 3rd he wrote again, saying that he was still in the hospital, making it six weeks there, but insisting that he was much better. By the lOth of the month he reported that he was able to take care of himself and another man, and on April 25th he wrote I have taken cold here, and was quite sick this morning, but I hope I will get better so I can come home. If I live I have not got a great while longer to stay in the service... It is very warm here. Peas are in bloom. The corn is big enough to hoe... this place is sickening. I don't think I shall ever get well unless I come home and can get something to eat that I want. ..Something better than we get here now. I think we shall leave here soon, and I do wish we could go somewhere. Anywhere else would be more healthy. For one thing we could get better water. It is so hot here we can hardly live... I suppose you get all the war news in the papers... Everett Baker, I will send a dollar to you so you can have some money. .." You are true blue, Hat, and are the woman for me. I am true to you.

Later in the day he wrote, "You asked me where we went on the River in December. I can tell you now we went from Tullahoma to Columbia, about 200 miles. From there to Clifton. We were on the Ohio River for five days before reaching Washington. From there we went to Indianapolis, Smithville and Fort Fisher, and from there we went to Wilmington where I went on detail. I don't know anything about summer at this time. We had to march about 30 miles in all. Those of us who got sick were left here while the rest of the boys left.

When this old war with its hold on me is past I can come home to you, Hattie, but though I love you, dear wife, I must wait. I long for the time to come, but I must wait. Tell Daley and Everett that I love them too. Tell them it is because I have been so sick for so long that I could not write for those weeks. God bless you, dear Hat, for writing to me. I got your letter this morning. In fact, I was glad to get four letters this day. .. William Dart now tents with me. Now, if I live to come home, I shall go down to see Mrs. Dart...Let Old Roberts go. Do as you think best about selling the place at Richmond...Daley, be good and buy something with this I am sending you...Please give answer...Newell."

"April 10, 1865, I thought I would write a few lines to you, Hattie, to let you know how I am getting along. I have got so that I can take care of myself and Althorne. I think I'll get well, but I don't feel a bit well. I shall take the best care that I can. We have plenty of army rations to get here. .1500 barrels of meat, 200 of coffee and 300 sacks of corn.

Mr. Everett Baker, I will tell you, young sir, that if I live to come home I will fetch you a new coat and pants. You must be a good boy, Everett. Are you? I love you. Miss Vandalia E. Baker, one of a few lines to you: You must have a new dress when I come home, Daley. You must be the smartest girl to want to tease your mother to read. I love you, Daley Baker. Goodbye for this time.

Hattie, I think you had better have a good garden. You might have one acre of corn. It will cost much to tend it. If you have a good spot you can raise a good deal. I don't know as I shall get any money .My time is out yet three hundred dollars. ..I was glad to get the last letter from you. I did not know where you were. I said that you will stay on your place this summer. When I come I want to find you there. ..I hope we all keep well. Is the old mare with foal? I want to know. Everett, kiss your Maw for me."

Newell was on picket duty about two miles from camp on April 27th, and on the 29th he wrote: "I will let you know I am living yet. Has your father moved out of Jefferson? Tell him I should like to see him. I suppose it is nice weather there now, and is beginning to be warm. Grass is green here. The corn is ten inches high. We have a preaching going on now while I am writing to you. ..A good many have been sent home North, but I have not been ordered sent yet... We have a home in Glory. Please, if you will, write soon.

On Sunday, the 30th of April, he informed his wife that he was quite well. He complained that he ha not heard from her, and that she hadn't told him about the old mare. He said, "If the old mare is with colt, I don't want you to let her plow any. I think Mert should not plow more than the garden, and if you have a good garden, that will do I think, don't you? Write soon and tell me what you think I have written to you, dear Hattie B. I was glad to get a letter from Dalia. Goodbye from Newell Baker, the Baker. P .S. Please ask our son to write to his Dad!

He wrote a rather agitated letter to her on the 31st of April, saying he was well but that he didn't understand her letter to him. He asked her if she didn't want him to come back to her, if she felt differently about him, if she loved someone else. 'He told her repeatedly, in different ways, how much he loved her, how true he had been to her, and how much he wanted to come home to his family, but that it was his duty to wait until his time was up. He assured her that the only reason he had not written for awhile earlier was because he had been sick for a long time, but that his friend told him he had written to her for-him and explained about his illness. "Didn't you receive his letter?" he asked. He ended it by saying, "I thought you would be glad that I live and get full of hope that I can keep up my health and courage until I can come to you. I'm darned homesick, Hattie. Wish I could see you. Will send sweets to you. A kiss to you, dear Hattie Baker. Write soon to me Daley. And for Everett Baker. ..can you harness the old mare and put her in the wagon yet? Love to you all, Your Sorry Man."

That 'was the last letter from Newell Baker, but on May 29, 1865, Hattie received a letter from Alfred H. McClarin on official United States Sanitary Commission Stationery .It read: "Mrs. Baker: I thought I would write you a few lines to let you know how your husband is getting along. He has been very sick with Typhoid Fever. He was sick as ever I saw a man and get over it. He is too weak to write, so I thought I would write to you, for I know you would be anxious to her from him. You need not worry about him, for he is out of danger now. I think he will start home as soon as he is strong enough, and I think that will be soon. I took care of him ever since he was sick. He was one of the best patients I ever took care of. He hates to make trouble. He just read the letter you wrote him the 5th of April and was very glad to hear from you. He wants I should tell you what kind of place this is. It is a very pretty place and it is where Johnson surrendered to General Sherman. I think the Corps will start home in June sometime. Now don't worry about him, for I will take as good care of him as I can. If anything happens, I will write to you again. His company is at Graham, about twenty- three miles from him. I belong to the same regiment, Company F, and am detailed at the 8th Div. Hospital. I will close. When you write to him, direct to him at this address, c/o Sar. Sparks, Greensboro, North Carolina. Written by your friend, Alfred. McClarin."

Alfred McClarin was right about one thing. Newell's Company did start home in June. The Regiment mustered out June 24, 1865, at Greensboro, N .C. and started for Cleve- land. Its records stated tersely: "After it joined Sherman at Goldsboro, and after the capture of Johnston, it proceeded to Cleveland, where it was discharged on the 7th of July, 1865.

But Alfred McClarin was wrong about Newell's recovery .The records of the hospital for June 17, 1865; include the death of Newell Baker.

Alvin Schrarnlin testified before the State of Ohio, Ashtabula County. That the Typhoid Fever had nearly subsided when he was suddenly taken sick with Chronic Diarrhea, and he also had a very large sore come on his back. The gangrene got in that. ..

When Newell's widow applied for Widow's Pension in 1865, it wasn't until October of that year she knew he died of "Remittent Fever? and that there would be no money. Her application was retuned because the report of death of Newell Baker from the hospital had not been accompanied by a report of the cause of death, and it would have to be proved legally before anything further could be done by the government. This meant that a lot of red tape had to be taken care of.

All the records were gone over. It was found that on June 19th, Newell's Commanding Company Captain, Harlow N. Spencer, had certified the identity of Newell as the one who had enlisted September 7, 1864, and joined the 177th Regiment on its original organization at Camp Cleveland, and further had certified that "Having served HONESTLY and FAITHFULLY with his Company in said Regiment to the date of his death, is now entitled to a DISCHARGE by reason of Death on June 17, 186S, of Typhoid Fever, General Hospital, Greensboro, N.C.. Also, 'The said Newell Baker was last paid by Paymaster Major Pool to include the 31st day of December, 1864, and has pay due him from that time to the date of his death. He has received from the United States CLOTHING amounting to $36.82... He is indebted to the SUTlER, nothing. He is indebted to the Laundress, nothing. "

The Descriptive Book of Company R showed that Newell spent most of December fighting near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. On December 2nd, Buffalo Creek: December 7th, the Battle of the Cedars. December 14th, skirmishes on Shelbyville near Murfreesboro.

Alvin Schramlin had to certify before the State of Ohio, Ashtabula County, all he knew about Newell and his participation in the war, about the gangrene, Typhoid and all sicknesses. He said that when the gangrene got into the sore it was as much the cause of his death as the Diarrhea. He further stated that 'The Regiment was camped at Greensboro when Baker died, and we used to send him some things that the officers of the Hospital would allow him to have.

I cannot say exactly where he contracted his disease, but think that the original cause was the hard marching he had, the results of the day we waded Buffalo Creek so many times in Tennessee, and the hardships on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Those days on the Steamer confirmed the disease, and caused his death with the marching from Wilmington to Goldsboro. I further say that I know he was to all appearances sound and healthy when he enlisted, and I know he was a good soldier, always ready and willing to do his whole duty. I, therefore, say that he died in the service and in the line of his duty as a soldier. I further say that I have no interest whatever either direct or indirect in this claim, or in the avails of the same."

David F .Clark (Hattie's brother), resident of Pierpont, Ohio, had to appear before a Probate Judge of a Court of Record when he was thirty-six years old and swear that he was the legal Guardian of the minor children of Newell Baker, deceased, in order to obtain for them the benefit of the Act of Congress of July 14, 1862, and that he knew for a fact that Newell had died of the above mentioned causes at the time as stated.

Herbert Jabes and Vandalia (Baker) Wright, son-in-law and daughter of Hattie Baker, swore to the lack of other means of support, with the exception of a pitifully small amount earned as dressmaker, and from small amount of royalties received from a patented dressmaker chart she had invented.

Marriage records then proved that Hattie and Newell had been married by one McClellan, a minister of the Gospel, on January 7th, 1855, and that Hattie and Newell were the parents of Vandalia and Everett Baker. They also showed that Hattie married a second time on or about the 19th day of July, 1866, to C. A. Stanford at Jefferson, Ohio, and that she was divorced from him on November 11, 1870. And lastly, that she married a third time on April 15, 1895, to Ezekiel Bloomfield, a blacksmith from Coshocton, Ohio, who was living in Homestead, Benzie County, Michigan, when they were married there. She was divorced from him on November 13, 1899, at Jefferson, Ohio, and given back the name of Baker. It was therefore finally proved to the Government that pension was deserved. It was paid.

According to the autobiography of Hattie and Newell's son, E. F. Baker, Hattie traded the small home in Saybrook for a farm west of Jefferson. They lived there about one year and attended the Jefferson school. Then his mother traded this farm for a house and two acres of land on the other side of Jefferson, and his mother married a man who turned out to be a drunkard who abused her both physically and mentally. After four years of trying to get along with him, the court granted her a divorce.

She did dress-making for a living and had to leave the children at home alone much of the time. She married again, and once again was granted a divorce. She was given back the name of Baker, and asked for a restoration of Pension as Newell's widow. It was granted and she was paid at the rate of $30.00 per month until October 8, 1925 the time of her death.

The testimony given to prove Hattie Baker's right to the Widow's Pension also proved that one of the many interesting family legends handed down about Newell, of which no one knows the origin, was not founded on fact.

This particular story was quite we1l-known, and has been re-told many times... and with a few variations, but mostly as follows:

Newell recovered, as A. McClarin thought he would, and although he was very weak he was able to start home with his Regiment in June. While he was still in Southern territory, however, he became so tired that it was necessary to stop to rest, so a buddy sat down with him on a large stone by the front gate of a lovely southern mansion.

They hadn't rested long before a beautiful young lady appeared and asked why they were sitting there. When she heard Newell's story she was very sympathetic and said she just knew that his family would be delighted to have such a handsome soldier back home safely and felt that he should come in the house, rest on a good bed, and have a little something to eat and drink before going on. His buddy said he would have to stay with him, and she offered him rest and food also. The decided to accept the extended southern hospitality .They were given delicious scones and tea after they had rested awhile, and then set out on their homeward trip once again, Newell being much refreshed.

They had gone only a mile or two before Baker fell over, dead, and his companion fell over, very, very sick. The Company behind theirs reached them at this time, and took over. The buddy got well, told what happened, and said that the Southern mother told them. That her boy had been killed on a certain day in a battle in which both of them had taken part. One of their bullets might have killed him. The buddy intimated that poison had been put in their food or drink "to get even," and that because of Newell's weakness, he died. He said that if the Company had not caught up to them when it did, he probably would have died, too. They buried Baker at Raleigh, North Carolina.

What kept the story going, perhaps, was the fact that he was buried at Raleigh. The Ohio Handbook of the Civil War by Harper states that Newell Baker was buried at Raleigh, North Carolina. Daniel Farnam, Genealogist, told this writer that he saw Newell's name on a monument there. In 1965, however, the Ashtabula County Historical Society reported that Newell Baker's grave is located at Jefferson, Ohio, in

Oakdale Cemetery, East Section.

Wherever his bones are, may they rest in peace, and may his descendants be proud of a man who refused to be petty, mean, or vindictive; who loved his family and his country, and did the best he could with whatever he had, no matter how little, both cheerfully and fully.

Researched & written by

Grace E. Baker Dick

Parma, Ohio- 1965