Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/27

Rh in two wars, and has now sealed with his blood his devotedness to the national flag. Cut off in the fullness of his powers as a statesman, and in the course of a brilliant career as a soldier, while the country mourns his loss, his brothers in arms will envy while they lament his fate. He died as a soldier would wish to die, amid the shock of battle, by voice and example animating his men to brave deeds."

Edward Dickinson Baker was buried in Lone Mountain Cemetery, San Francisco, California, on December 11, 1861. Thomas Starr King, who preached the funeral oration, there said:

"We have borne him now to the home of the dead; to the cemetery which, after fit services of prayer, he devoted in a tender and thrilling speech to its hallowed purposes."

Some seven years before that time Baker had, on May 30, 1854, delivered the address at the dedication of this cemetery.

On Wednesday, December 11, 1861, memorial services in memory of Senator Baker were held in the Senate Chamber at Washington. On that day the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, entered the Senate Chamber, supported by Hon. Lyman Trumbull and Hon. O. H. Browning, Senators from the State of Illinois. He was introduced to the Vice-President, and took his seat beside him, while his private secretaries, John G. Nicolay and John Hay, were seated near the central entrance. Senator Nesmith, of Oregon, speaking of the death of his colleague, said:

"As an orator Baker ranks high, and was peculiarly fascinating in his manner and diction. As a soldier he was possessed of a rare aptitude for the profession of arms, combined with that cool, unflinching courage which enabled him to perform the most arduous duties under trying circumstances, and to look upon the most fearful peril with composure. It is but a few short months since, in the presence of this body, he took upon himself a solemn oath to support the Constitution of the United States; that covenant has been sealed with his heart's blood. Death has silenced his eloquence forever, and his manly form has been