Excerpt from Hon. Edward D. Baker, U. S. Senator From Oregon: Colonel E. D. Baker's Defense in the Battle of Ball's Bluff, Fought October 21st 1861, in Virginia, and Slight Biographical Sketches of Colonel Baker and Generals Wistar and Stone In 1846 he was elected from his district to Congress, Where he became distinguished in debate. When war was declared against Mexico, he at once returned to his home and raised the 4th Illinois Regi ment of Volunteers, with which he joined General Scott's army on its march to the City of Mexico. While en route upon a transport a mutiny broke out in a Southern regiment, in quelling which he was se verely wounded by a shot through the throat, from which he recovered and served in the field to the con clusion of the war, winning great renown at Cerro Gordo, where General Shields was wounded, leaving Colonel Baker in command of his Brigade as Senior Colonel, which he led successfully against the Mexican position. Upon his return to Illinois at the close of the war, he was re-elected to Congress, where he served his State with great brilliancy and bade fair to become one of the leaders of the House. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.