Brigadier General Laurence Simmons Baker, CSA

North Carolina Brigade, Stuart's Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia

Goat of the Class of 1851

Laurence S. Baker's career promised to be as stellar as George A. Custer's. He commanded the First North Carolina cavalry regiment at Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, and Fredericksburg. At Gettysburg he went head to head with Custer's Seventh Michigan on the third day's cavalry battle, and took command of Wade Hampton's Brigade when Hampton was wounded.

Three weeks after the battle, when Robert E. Lee reorganized his cavalry into seven brigades in two divisions, Baker was promoted to Brigadier General, and took command of the 1st through 5th North Carolina cavalry regiments. Wade Hampton became Baker’s division commander. Fitz Lee led the other division, with JEB Stuart as the Cavalry Corps commander. Baker saw a great deal of action in the weeks after the battle as the respective cavalry forces sparred in the upper Shenandoah. At the July 31, 1863 Battle of Brandy Station Baker helped drive back the Union forces, and was praised in the after action report by General Lee. Unfortunately, Baker was wounded in the right arm, permanently disabling him. Judged unfit for field duty, he was sent back to North Carolina where he was given a command in the rear areas, organizing the defense of the state from raids by Union forces established on the coast.

In April 1865, after receiving news of Lee's surrender at Appomattox, General Baker held a council of war. Most of his officers wanted to lay down their arms. At sundown on April 15, Baker convened his command. He announced his intention to head south and try to fight his way to Confederate forces still in the field under General Joseph E. Johnston. He would take with him any who chose to follow him. The rest could leave for home if they so desired. But he would not surrender. He asked the volunteers to come forward. About fifty men did so. They were given the best mounts and Enfield rifles. After midnight, Baker led his small force south by the light of a three-quarter moon.

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