CALEB C. BAKER5th CAVALRY and 83rd, 94th and 97th INFANTRYIN FOUR REGIMENTS – Caleb C. Baker, the son of Willard Baker and Rachel Cornell enlisted in the 5th Cavalry in October of 1861. By July of 1862, he was discharged for disability.A year later, almost to the day, July 7, 1863, he enlisted in the 83rd Infantry. In the year before the Battle of Gettysburg which took place on July 1 - 3, 1863, the regiment had received about 400 casualties in the field. He enlisted as a substitute to serve for three years. Eleven months and ten battles later, including such battles as The Wilderness and Cold Harbor, he was transferred to the 97th Infantry which was fighting alongside them at Cold Harbor. In July he was wounded in the finger and the eye while near Petersburg.Caleb’s fourth regiment was the 94th Infantry to which he was transferred, on August 10, 1864, only two months after his transfer to the 97th. He was transferred administratively while he was still in hospital and joined the regiment in December. Caleb remained with the 97th until July 18, 1865, when he was mustered out at Ball’s Crossroads in Arlington VA.He returned to Schroon and farmed for the rest of his life. His Invalid’s Pension started in 1866, and the 1890 Veterans Schedules show that he was still suffering from the wound to his eye. In 1925, his wife Harriet Hardy, died while they were both living with their youngest son, Wilbur.The Essex County Republican of June 15, 1928, carried Caleb’s death notice – Caleb Baker, a Civil War veteran, passed away and was buried from his home two and one half miles north of this village. Interment in the Severance Cemetery beside his children who preceded him. He leaves a son, Wilbur, who has cared for him for years as he was nearly blind, and a daughter, Mrs. John More, of Crown Point.
