Lafayette Curry Baker
Lafayette Curry Baker was a Union Army investigator and spy during the American Civil War who served under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, and played roles in Lincoln's Assassination Investigation, and Johnson's Impeachment. After the war he wrote a book that details the history of the Early Secret Service, but much of his writing is considered to be fabrications.
The profile below provides as many correct facts as we can find, but we cannot verify all of them because of the number of false facts, outright lies, the rumors, and the exaggerations that have been published about this individual over 150+ years.
Born: October 13, 1826
Birthplace: Stafford, New York
Father: Remember Baker 1786 – 1847
(Buried: Portland Cemetery, Portland, Michigan)
Mother: Cyntha Stannard 1787 – 1840
(Buried: Portland Cemetery, Portland, Michigan)
Wife: Jenny Curry BakerAntebellum History:
Jack of all trades in Philadelphia and San Francisco
Some say he was a vigilante and claim-jumper while in San Francisco
Civil War History:
1861: Presented himself to General Winfield Scott, convinced him to let him Spy for the Government
Baker is made a Special Provost Marshal for the United States War Department
Baker uses the alias "Sam Munson" when he goes undercover as a photographer from Richmond, Virginia
1861: On the 11th of July, Baker is arrested by the Union Army in Alexandria, Virginia as a Confederate spy, he will need General Scott to be released without being executed.
Baker goes to Richmond with a broken, or perhaps a fake camera, and is arrested as a spy. He's interviewed by President Jefferson Davis and Pierre T. Beauregard and gives information about Union troop movements and positions in exchange for his release.
Moving North, Baker goes to Fredericksburg, Virginia, and is arrested again by the Union Army, and is again under threat of execution. Baker is able to escape by prying loose bars open with a hidden pen knife.
1862: As a reward for delivering good intelligence to General Scott, Baker is offered, and accepts a job as the Director of the National Detective Police in Washington, D.C.
1863 – 1865: Colonel of 1st District of Columbia Cavalry Regiment
1865: Baker is caught tapping telegraph lines between Nashville and the office of Edwin M. Stanton, and is demoted and sent to New York City.
1865: Shortly after the Lincoln Assassination, Baker is summoned by Edwin M. Stanton to Washington. Soon, Baker's agents in Maryland make four arrests and have the names of two more conspirators, including the name of the actual presidential assassin, John Wilkes Booth.
Baker selects the men who run Booth to ground, and although he does not accompany them, he does take charge of the assassin's body when it's brought to Washington and supervises it's burial. Baker receives a substantial portion of the $100,000 reward for the capture of Booth.
1865: On April 26, President Andrew Johnson nominates Baker for an appointment to the grade of brigadier general of volunteers, but Baker is never confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Postbellum History:
1865: On November 9th, as the Head of the National Detective Police in Washington, D.C., Baker is indicted on four counts of false imprisonment and extorsion stemming from his investigation into corrupt "pardon brokers" who frequented Johnson's White House.
1866: Mustered Out the Union Army Volunteers on January 15th
1866: At his trial in late January, Baker is found guilty by a Jury of: one count of false imprisonment. However, the judge in the trial only fined Baker a single dollar, and then discharged him from the court.
1866: On the 8th of February, Baker was dismissed as head of the National Detective Police by President Johnson, after the President discovered that Baker's agents were spying on him.
1867: Baker's book: History of the United States Secret Service is published (Google Book Link)
- Baker's Autobiography reveals the secret that John Wilkes Booth's diary was taken from his body when he had been shot, and turned over to the Secretary of War, putting both Stanton and the War Department into an awkward position
- Republished in 1874 as: The Secret Service in the Late War (Google Book Link)
- Republished in 1894 as: Spies, Traitors, and Conspirators of the Late Civil War (Google Book Link)
Editors Note: We want to emphasize here that Baker's investigative service WAS NOT the fore-runner to the Secret Service as Baker claims, it's believed he made this claim to sell more books. Although one of Baker's jobs was protecting the President, a job he didn't do very well, Baker arrogantly mislead the public into believing that he head the Secret Service, instead of the National Detective Police, the undercover, anti-subversive, spy organization he actually ran.
1868: Baker is called as a witness at the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, but is unable to produce the evidence that he promised he had before the trail.
Died: July 3, 1868
Place of Death: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Cause of Death: Reportedly from Meningitis
(There is an alternate theory for cause of death, that it may have been murder by way of arsenic poisoning, administered to him without his knowledge in his imported beer. The thinking being that some of his old enemies might want to silence him, that he might hold evidence that would uncover a deeper conspiracy in the former Lincoln Administration. The theory comes from the authors of the book, The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977). They claim that Baker was murdered by his brother-in-law, Walter Pollack, a detective at the War Department.)
Age at time of Death: 41 years old
Original Burial Place: Mutual Family Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Reinterred to: Forest Hills Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Obituary, The Evening Telegraph Newspaper, Phladelphia, Pennsylvania,
July 3, 1868, Fifth Edition, Page 4, LOC Collection.
Further Reading:
- Baker, Lafayette C. A History of the United States Secret Service. Philadelphia, L.C. Baker, 1867.
- Balsiger, David W. & Sellier, Charles E. The Lincoln Conspiracy. Utah: Schick Sun Classic Books, 1977.
- Mogelever, Jacob. Death to Traitors: The Story of General Lafayette C. Baker, Lincoln's Forgotten Secret Service Chief. Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1960.
citation information
The following information is provided for citations.
Article Title: | Biographies of the Civil War, Lafayette Curry Baker |
Authors: | ★ @gentlemanrob (Initial Profile Research) ★ Mike Kendra @CivilWarTalk (Layout, Obituary, Additional Research, Further Reading) |
Website Name: | CivilWarTalk.com |
URL: | https://civilwartalk.com/threads/baker-lafayette-c.178452/ |
Publisher: | CivilWarTalk, LLC |
Original Published Date: | October 11, 2020 |
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