...y of the war, had that day happened at Ball's Bluff (October 21, 1861). Our forces had been routed and slaughtered, and the gallant Colonel Baker, who had left the Senate chamber to lead his splendid California Regiment to the war, had fallen, dying instantly, pierced at the same second by nine bullets. This was a national loss. His place in the army, in the Senate, in the hearts of the people of Califo...