California contributed twelve military organizations to the Federal
forces, but none of them took part in the campaigns east of the
Mississippi. Its Senator, Edward D. Baker, was in his place in Washington
when the war broke out, and, being a close friend of Lincoln, promptly
organized a regiment of Pennsylvanians which was best known by its synonym
"First California." Colonel Baker was killed at the head of it at the
battle of Ball's Bluff, Virginia, October 21, 1861. Baker had been
appointed brigadier-general but declined.
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