# James H. Baker (politician) *Republican politician; Ohio Secretary of State (1856–1858) and Minnesota Secretary of State (1860–1862); Union Army officer in the American Civil War.* James Heaton Baker (May 6, 1829 – May 25, 1913) was a Republican officeholder in two states. He served as Ohio Secretary of State from 1856 to 1858 and as [[Minnesota Secretary of State]] from 1860 to 1862, and he commanded a Minnesota regiment in the American Civil War.[^1] After the war he held federal posts, first as a land-office register in Missouri and then, under President Grant, as Commissioner of Pensions from 1871 to 1875. In 1912 he and Judge Lorin Cray paid for a granite marker in [[Mankato]] that commemorated the December 26, 1862, execution of 38 [[Dakota]] men. The City of Mankato removed the marker in 1971.[^1] ## Life Baker was born on May 6, 1829, in Monroe, Butler County, Ohio. He attended common schools and later graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University.[^1] He taught school and ran the Female Seminary at Richmond, Indiana. In 1853 he bought the *Scioto Gazette* in Chillicothe, Ohio.[^1] He won election as Ohio Secretary of State in 1855 and served one term. He later held the same office in Minnesota from 1860 to 1862.[^1] From 1862 to 1863, Baker was colonel of the 10th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, a Union Army regiment.[^1] He was then appointed Provost Marshal for the Department of Missouri and remained in that post until the war ended. He was mustered out of volunteer service on October 21, 1865.[^1] On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Baker for the brevet grade of brigadier general, with rank dating from March 13, 1865. The Senate confirmed the appointment on March 12, 1866.[^1] For two years after the war, Baker served as Register of Public Lands at the Federal Land Office in Boonville, Missouri.[^1] He then settled on a farm in [[Minnesota]]. President Grant named him Commissioner of Pensions, a position he held from 1871 to 1875.[^1] Baker and Judge Lorin Cray paid for a four-ton granite marker known as the "Hanging Monument." It commemorated the mass execution of 38 Dakota men at Mankato on December 26, 1862.[^1] The marker was erected in 1912. According to the cited source it soon became "the object of controversy," and the City of Mankato took it down in 1971.[^1] Baker died in Mankato on May 25, 1913, and was buried in the city's Glenwood Cemetery.[^1] ## Publications Baker wrote *Lives of the Governors of Minnesota*. It was issued at St. Paul in 1908 as volume 13 of the [[Minnesota Historical Society]] *Collections*.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *James H. Baker (politician)*, English Wikipedia (revision 1373147872, retrieved 2026-10-25) — biographical summary of Baker's Ohio and Minnesota offices, Civil War service, federal appointments, the Hanging Monument, publications, and death. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H._Baker_(politician)>