William Preston Baker
William Preston Baker with his wife, Patsy Martha Stacy, sometime after 1906
Courtesy of Stella Mae Baker Rose
There is a legend associated with Bill Baker: During the war, he crossed paths with Henry Horne, a relative through marriage, who was then serving with the Confederacy. Both men happened to be going in opposite directions and met on top of a ridge. Rather than shoot at one another, they chose to tie up their horses and lean their guns against a tree. They sat down to talk, and when they were done they both continued on their separate ways, just as they did before and as they would continue to do after the war.
Bill was a younger brother of Andy Baker and the older brother of Thomas, James, and Freeling, all veterans of the 39th Kentucky. He died in 1917 and is buried in the cemetery atop State Line Ridge between Virginia and West Virginia. Bill never deserted the Union, as far as his service records indicate. If that is true, then Bill was with the regiment for every one of its major battles, including Cynthiana and the Saltville Expedition.
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