Hiram Baker, my great grandfather led a very interesting life. At the age of about five (1843) he and his mother Adalissa, and sister Rebecca, were kidnaped by the Peter Cornstalks people (Shawnee) and held captive in a cave for about five years. It is not known why they were taken captive but it was probably because of some type feud between the Bakers and the local Indians. There were no wild indians in northen Arkansas in those days. The Indians that were there were mostly "civilized" indians that had been displaced by the goverment from the eastern United States and came to that part of the country in a movement that is now called the trail of tears. The cave (called Baker cave today) is two and one half miles long and shaped in a horse shoe. The cave is between Tomahawk and St. Joe. When I was in Arkansas in 97, Janis White a local historian gave me some crystal and flint rock that came from the Baker cave. Hiram and his mother and sister were rescued by Jesse, Hirams father.

Hiram was twenty three when the civil war started in 1861. The men of Searcy county did not want to fight against their country and since they didn't own slaves, they felt no alegiance to the confederacy. They wanted to remain nuetral. During the civil war the most hated men in America were those who wanted to be nuetral. The men of Searcy county formed a peace society. Whenever the recruiters would come from Little Rock, the men would let each other know by signals and signs so they could hide. The Govenor of Arkansas found out about the society and sent a man named Keeling to live among them to spy them out. When Keeling had reported what he had found out, the Govenor sent in troops and arrested about a hundred of the Searcy county men, put them in chains and marched them to Little Rock. They were put on trial for treason and were told the only way they would not be hanged was if they joined the army. Only one man said he wouldn't join, but he escaped. (only one of these men was not killed in the war). Hiram in the mean time had not been caught because he went to the cave that he had spent five years of his life in, and hid out until things cooled down. Hiram eventualy came out of the cave and decided he had better join the confederate army, so he joined company G, 27th Ark. Inf. and later took part in the battle of Pea Ridge, the largest civil war battle west of the Mississippi. The Pea Ridge battle site is a National Park, and is open everyday to visiters and is well worth a visit. My husbands gggrandfather was also in the civil war and fought in Arkansas, but he was with the Union forces. Hiram was seriously wounded at the battle of Pea ridge and was left at Dover to die or heal. Thankfully for our sake he healed. He later was attached to Shaler's Arkansas inf. Co. C. and went to the east for the rest of the war. Hirams wife Martha applied for a civil war widows pension from the state of Ark. after Hiram died in1907. There us no record that she received it.

Hiram was one of only two men of Searcy County Arkansas that were of military age to survive the civil war. All this makes me consider how fragile life is. It appears that except for chance we wouldn't exist. except for chance, this life, these loves, this family may never have been.

Jessie, Adalissa, Rebbeca, Hiram, Martha, and many othr Baker relatives are buried in a lonely little cemetary called Tomahawk (Stone) cemetary, that lays in a valley just east of St. Joe. Most all the head stones are made of sand stone and the names and dates are gradualy being worn away by the eliments. To the west of the where the entrance to the cemetary now is, is the sight where mom's father John, and mother Lizzie Hill, built their first home after they were married and is proabably where all their children, including mom, was born.
Martha (Price) Baker-Wife of Hiram Baker