Cullen Baker was an outlaw who was born in Tennessee and, before the Civil War, moved further south. Most of his activity took place in Texas and Arkansas, where it is alleged he killed hundreds of people, including former slaves.
He was notorious for his bar brawls and was known to lose his temper often. He has been described as an earlier version of a gunslinger, though his preferred weapon was actually a double-barrel shotgun.
Early Life
Cullen Baker was the son of John Baker and was born in Weakley County, Tennessee. His family then moved to Clarksville, Arkansas, where he would grow up.
At a young age, Baker spent much of his time in the bar scene. He developed a quick temper due to his heavy drinking.
On January 11, 1854, Cullen Baker and Martha Jane Petty married, and it looked as though Cullen was going to settle down.
Martha Jane Petty was the daughter of Hubbard and Nancy Petty. However, eight months into his marriage, while out drinking with friends, he became involved in a verbal altercation with a youth named Stallcup.
Baker became enraged, grabbed a whip, and beat the boy to near death. There were several witnesses to the incident, and Baker was soon charged with the crime.
One of the witnesses, Wesley Bailey, was confronted by Baker at Bailey's home. Baker shot him in both legs with a shotgun, then left him lying in front of his house. Bailey died a few days later. Before he could be arrested for the murder, Baker fled to Arkansas, where he stayed with an uncle.
On May 24, 1857, Martha Jane Baker gave birth to a baby girl, Louisa Jane. On June 2, 1860, Martha Jane Baker died. Cullen Baker then returned to Texas, where he left his daughter with his in-laws.
Baker returned to Arkansas, but the word of his crimes had spread, and a local woman named Beth Warthom was openly critical of him. He took several hickory switches to her house and threatened to beat her.
Her husband, David Warthom, began to fight with Baker and overwhelmed him in front of the house.
Beth Warthom screamed, and her husband looked her way. With his attention drawn away from Baker, he was stabbed once with a knife Baker had in his possession. David Warthom died on the spot.
Baker fled back to Texas, and in July 1862, he married his second wife, Martha Foster, who was unaware that he was wanted for murder.
She was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Young Foster.
The Civil War
Cullen Baker joined the Confederate Army shortly after the war began.
He displayed a violent streak and is rumored to have killed three African Americans shortly after taking the Oath of Allegiance and becoming an overseer of Freeman.
By 1864, the war had shifted in favor of the Union, and the Confederate situation looked bleak. It is not known if he deserted or was discharged, but the next time he shows up is with a group called the "Independent Rangers."
The Independent Rangers were part of the Confederate Home Guard that was intended to pursue deserters, but instead, they usually intimidated, raped, and committed acts of theft and violence while the young men were at war. this certainly fit into Baker's mold as he was a despicable human being.
The Independent Rangers had an ongoing feud with another band called the Mountain Boomers, but by the end of the year, the Rangers had gained quite the edge when they killed several of the Boomers members. This left the area to the Independent Rangers, and they would go unopposed until the end of the war.
In November 1864, Cullen Baker and a group of Rangers committed another atrocity. They intercepted a group of Arkansas settlers moving west to pursue a better life. The Rangers made a phony accusation of the group being unpatriotic and proceeded to rob them of everything they had. The group was made up of older men, women, and children and was an easy mark for Cullen Baker's band.
The group of settlers would not submit and refused to hand over their possessions. Baker then, without hesitation, drew his gun and killed the leader of the settlers. The group then submitted to Baker's request to come back across the river. When the group listened, Baker went back on his promise not to do any more harm and killed nine other men. The event became known as the Massacre of Saline.
The Union Army slowly began to take over all of Arkansas and began to try and restore order to the state. Many of the Union troops stationed in Arkansas were African-American and despised Cullen Baker.
One evening towards the end of 1864, Cullen Baker was in Spanish Bluffs, Arkansas, enjoying himself in a saloon when he was approached by four African-American Union soldiers. The soldiers asked for his identification, and then Baker surprised them when he turned around with his pistol drawn. He got off four shots before they could react and killed each of the soldiers.
He then fled and organized a gang with Lee Rames. The gang operated out of the Sulpher River bottoms near Bright Star, Arkansas. They were notorious for their acts of robbery and murder. They did not seem to care about the carnage they created and were credited with killing at least 30 people.
While Cullen's actions have been romanticized over the years, his acts were absent of any bravery or courage. His victims were always outnumbered, ambushed, and shot in the back with a shotgun. However, his stance against the Federal occupation regarded him as a hero to some, which in itself is deplorable as he killed anyone who made him angry and tended to target the weak and helpless.
Texas Killing Spree
In early 1866, he traveled back to Texas and was now on the run from the Union army.
He decided to go on a killing spree:
- He killed two men, W.G. Kirkman and John Salmons, who were believed to have killed someone in Baker's gang.
- He killed George W. Barron, who had taken part in a posse that was hunting Baker.
- He killed General Store owner John Rowden. Baker stole many goods from his store, and in response, Rowden went to Baker's home and demanded he pay him back. Cullen told him he would pay him back in a few days. A few days later, Baker returned to the general store and shot Rowden in the chest.
- He crossed back into Arkansas and killed a Union sergeant who identified him.
- He killed Private Albert E. Titus in Texas, which resulted in a $1,000 bounty being placed on his head.
- He went back to Arkansas and joined a mob that was angry over a local farmer hiring freed African Americans to work his farm. The racist mob raided the farm and stabbed one of the farmer's daughters, clubbed another, and shot a black man. The farmer, Howell Smith, resisted the men and began a shootout, which resulted in injuring many in the mob, including Cullen Baker, who was shot in the leg.
- On October 24, 1868, Baker and his gang went on to kill Major P.J. Andrews, Lt. H.F. Willis, another black man, and wounded Sheriff Standel of Little Rock, Arkansas.
Downfall and Death
Most of Cullen Baker's gang was terrified of him and his violent ways. However, Lee Rames was also known for his violent tendencies, and he began to have second thoughts on Baker.
The two had a disagreement, and when Rames wanted to break up the gang, all but one gang member went with him.
Shortly After, Cullen Baker and "Dummy" Kirby were killed at Baker's in-law's house in Bloomberg, Texas.
there are two theories as to how he died:
- The first theory is that his father-in-law and friends laced a bottle of whiskey and some food with strychnine and poisoned the two, then shot their bodies up.
- A local schoolteacher named Thomas Orr had become involved romantically with Baker's second wife, Martha, and led a small band of men who ambushed Baker and Kirby at the Foster home, shooting and killing him near the chimney of the house, along with Kirby.
Regardless of what happened, it was the same result. The outlaw Cullen Baker was killed along with "Dummy" Kirby. Baker and Kirby were then dragged through the streets of Bloomberg and taken to the authorities, where they collected their reward.
Cullen Baker was 33 years old.
