James S. Baer SeniorVeteran

Captain James S. Baer of Company G, First Maryland Volunteer Infantry was born in Baltimore on July 17, 1834. Captain Baer has the distinction of fighting for the Union even before the Civil War began. He was present during the infamous “Pratt Street Riots” of April 19, 1861 and fought to protect the troops of the Sixth Massachusetts as they were pummeled on their way down Pratt Street between President Street Station and Camden Station on their way to Washington, D.C. In the following days, Baer helped to hold the Pikesville arsenal for the Union until federal troops could arrive and defend it. When the war began and President Lincoln issued a call for volunteers, Baer enlisted and was mustered into Company A, First Maryland Volunteers on June 30, 1861 as a Second Lieutenant. Promoted to First Lieutenant on November 1, 1861, he was wounded and captured at Fort Royal, Virginia. on May 23, 1862. Paroled on August 17, 1862 at Aiken's Landing, Virginia, he was sent to Camp Parole near Annapolis, Maryland on September 21, 1862. He was promoted to Captain and transferred from Company A to Company G on December 16, 1862. Baer was dismissed from the army for drunkenness on September 22, 1864 with forfeiture of pay and allowances. At the end of the war, he was mustered out of the army on July 2, 1865 near Washington, D.C. Following the war, Baer settled in Carroll County and married Susan Kimball Fessler Baer in 1867. The couple had two children, Harry and Blanche. Baer was appointed Postmaster at Tannery, Maryland, just south of Westminster on June 19, 1874. By 1880, the Baer family was living at 111 Main St. in Westminster, and Baer worked as a tannery manager. Baer eventually became the superintendent of the tannery while still living in Westminster. By 1910, he had moved to Gorsuch Road, outside of Westminster and was working as a farm worker. Prominent as a Grand Army man, Baer was a member of the Grand Army Club of Baltimore and of the Burns Post No. 13 Grand Army of the Republic in Westminster, which he commanded for many years. He served as Department Commander for the Department of Maryland and as an officer on the staff of the National Commander- in-Chief of the G.A.R. Baer died on March 4, 1917 at the age of 83.