Lake Cullen Baker, Shumake Ranch, Sulphur River Bottom

"The future novelist, in search of facts as a foundation for a thrilling romance, will find no more fruitful theme than that of the life, exploits and death of Cullen M. Baker." -- The Jefferson Times Around 1870.

"Boss, I am none of your new kind of nigger. I have been a slave, and I had the best master in the world. I have always been a white folks' nigger. Yes sir, I knowed Mr. Cullen Baker. I was raised near Linden, and one day I met Cullen Baker in the middle of the road about a mile from Linden. I raised my hat, bid him good-morning, and passed on. Mr. Baker never bothered no nigger that kept his place." -- An Elderly Former Slave in the Early 1900s.

"Oh, I just know that if I should even meet Cullen Baker in the road or ever see him, I would faint! His very name makes me shiver!" -- A Douglassville White Lady Around 1865.

"As his memory mounted the wings of time and wafted back to former years, he could behold, in his own imaginaton, the forms and figures of the many victims that he had sent to their graves. The distressing cries of the widows and orphans were ringing in his ears. The blood of his victims and the tears of the distressed and heart-broken companions of the slain were streaming before him in torrents too plain not to be perceptible. ... He was known to the public (beyond the sphere of his personal acquaintances) as a man of considerable refinement. He was looked upon by the mass of people as a perfect genius. Many persons were not contented with merely adding a few fictitious occurences to his real deeds but turned from the truth entirely and circulated many barefaced falsehoods that were not founded on any real facts. A great many of his desperate acts were not generally known, merely because people were afraid to combat public opinion. His numerous hosts of friends were continually engaged in circulating the many false and romantic deeds that had been attributed to him; they caught at every incident that might possibly add laurels to the name which he had already achieved in the estimation of persons who had been laboring under erroneous statements regarding his unprincipled career. These were not the only persons who praised the name of the unscrupulous murderer. Many who were personally acquainted with the great arch-demon denounced every evil and ruthless act charged to him, saying they were utterly false but at the same time endeavoring to impress false reports concerning his so-called unstained character and palm them off on the public as undeniable facts." -- Cullen Baker's Enemy and BiographerThomas Orr Around 1870.

"Men have called me bad, but I will show them that I have not done anything compared with what I will do. If I could sink this whole country into Hell by stamping upon the ground, I would stamp with all my power and send it and every living creature, with myself, into the infernal regions!" -- Cullen M. Baker in 1867. ...

Cullen Montgomery Baker was born in Weakley County, Tennessee, on June 22, 1835. He was one of seven children in a typically restless frontier family. When little Cullen was four years old, his family moved to Spanish Bluffs in Red River County, Texas. There they lived until 1844 when they moved again to the banks of Sulphur River in nearby Cass County. At this stage of his life Cullen was a hard-working, self-reliant, inoffensive boy and was noted for his kindness, intelligence and bravery. He could handle a team of oxen with skill and confidence and was an expert in the use of a bull whip. When he was growing up, he became accustomed to riding a mule rather than a horse; and throughout the rest of his stormy life, he always preferred to travel by mule.

Living on the banks of Sulphur River provided young Cullen with endless possibilities for adventure, both real and imagined. He roamed the swamps and river bottoms, hunting and fishing, trapping and cow-rustling. He preferred to tramp about the wilds in solitude or only with an old hound-dog for company. As early as the age of ten or eleven, Cullen would often stay away from home overnight, alone in the forests. Cullen's parents were lenient toward him in these younger days, and consequently his opportunities for sporting along the Sulphur banks were much more numerous than those of his youthful peers. It was there in the woods that Cullen learned the ways of evasion, concealment, attack and counter-attack and the "hit-run-and-hide" technique that he was to use in years to come when he continually had to elude his hundreds of pursuers. And it was there in the woods that he perfected his ability with the heavy calibre firearms which he chose to carry throughout his career.

As a young boy, Cullen Baker was a delicate, sallow-faced, and independent-looking chap. He was quite content to wear ragged hand-me-downs that were barely sufficient to hide his nakedness. He was scarcely ever known to wear a coat or shoes except in the coldest weather, and even then they were usually made of only the roughest materials. By the year 1851 Cullen had matured into a handsome, stalwart lad of sixteen. He was five feet nine inches tall and never weighed more than 160 pounds. He had sandy hair, dark blue piercing eyes, and a pale complexion. His voice was gruff and slow of speech, and his hands were said to be quite long. He was so well skilled in the art of sporting that few of his teenage comrades could ever beat him at any game. He was indisputably the best rifleman in his area and the most successful hunter of his age-group. His manners, however, had grown crude and unrefined, "barely surpassing (as Thomas Orr put it) the unlettered rustic of the torrid regions of South America"; and as he got older, he still wore simple homespun clothing that hung carelessly about him, his pants supported by a single suspender connected to pegs instead of buttons. He dressed this way not from any neglect on the part of his mother or sisters but from a natural desire to be odd. He apparently preferred this sloppy garb throughout his life, although as a man he would occasionally dress up in fine attire for some unexpected, special circumstance. ...

From October of 1854 until July of 1856, Cullen wandered throughout Texas and Oklahoma. At one point he used the alias of "Bois D'Arc Tom"; and several times when he attempted to settle down, he inevitably got into some sort of trouble that required him to move on again. In the summer of 1856 he returned to Cass County for a month or so and then left to wander for two more years in Arkansas and Kansas. ...

Little is known of Cullen Baker's war record, except for a couple of reports about him, reports which were probably written after he had achieved the status of "most-wanted desperado" and which were therefore undoubtedly somewhat biased. One report by a superior officer read as follows: "Insubordinate by nature and a coward at heart, there was no poorer soldier in the ranks on either side than this shirking ruffian, and his desertion in a few weeks was not looked upon as a loss by either men or officers." What service Cullen Baker did see during the Civil War was in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. He belonged to a cavalry battalion commanded by Lt. Col. R. Philip Crump of Jefferson. This battalion fought with the forces of Gen. Ben McCulloch and Col. Walter P. Lane. After his desertion from the Confederate Army in 1863 and during the course of his subsequent ramblings, according to folklore, Cullen was at one time in communication with Quantrill's Missouri Guerrillas. America's most famous outlaw, Jesse James, was a member of this guerrilla group; and it has been said that Jesse and Cullen once swapped horses with each other. ...

During the spring and summer of 1863, Cullen and [his second wife] Martha [Foster of Sand Hill, Miller County, Arkansas, married 1 July 1862] lived on their farm and harvested a bountiful crop. But in the winter of 1863-64 Cullen grew restless and began to roam around Northeast Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. In March of 1864 while he was back in Perry County [Arkansas], he was captured by a lawless band that was variously known as the "Jayhawkers", the "Independent Rangers", and the "Partisan Raiders". These men were fierce, marauding highwaymen who pillaged and plundered at random, regardless of the race, color, politics, or previous condition of anyone whom they chose to assault. After they became convinced that Cullen Baker was not their enemy, these Jayhawkers allowed him to join them; and for several months Cullen enjoyed one of the consistently bloodiest moments in his life. In time he became their leader. ...

Cullen Baker suffered his greatest personal tragedy on March 1, 1866, when his second wife Martha died. Her winter ride to Arkansas had left her sick and weak. Her health had become so impaired as a result that she never fully recovered. When she died, Cullen blamed her death indirectly on the U.S. Army since in the rumor that Martha had heard, they were the ones who had supposedly captured him and caused her to set out to help him. His hatred of the federal occupation authorities began to know no bounds, and it might be said that the death of his beloved Martha was the final catalyst that spurred him to organize his "New Rebellion".

After Martha Foster Baker was buried, Cullen went mad with grief. He was inconsolable. Knowing that he could not care for his daughter Loula in such a state of mind, he sent her away to her grandparents' house where she was to remain until he died. Then Cullen had no one left. He wandered in the swamps and neglected the ferry [across Sulphur River]. He had always enjoyed whitling objects from wood, and many people had complimented his talent for carving squirrels, birds, and rabbits. So Cullen resolved to carve a life-size replica of his dearly departed wife and put every line in her beautiful face. He needed no photograph to remind him of what she looked like because he had a remarkable memory and ability to file away facts in his mind. So that is what Cullen did. Thomas Orr was to write later that in Martha's grave Cullen "appeared to bury his senses, his reason, and his remaining respect for the human race. A few weeks after her death he dressed her up in effigy and stood the figure upon the floor in his house. It represented his wife so perfectly that his neighbors, upon first beholding the image, almost sank under the astonishment and fear that the grave had opened and the dead come to live."

Cullen dressed the wooden statue in Martha's finest clothes and jewelry. He kept it that way for many days, practically worshipping it. One evening, though, he returned to his home and found that his house had been ransacked by the federal troops. The statue had been toppled over, and Martha's clothes and jewels stolen. Cullen flew into a furious rage and immediately rode into town in pursuit of the looters. Hearing that there were eighteen of them and that they were camped beside a road near town, Cullen asked for volunteers to help him attack them. Only one man agreed to go, and this man had only one arm; but the two of them succeeded in killing most of the federal troops and causing the rest to take flight in terror.

Cullen remained at Line Ferry only through the middle of the year, and it was during this time that he became involved in his feud with Thomas Orr. By the fall of 1867, however, Cullen had moved into the Sulphur swamps to organize a guerrilla militia. One man who became his closest associate was Matthew Kirby, also known as "Dummy" Kirby because he could perfectly imitate the grunts and gestures of a deaf mute. In addition to Dummy Kirby, other outlaws who joined the band were Ben Bickerstaff, Bob Lee, Ben Griffith, Lee Rames and his little brother Seth Rames, Jack English, and to a lesser extent George W. Barron. With the exception of George Barron, this group remained together until December 10, 1868, when Baker and Kirby split up with the others and went their own way. As for George Barron, he became a true friend of Baker in December 1866 by informing Baker of a trap set for him by Thomas Orr. However, in 1867 Barron was unwillingly drawn into a manhunt for Baker and Lee Rames; and when Baker heard about it, he turned against Barron with a vengeance. Cullen Baker could never forgive and forget; and on December 6, 1868, he hanged Barron from a high crossbeam on a gate at Barron's farm.

At his guerrilla camp headquarters in the Sulphur swamps, Cullen welcomed new recruits, had a sort of military discipline, and taught the art of heavy calibre weaponry. Practice was a daily ritual; and as a result, this group of men became the most proficiently armed desperado force ever seen on the American frontiers. It can perhaps be stated that nowhere else in American Western history was another such undertaking ever documented. ...

On September 29, 1868, the New York Tribune, which was one of the first American newspapers to refer to Baker's activities as the "New Rebellion", stated that the whole Ark-La-Tex was "in a terrible condition of lawlessness". Moreover, northern papers like the New York Tribune usually reported that Cullen Baker, the leader of the "New Rebellion", was a highly educated man of great intelligence and one who often quoted the classics, poetry, and drama. And in a letter to the Jefferson Jimplecute, Thomas Orr wrote that Cullen Baker was trying to trample the United States Government underfoot and unless stopped, would "plant his flag upon the capitol at Washington". ...

[On one occasion] Baker was riding his famous coal-black mare mule along the Linden-Boston road. This mule, incidentally, was an intelligent, hardy, fast traveller and was as faithful as a dog to Cullen, who rode this mule for the last three years of his life. As he was going down this highway on October 10, 1867, Cullen encountered a government wagon hauling supplies to the federal garrison at Boston. This wagon was strongly guarded by a squad of soldiers and their commanding officer. Cullen stopped to chat with the officer, and in the course of their conversation, the officer remarked, "We are on the look-out for Cullen M. Baker. We hope to meet him someday."

Baker smiled and said, "I have been anxious to meet that man myself."

Then they parted, and Cullen decided on the spur of the moment to attempt to capture the wagon train in spite of the heavy guard. He took a circuitous route through the byways of the forest, went by Douglassville, and got to a ferry across Sulphur River before the wagon train arrived. At the present time this former ferry location is a highway bridge known as "Hubbard's Bridge", and it is possible that this bridge was named after either Cullen's first father-in-law Hubbard Petty or his brother-in-law Hubbard Foster. Cullen cut a swath in the cane brake and lay in wait for the wagon train. When it finally passed him, Baker charged through the cane brake, dragging cane with his feet behind him and yelling, "Come on, boys! We've got 'em! Let 'em have it!" He was alone and unaided, but the men on the wagon train did not know this.

Cullen first shot the driver. When the soldiers saw the driver fall, they fled in fright from the "New Rebellion", leaving their caps, guns, and other equipment littering the ground. When Baker reached the wagon, there was not a living soldier around. The soldiers trod into Boston late that night, straggling in by two's and three's.

Baker hitched his own mule to the wagon, under the saddle, and forced a black man named Charles Johnson to drive the team to Line Ferry while he watched the wagon. Cullen distributed flour, bacon, and coffee to his neighbors along the road until these supplies were exhausted,. Then he unhitched the mules and burned the wagon. He gave Charles Johnson a suitable reward and later sold the mules in Louisiana. ...

By the age of sixteen, Cullen had already started to carouse and drink to excess. One afternoon in 1851, while on a spree at Forest Home [modern Bloomburg, just west of the Arkansas line], he directed his fun toward an elderly, gray-haired gentleman who by accident happened to be present at the time, minding his own business. Cullen began to abuse and verbally harass the old man in every conceivable manner. Knowing the nature of his young tormentor, the old man sat quietly and bore the insults; but this indifference incensed Cullen who obtained a rod and, mounting himself upon the old man's shoulders, rode him around the street like a horse, making him trot faster and faster, prodding him with the rod, tapping him on the head with a revolver, and cursing him foully. It would be an understatement to say that Cullen was "just another wild teenager". ...

Cullen Baker did not like black people. Once in 1862 he was riding through Sevier County, Arkansas, near the town of De Queen, where he met some emigrants who were travelling in a wagon. Among them was a young slave Negress whose looks Cullen did not much admire; so without any hesitation or threats, he raised his gun, shot her dead, and rode away, leaving her lying in the wagon where he killed her and making no apologies to her mortified master. ...

During this same period of his life, Cullen was informed of the remark by the lady in Douglassville that she would faint if she ever met him because "his very name makes me shiver!" So Cullen decided to pay her a visit. He bathed and dressed in his finest clothes and rode up to her house one day around noon. The lady had never seen Cullen before, but with true Texas hospitality she invited this handsome stranger to have lunch with her. He accepted, and they had an intimate tête-à-tête. They chatted amiably, and the lady was simply entranced with Cullen's humor and worldly sophistication. After lunch, Cullen lingered for a while in the parlor, discussing various matters with his hostess and other members of her household; and upon leaving, he thanked the lady for her courtesy and kindness to him. Then with a gleam in his cool blue eyes he told her who he was and rode away. Although the lady did not faint, she undoubtedly swooned a little bit and probably sat weakly throughout the long afternoon, contemplating her precious encounter with the legendary desperado.

The Douglassville lady was not the only woman in the Ark-La-Tex to idolize and long for the strong arms of Cullen Baker. Records of this are understandably scanty, but it has been related by a woman in Miller County [Arkansas] that her aunt Samantha Patterson was in love with Cullen Baker. "But nothing ever came of it, you know, because Aunt Samantha died when she was really quite young," the Arkansas woman reminisced. ...

Cullen and Dummy continued to roam until early January 1869 when they heard that Thomas Orr had not died. They decided to return to Arkansas to finish him off once and for all. On the night of January 5, they camped out at Forest Home, where as a youthful drunkard Cullen had raised so much hell. The following morning the two desperadoes bought a bottle of whiskey and rode the ten miles east to [Cullen's former father-in-law] Billie Foster's residence. They met Foster on the way, and Cullen informed Foster that he'd come back only for the purpose of settling some financial accounts that were left over from his marriage to Martha. The three of them headed towards Foster's farm. Thomas Orr was inside the house and saw them coming. He sneaked out the back door and hurried off to inform the rest of his "Band of Six" that Cullen had finally returned.

In retrospect, it is quite amazing that Cullen and Dummy actually attempted this journey to Arkansas. Surely they must have been intelligent enough to presume that Thomas Orr, Billie Foster, and Joe Davis would want to get revenge for their December looting and hanging spree; but perhaps they were over-confident and felt that their fearsome reputations would somehow protect them from men who were intrinsically weaker. Apparently, too, for once in his life Cullen failed to hear in advance about the plans that had been made to kill him. Perhaps with the departure of Rames and the others, Cullen and Dummy had no real friends left to afford them the protection and information that they had earlier always relied upon. Whatever the reason, by mid-morning Cullen and Dummy were resting on the lawn of the Foster home.

On the way to Billie Foster's, Cullen had broken his bottle of whiskey, so he asked for something to drink. As he and Dummy were sitting on the grass, Billie Foster went to the house for the whiskey. He returned and gave it to Cullen. The whiskey made Cullen drowsy, and he laid his head in his father-in-law's lap and fell asleep. Then Dummy Kirby said that he was hungry, so Foster went back to the house again and fetched him some spareribs. He had his wife Elizabeth take a pillow outside and place it underneath Cullen's head. Dummy Kirby ate heartily but remarked to his host that he hadn't eaten in so long, the food tasted bitter. He, too, became tired and fell asleep.

Billie Foster stretched out his arms and sighed. Then he saw the rest of the "Band of Six" ride up to the house. He signalled for them to approach very quietly. They stood there for a moment, staring down at the sleeping Baker and Kirby, and then they opened fire. Old Joe Davis was the first to shoot. He shot Cullen squarely through the skull. Both Cullen and Dummy were shot at least nine times each.

Cullen M. Baker died on January 6, 1869, at 11:00 AM. He was only thirty-three years old. His body and that of Matthew "Dummy" Kirby were taken to Line Ferry and from there to Jefferson for burial, where crowds of curious people lined the streets to view them as they lay on display in the U.S. Army garrison. When the mule-drawn wagon carrying Cullen's remains had earlier crossed the Stevenson Ferry on Black Cypress Bayou, young Edward Stevenson [uncle of former Texas Governor Coke Robert Stevenson], who remembered Cullen with much fondness, had glared at those who were transporting the body to Jefferson. "If Cullen could bat an eyelash," Edward sneered, "every damned one of you would run!"

For decades following Cullen's death, no one questioned the foregoing account of his murder. Then on Friday, June 11, 1926, the truth was finally revealed. Billie Foster had a son named Hubbard who was younger than his daughters Martha and Bell. In January 1869 Hubbard was only twelve years old; but in January 1926 at the ripe old age of sixty-nine, he stood before a church group three miles east of Bloomburg, Texas, and confessed to the following story.

On the morning of January 6, 1869, when his father Billie went into the house to get the whiskey for Cullen, Billie poured a heavy dose of strychnine poison into the bottle. Hubbard witnessed his father do this and was cautioned to keep quiet about it. Then Billie Foster carried the poisoned whiskey out to Cullen and took Cullen's head in his lap. A short while later he called to his wife to bring him the pillow. When Dummy Kirby asked for something to eat, Billie Foster went back to the house and liberally sprinkled his spareribs with strychnine; and the poison, not his hunger, caused Dummy to think that the food tasted bitter. Dummy, too, soon "fell asleep". When the "Band of Six" arrived later on, Billie Foster explained to them about the poison but asked them to fire into the bodies anyway so that he alone would not have to bear the full responsibility for their murders. Thus, in all probability Cullen Baker and Dummy Kirby didn't feel a thing as the bullets ripped their skulls because they'd already been dead for an hour.

Cullen Baker's turbulent, enigmatic, brief existence on this Earth can perhaps be neatly encapsulated by a cynical remark that Cullen made to Billie Foster in 1866 during the height of his quarrel with Thomas Orr. Regarding one of his criminal escapades, Cullen simply but astutely stated, "If I had killed Jesus Christ, it would not have raised half the excitement that this matter has."