Baker was notorious for his fiery temper and for fighting in saloon brawls. During one fight, he was knocked unconscious by a man named Morgan Culp, who hit him in the head with a tomahawk. This seemed to have shocked him into behaving, and it calmed his temper at least for a while. Baker has also been described as a gunfighter, though his preferred weapon was a double-barreled shotgun.
Friday, December 10, 2021
Cullen Baker
Cullen Montgomery Baker (June 23, 1835 – January 1869) was a Tennessee-born desperado whose gang terrorized Union soldiers and civilians in Northeast Texas, Southwest Arkansas, and Northwest Louisiana during the early days of the American Old West. His gang is alleged to have killed hundreds of people in the years following the American Civil War, though these numbers are probably inaccurate, and the actual number is between fifty and sixty.
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Definitely one of the most hate-filled violent m'effers in the history of the Old West.
ReplyDeleteMeaner than John Wesley Hardin. Those counties in NE Texas and SW Arkansas aren't as mean as they used to be. Unless you get too far in the bottoms. Roads and cars, you can still get out. Talking with a lady in Red River County a bunch of years ago, I mentioned a place I had been to get a story, she said, "Oh, you need to be armed you go there." The area was sparsely settled, grown up a bit since last logged over, trailer houses far apart and a distance from the dirt road. It was OK, though. I was a newspaper reporter, not a sheriff's deputy. Choctaw and McCurtain counties in SE Oklahoma are similar. Some places you just don't go.
ReplyDeleteMy GGG grandfather. Some Bakers are still mean as hell when drinking.
ReplyDelete