Baker also would have learned-if he did not already know-that in the army, even in the dragoons, many of the men were chronic drunkards and shirkers. No indications of disciplinary problems or extended illness involving Baker are found in company records. Baker probably had little time or inclination to visit the adjacent off post drinking sites known as “Sodom and Gomorrah,” or “Whiskey Creek,” nor spend time with the dissolute Winnebago and Minominee women found there. More experienced men from the company would undertake a series of assignments during the hard winter, including removing Winnebago Indians from the Neutral Ground, testifying at a murder trial, chasing deserters, and maintaining the peace during payment of annuities by Indian Agents.
Baker’s other winter duties would have been caring for his assigned horse, occasional guard duty, and fatigue details. It would have included dismounted and mounted drill and use of the dragoon weapons: pistol, carbine, and sabre.
There is no detailed record of Baker’s winter at Fort Atkinson, but likely it was spent learning the rudiments of Dragoon skills-the School of the Soldier and School of the Company. Company B and its long-time Captain, Edwin Vose Sumner, had just returned from a late summer’s typical campaign, marching northwest almost to the Canadian border, showing the flag, and encouraging peace among the Natives. The fort and its stone buildings, on the heights above the Turkey River, had been home to Company B of the First Dragoons since June 1842. From that river port the recruit party traveled another forty eight miles west, arriving at castle-like Fort Atkinson, Iowa Territory on November 25, 1845. Īfter a short stay in the recruit depot at nearby Jefferson Barracks, on November 13, 1845, Private Baker and seven other recruits were escorted up the Mississippi River to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin Territory, by the 1 st Dragoons Regimental Sergeant Major. Turner certified that Baker was entirely sober when he enlisted and of lawful age (twenty one). Recruiting officer 1st Lieutenant Henry S. Assistant Surgeon William Hammond certified that he was free of all bodily defects and mental infirmities. His enlistment papers indicate that blue eyed, dark haired, fair skinned Mathias stood six feet tall. On October 17, 1845, he enlisted in the United States Army.
Baker, a twenty eight year old clerk from Middlesex County, New Jersey, residing in a reasonably comfortable neighborhood in St Louis. Such is a Dragoon’s Life: Corporal Mathais Baker, Company B, 1st Dragoons, 1845-1849
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