was much more successful in this than he was in procuring information for the use of the war department, although he prided himself considerably on his own performances as a spy, and upon several not unsuccessful secret service expeditions into the Confederacy that had been made by his directions, and in accordance with his plans.
I confess that I came into the presence of so formidable an individual with some degree of trepidation ; but I very soon learned to regard him as not half so ferocious as he looked, and as very far from being as difficult and dangerous a personage to deal with as he was made out to be. There is nothing like having a reputation for ferocity, and other terrible qualities, if you want to make people afraid of you, and Colonel Baker's reputation how gained it would be some what difficult to tell did him good service in exciting terror among those who were disposed to do things which it might not be pleasant for a government detective to find out.
Colonel Baker differed as much from General Winder in appearance as he did in other respects. Winder was a far more highly educated man, and he had all that peculiar polish of manners that can only be attained by education, and by constant association with refined and educated people. He was a rather imposing looking man, too, and a casual acquaintance with him was calculated to leave the impression that he was a very pleasant and good-natured old gentleman. Under his smooth exterior, however, was a deep scheming and far-reaching mind, and a hard and cruel disposition, and he was a much more dangerous individual to fall into the ill graces of than Baker. Baker was a man who, under some circumstances, I might have taken a genuine liking to ; but the more I saw of Winder the less I liked him, and the more I was afraid of him.
Baker's Appearance and Character.
Baker was a tolerably fair-looking man, after a certain fashion. He was a returned Californian, having resided in San Francisco for a number of years before the war, and having been a member of the famous vigilance committee which made such short work with the rogues of that city in 1856. He had the bronzed face and the wiry frame of a western pioneer, and his manners were marked by a good deal of far-western brusqueness. His hair was dark and thick, and he wore a full and rather heavy beard; but his eyes were the most expressive
