Joshua Baker, often called Col. Baker, was an American soldier, "Kaintuck" boatman, merchant, slave trader, and politician. In the late 18th century he fought Indians in pioneer Kentucky and Tennessee, and the Northwest Territory, and participated in the 1799 Kentucky constitutional convention. By 1800 he was a flatboat man and slave trader, toting goods, livestock, and people down the Mississippi River to New Orleans and Natchez markets. He was robbed by a famous highwayman on one return trip up the Natchez Trace. At the time of the Burr conspiracy, the acting territorial governor assigned him to reoccupy Fort Adams with a small force and lie in wait for Aaron Burr's flotilla. He served on the Mississippi territorial legislative council from 1806 to 1809, and eventually got into a feud with the territorial governor Robert Williams. He relocated to the Attakapas district of Louisiana around 1810 and had a plantation there. He led a Louisiana militia regiment and fought alongside John Coffee at the Battle of New Orleans. Baker died suddenly in Nashville in 1816.
- Occupation
- military officer
