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The	first light	of dawn was	barely visible on Lake
Pontchartrain when the "Creole" approached the wharf at Milneburg east of Bayou St. John. Pvt. Baxter and the rest of the company, together with their baggage, moved ashore and boarded the Pontchartrain Railroad for the final leg of their trip to New Orleans. The Pontchartrain Railroad linked the Gulf Coast water traffic with downtown New Orleans, its terminal being near the Mississippi Levee at Elysian Fields and Chartres.
No	details are	available on	how long the company
remained in New Orleans or where it	was quartered during the
stay.	It is	known that	soon after their arrival, members of the
Adams Rifles paraded and were addressed by Judge _________________________
Walker of the New Orleans ^Delta^one of the local newspapers.
The next date of record is July 6, 1861, a hot Saturday in northern Mississippi. On that date in Corinth the Adams Rifles were mustered into the Confederate Army and became Company
E,	20th Mississippi Infantry. In the meantime the company had traveled north on three different railroads; the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern to Canton; then on the Mississippi Central to Grand Junction; and finally to Corinth via the Memphis & Charleston
At the formal mustering-in Marion Baxter continued to falsify his age (he would not be 14 until the 25th of September), just as he had at Handsboro. The mustering-in officer, Capt. Samuel E. Baker, did not question Pvt. Baxter?s statement that he was 18 years old.
The 20 Mississippi Regiment was, at this time, commanded by Col. Daniel R. Russell, Commanding Company E was Capt. Fleming W. Adams. His lieutenants included James B. Avant (1st), Edward N. Blackwell (2nd), and Richard G. Hopkins (3rd). Noncommissioned officers were these: sergeants, W. S. Champlin, W. H. Fleming, C. E. Taylor, C. F. McCallen, G. A. Ward; corporals, C. A. E. Blake, E. E. Richards, Jas. A. Heirn, and Louis
C.	Billingslea.
Following the mustering in of Company E. the regiment was assembled at Iuka, about 25 miles east of Corinth. From there Col Russell telegraphed Gov. John J. Pettus on July 17 that
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