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it is likely that Tilghman took a paternal interest in this 15-year-old foot soldier transformed into a mounted trooper.
On May 13, Grant?s forces, having defeated a Confederate brigade at Raymond, found themselves closing in on Jackson, the former state capital. Next day they took the city with little resistance (the Confederates were outnumbered about four to one), and immediately Grant turned his line of march westward toward Vicksburg.
On the same day, Pvt. Baxter and the rest of the mounted detachment under Lt. Col. Brown were ordered to report to Gen. William E. Baldwin at the Big Black River Bridge about IS miles east of Vicksburg. It is doubtful that Brown?s men got back to the Big Black; more likely they joined Pemberton?s forces now concentrated near Edwards Station, some five miles east of the river. Four miles east of this point lay Champion Hill, a commanding elevation with a crescent shape near the Champion plantation home. Atop this hill and along a line extending more than 2 miles to the south-west and covering the Jackson, Middle and Raymond roads, the Confederates mounted their defense. They had three divisions there prepared to stop the Federal advance toward Vicksburg. Grant was bringing up seven divisions. But at the beginning, the odds were almost in balance because of the superior position held by the Southerners on the high ground of Champion Hill.
About 7:15 a.m. on Saturday, May 16, Baxter heard the shots that signalled the first contact between the advancing Federals and Confederate skirmishers. It was about 10:30 before the battle began in earnest and Baxter found himself galloping back and fourth between Tilghman and Loring and Pemberton, carrying orders demanded by the constantly changing circumstances of battle. During that afternoon, Champion Hill and the vital crossroads changed hands three times, but after the third changeover, it became obvious that the Confederates could not stop the Federals.
Near the end of the fight, Gen. Tilghman was killed while directing fire of one of his artillery batteries, and the loss of this strong, effective brigade commander put a further burden on the Southerners. Certainly it came as a great personal loss to young
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