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For the next ten days, Baxter later recalled, he and the 20th Mississippi were under almost constant fire from the Federals. Moving south toward Atlanta after the three-day engagement at Resaca, Johnston?s retreat route lay through a wide and exposed valley. Sharp skirmishes occurred daily. Baxter was in fights at Calhoun, Adairsville, and Cassville, but the real battle for him and his fellow Confederates came late in May at and around New Hope Church, a small rural church and community a few miles northeast of Dallas, Georgia.
Johnston had concentrated his forces in the broken Allatoona heights south of the Etowah River in the hope that Sherman would attack there. Sherman had other plans and swung his troops to the west in another of his famous flanking movements. Johnston?s cavalry discovered what the Federals were doing, and the Confederate commander moved west and dug in four miles northeast of Dallas, near the church that gave the subsequent engagement its name. Fighting began on May 25 and continued through the 28th. The outcome was not decisive; the heavy losses were about the same on each side, approaching 3000 for both North and South. Baxter found himself in the center of a distinguished front attack by Loring?s Division, but its success could not be exploited.
With virtually a stalemate prevailing between Johnston and Sherman, the latter decided on June 2 to start shifting his forces back east toward the railroad. Johnston was not about to be caught off guard, and he moved his forces east in parallel with Sherman?s move. At Marietta, the largest town immediately northwest of Atlanta, he made a concentration of his forces. The mountainous terrain west and north of Marietta held great advantages for a defensive stand, and Johnston exploited these advantages to their utmost. In the center was Big and Little Kennesaw Mountain. His left flank was initially anchored at Lost Mountain, his right at Brush Mountain. He established an advance post to the north at Pine Mountain.
During most of June Pvt. Baxter engaged in sharp fights throughout the Marietta region - Lost Mountain, Brush Mountain, Pine Mountain, and others. Adams? Brigade and the 20th Mississippi were constantly being shifted as Sherman sparred with
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