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But the 20th Mississippi finally reached Lynchburg on August 20 - tired, dirty, probably hungry, certainly expectant of immediate enemy action. This expectancy was not fulfilled immediately, but Lynchburg, in the Blue Ridge foothills, had a lot of built-in excitement. At the time it was one of the largest supply and staging centers in the south and filled with Confederate troops - new arrivals, trainees, regiments under orders (or awaiting orders), plus the usual casuals and stragglers. Four-horse wagons pounded the streets, and the railroad sidings seemed too short to hold all the box cars waiting to be unloaded.
To Baxter, not yet fourteen years old, it was a scene of utter chaos. But in a few days the strangeness of the new situation began to wear off, and things began to sort themselves out. The regiment moved into the familiar tents, the individual messes began to operate as before, the grousing came on as strong as ever, and within a day or two no private soldier (including Baxter) could see much difference between Lynchburg and Iuka.
The next three weeks seemed the busiest Company E and Private Baxter had seen so far. They had, of course, been busy in Handsboro and New Orleans and Iuka, but the weeks in those spots had been given mainly to the ornerous duties of the private soldier - reveille and tattoo, flag ceremonies, parade with band music, and the never-ending inspections, fatigue details, guard duty, supply parties, and close-order drill. Now everyone in the Lynchburg camp discovered suddenly that this was a shooting war, complete with bullets that maimed and killed, and that the only defense (and offense) was a rifle/musket that could do the same thing.
Finally ordnance issued shoulder arms to Baxter?s regiment, and he found himself the proud possessor of a flintlock musket, converted to the more reliable percussion cap system. With the musket came a cartridge-box (for the bullets and paper-wrapped powder charges) plus a separate cap-pouch, both boxes being attached to his belt. (Later the soldiers would be issued the more accurate 50 calibre rifle which fired the legendary mini?-ball).
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