Thanks for the correction. I'd overlooked the Ensign rank as I'd always thought it to be the lowest of Officer's ranks. Now I see it was established March 64' and then abolished a year later, with pay as a 1st Lt.

“From 1812 through the Civil War, the responsibility for carrying the colors rested with the sergeants selected from the line companies. On 5 March 1864, however, the Confederate War Department published the act of Confederate Congress which reinstituted the rank of ensign, ‘whose duty it shall be to bear the colors of the regiment, but without the right to command in the field.” Three months later this privilege was extended to battalions as well as regiments. The problems posed by this position caused Congress to reconsider its earlier enactment, and on 25 March 1865, the rank of ensign was abolished…”

.....

When the office of ensign was abolished two interesting things transpired: one, ensigns were approved, based upon recommendation, by the president, but when the office was abolished, the commanding officer of the regiment got to pick the color bearer from men under his command; and, two, though no longer an officer, the color-bearer still received the pay of a first lieutenant. (ORs, Ser. 4, Vol. 3, p.1167)

http://michaelchardy.blogspot.com/2009/07/ensign-v-color-guard.html