Thanks Josh. I actually did read that 47th VA website at an earlier date, but unfortunately it did not answer my questions. Nevertheless, I think it is a great website, and does a first-rate job of teaching several things about the Color Guard and gives very smart, realistic, and pragmatic suggestions how to go about caring for the colors during reenactments.
Thanks also for the news about the 3rd senior Company Commander commanding the Color Company. I never knew that the order of company commander seniority had anything to do with the determination of the color company.
To your point of the 5th Company being the Color Company, not the 3rd as I had mentioned, you say you are identifying the 5th Company as per the "re-numbering" of the companies after they have been brought onto Battalion line of battle, as per Hardee's/Casey's manual, correct? Once on the line, the right-center company does indeed become known as the 5th Company based on the numbering of the Companies from the Right Flank of the Battalion to the Left Flank (10th, 9th, 8th, 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st). The Color Guard is thus posted on the left flank of the 5th Company so as to be in the center of the Battalion. Allow me to clarify myself when I say that, when I was referring to the 3rd Company as being the Color Company, I was referring to it before the "re-numbering" of the Companies in the Battalion's line of battle. The Color Company is, by Hardee's/Casey's manual, the third Company to come onto the Battalion's line of battle. The first Company posts itself on the Right Flank of the line, and the second Company posts itself on the Left Flank of the line; the third Company, with Color Guard, then posts itself in the Right-Center of the Battalion's line. I should have made myself more clear on how I was referring to the various companies, and I apologize for any confusion I may have caused.
Is the lettering of the Companies (A-I and K) based on the Company Commander's seniority as well? If so, then the 3rd ranking Company Commander would command Company C, thus making Company C the "Color Company", correct?
This is a fascinating subject, and I welcome other responses to my original questions as well as to my follow-up question above. Thanks!