Regarding the issue of color bearers being designated as "Ensign." I have seen muster rolls through the end of 1862 for the regiments I am most familiar with -- 42nd Va, 48th Va., and 50th Va -- sometimes listing Ensign Sergeant and Ensign Corporal to designate members of the regimental color guard. Also, on 5 March 1864, General Order 29, issued by the CS Adjutant and Inspector General Office, published the act of the Confederate Congress creating the position of Ensign in regiments. Congress had approved the act on 17 February 1864. The act allowed President Davis to appoint in each regiment an officer (having the rank, pay and allowances of a 1st Lt, but without command authority) whose duty it was to carry the regimental colors. At least in the 50th Va, efforts were made to have a soldier appointed as Ensign, and Joseph H. Pickle, who had been the regimental color sergeant at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, was promoted to Ensign on 28 April 1864, with a 20 April 1864 date of rank. Pickle was killed in action at the Wilderness on 5 May 1864.