Given the two different scenarios for enlistment that Gerald described, the place of enlistment suggests this man entered the army the second way. If he had been simply picked up by a conscript officer, he would have been among a group of men taken to camp of instruction in North Carolina. The Confederate government established two in the state. Date and place of enlistment would be there, with subsequent assignment to a North Carolina infantry command.

Date and place of enlistment with the army (the Army of Tennessee being at Dalton GA during the winter of 1863-64) means the man was inducted there. Boys who just came of age, older men wanting to avoid conscription and voluntary reenlistments frequently have date and place of enlistment with an actual military command. The enrolling officer may be the regimental commander, a further hint along those lines.

The late date of enlistment and the man's age tells us that the man didn't freely volunteer. As Gerald described, he accepted the best of a limited set of choices available. Today it would be a bit like settling with the IRS before they acquired your bank account and property.

As for the government taking care of military gravesites, which government did your ancestor serve? If I'm not off track, that government went out of existence by May of 1865. The Federation didn't take any helpful interest in those men or their graves for many decades after the war.