John C. Carter
In the trenches
Mon Jul 30 16:02:50 2001


Jim...

I can only guess that "in the trenches" was a battlefield promotion and that by "order of General Lee" referred to a temporary assignment under a Special or General Order from Gen. Lee or from the Confederate Government. There were so many special and general orders going out, that it could have been for almost anything. If I had to bet, I would say it probably had something to do with the Provost Guard, since he had performed that duty before. With all of the desertions that were going on (including members of the Provost Guard) the Confederacy was hard pressed to find reliable members. Usually on the regimental muster, the men on Provost duty were listed as "absent" and then it was explained that they were on Provost Guard, say at Divisional Headquarters. However, I have never seen a reference for that saying it was, "by order of General Lee."

John