Alan,
Perhaps you are right, I have no idea and since the Confederate records are not complete it is hard to say. Iwould ask you to look at one of my uncles, Pvt. Nathan Oliver of the 7th Miss. Notice he is listed as "did not muster" but futher research shows he turns up in the 21st Miss. in Virginia. I have found no "official sanction' for this transfer. This is not the only man who came to or left the 7th Mississippi without orders. Could this be because this happened so early in the war?
GP