In Copperhead you have Major Pecker Bird using a number of metaphors for death including ‘promoted to glory’. As a Salvation Army Officer I would be interested to learn how you came across this phrase as I have only known it to be used by The Salvation Army for the death of one of its members. The Salvation Army didn’t exist before 1865 and the events in Copperhead predate this so it would be interesting to learn of earlier usage.
Doug Back