Formula to Retrieve Col number

In cell A3 I have entered C38
In cell A4, I would like to get the column number. In this case 3 as C is the third column.

(If I enter =Column( and click cell A3 and press ENTER, I get 1 as it thinks I want the column number for cell A3 rather than the entry C38!)

Can you please tell me how I might be able to do this?
Thank you.

Thank you very much. Column(indirect(C38)) worked perfectly.

I don't require this, but I see that Row(indirect(c38)) also works.