Welcome to the forum.
When I select a cell, and insert the = sign and select the cell I wish to be noted in the destination cell, I get the column and row designation of the selected cell.
That is how it works. What did you think you'd get? When the formula is evaluated, the cell will be filled with whatever is in "e2" (your example).
Also, when I drag the autofill handle, it automatically increments the value by 1. any ideas?
What do you mean by "drag the autofill handle?" I have no idea what that means, sorry.
EDIT: If by "drag the autofill handle" you mean that you copy the formula to the next cell, that, too, is how it works. IF you want to point to "e2" and ONLY to "e2" you have to put it this way: "$e$2" The "$" is an indicator that the reference is absolute, not relative. Otherwise, if you enter "=e2" in one cell and copy it to the cell below, it becomes "=e3" because the reference is relative, i.e., so many cells over and so many cells up. The "$" says to ignore the relative and always pick column "E", cell "2"