A.C.S

[CMWinkler]

I recently came across a Captain T. W. Watkins who had enlisted in Co. C, 45th Tennessee Infantry as a private who on January 1, 1862 was commissioned as a Captain, A.C.S. I suppose I've been remiss in learning about the logistics in the war (Amateurs study tactics, Professionals study logistics) but I don't recall seeing A.C.S before. Based upon my looking, it appears to mean Assistant Commissary of Subsistence, which I had not heard of either. I found this interesting and am continuing to study this aspect of service.

 

[unionblue]

When I was in the service I had the fortune to serve with a brand-new, female captain, whose prior duty had been as Anacronym Control Officer or ACO. Her job was on a division staff where she sat at a desk with a phone-book sized army manual and received phone calls on what a particular anacronym would stand for or mean. There were just so many that this was considered an important job position at the time.

The US Army had anacronyms for everything. I enlisted when I was 18, fresh out of high school and became embedded with this system, so much so, it gave me problems when I went to work for the US Postal Service.

During our orientation, our instructor was pointing out the various types of postal equipment we would be using to transport large amounts of mail from one place to another. He stated we were going over to observed some postal APCs at work. I thought to myself, "Wow! The US Postal Service has Armored Personal Carriers to move it's mail!" At least, that's what APC stood for when I was in the service. I was a bit let down to find that APC in the post office meant All Purpose Carrier, just a cart on wheels!

And there was a hundred page book of just Postal anacronyms too!

 

[Jimklag]

This is on the find a grave listing for a man who was Captain ACS.

During the Civil War, he served in the commissary department of the Confederate Army where he was given the rank of Captain.