through letters written home
With my own son in the Army, I have learned a lot about what soldiers want in a letter from home. I've written a detailed list of important details to put in your letters. Please read the article in the link below.
Usually the officers rank is abbreviated such as LT for lieutenant. As for naval officers in general I have seen it written USNO but it would have to be used in specific content to make sense to someone.
By the use of morse code and written telegrams
Yes. This was just about the only way they had of keeping in touch with the people at home. Many Civil War companies on both sides were enlisted of men all from the same town, so letters to or from home often contained news of interest to other men or their families back home. Men who could not read or write were common, and there are countless stories of these men when in hospitals dictating letters to nurses to send to the people at home. When they were well and with their units, they'd get a friend who could write to pen their letters for them. The only thing that slowed down Confederate letter writing was a severe shortage of paper in the last year or two of the war. Envelopes might be completely unobtainable, and in that case the paper of the letter was folded, just like it was going to be put into an envelope, and the address written on the back. Some of the letters that survive are amazingly literate and moving, considering the scant educational opportunities most of the farm boys who were the vast majority of both armies had enjoyed when they were boys. But then, consider the beauty of Lincoln's writing and speeches, and the fact that Lincoln learned to write using the end of a burnt piece of wood from the fireplace to copy letters onto a shovel blade, before the flickering fire, and never had more than a few months of "blab school" in his entire life. Many people read everything they could get their hands on, and became literate in this way.
Nordin Yusof has written: 'Little Sandhurst' -- subject(s): Biography, Soldiers, Officers, Malaysia, Malaysia. Tentera Darat 'Space warfare'
Lucille Ricks has written: 'A Buffalo soldier's legacy' -- subject(s): African American soldiers, Biography, Officers, United States, United States. Army
By reading the letters written by the soldiers, their diaries and the articles and memories published by journalists, eyewitnesses, nurses, surgeons, officials., etc.
Only a small minority of people were able to write at all and most of the surviving letters are from Egyptian royalty to the royal families of neighbouring countries - but these would have been dictated and written by scribes. Other letters are in the form of official reports from officials or army officers, again written by scribes. These letters were always written in hieratic script rather than hieroglyphs.
Tadamichi Kuribayashi has written: 'Picture Letters from the Commander in Chief' -- subject(s): Correspondence, Iwo Jima, Battle of, Japan, 1945, Japan, Japan. Rikugun, Officers
Helen Tilden Wild has written: 'Medford in the Revolution. Military History Of Medford, Massachusetts. 1765-1783. Also List Of Soldiers And Civil Officers, With Genealogical And Biographical Notes'
Carmen Leigh Hiner has written: 'Letters to Sparky' -- subject(s): American Personal narratives, Correspondence, Love-letters, Marine Corps spouses, Officers, United States, United States. Marine Corps, World War, 1939-1945
John A. Stanly has written: 'Claims of deceased officers and soldiers' -- subject(s): Pay, allowances, Confederate States of America, Civilian relief, Claims, Confederate States of America. Army, History
through letters written home
Charles Molloy has written: 'The half-pay officers' 'The half-pay officers, 1720'
Michele Hunter Mirabile has written: 'Your mother wears combat boots' -- subject(s): Biography, Anecdotes, Armed Forces, Military life, Officers, Airmen, Women sailors, Women and the military, Women soldiers
Emma Sweeney has written: 'As always, Jack' -- subject(s): Correspondence, Navy spouses, Military Air pilots, United States. Navy, Officers, United States, Love-letters 'Perennials' -- subject(s): Perennials