5fish
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This is from a gaming site... Travel Documentation in the American Civil war...
Link:https://arcdream.com/home/2011/04/travel-documentation-in-the-american-civil-war/
The American Civil War was a unique affair, fought between literate people of largely the same ethnic make up, over political arguments that only partially mapped to geography. Telling friend from foe when not in uniform was incredibly difficult. Nevertheless, both the North and the South saw the necessity of restricting the movement of its citizens lest freedom of movement gave aid to spies, saboteurs and smugglers. This was made even more difficult by the fact that the United States’ was founded on liberty, with certain rights and freedoms enshrined in the constitution.
Freedom of movement was not restricted until the front lines had defined themselves after the battles of Bull Run in Virginia and Wilson’s Creek in Missouri. Up until then, both sides figured the conflict would be a short, sharp affair with the rebellion crushed or secession succeeding by Christmas of 1861. The rich and powerful in Washington traveled to Manassas, Virginia to view the first major battle of the war as it unfolded (and helped clog the roads when the Union army routed). Prior to that, officers moved freely from any point in the North to the Southern states as they resigned their commissions in order to join secessionist forces. No attempt was made to stop this flow of trained military personnel or the important information about troop buildups and fortifications they took with them.
As the front lines formed, both sides saw the danger in unrestricted movement across the border, and both sides responded in the same way. In order to travel across the border, citizens needed travel passes, or “passports”.
A travel pass was a document signed by an official, usually the local provost-marshal. It was an officially printed document with the name of the person to whom the pass was granted handwritten in the appropriate place. The document declared the purpose of the trip and where the person was allowed to travel. These were presented for viewing to train conductors and to any military pickets that the person might come across. Confederate travel passes were printed on the cheap, locally produced brown paper that was in common usage due to shortages.
Passes were required by regular citizens who needed to cross the lines from North to South, or from South to North, in order to show that they were not spies or smugglers. Travel passes were also given to soldiers discharged from the army, captured soldiers who were paroled, and soldiers on leave (furlough), so that they would not be picked up as deserters.
Link:https://arcdream.com/home/2011/04/travel-documentation-in-the-american-civil-war/
The American Civil War was a unique affair, fought between literate people of largely the same ethnic make up, over political arguments that only partially mapped to geography. Telling friend from foe when not in uniform was incredibly difficult. Nevertheless, both the North and the South saw the necessity of restricting the movement of its citizens lest freedom of movement gave aid to spies, saboteurs and smugglers. This was made even more difficult by the fact that the United States’ was founded on liberty, with certain rights and freedoms enshrined in the constitution.
Freedom of movement was not restricted until the front lines had defined themselves after the battles of Bull Run in Virginia and Wilson’s Creek in Missouri. Up until then, both sides figured the conflict would be a short, sharp affair with the rebellion crushed or secession succeeding by Christmas of 1861. The rich and powerful in Washington traveled to Manassas, Virginia to view the first major battle of the war as it unfolded (and helped clog the roads when the Union army routed). Prior to that, officers moved freely from any point in the North to the Southern states as they resigned their commissions in order to join secessionist forces. No attempt was made to stop this flow of trained military personnel or the important information about troop buildups and fortifications they took with them.
As the front lines formed, both sides saw the danger in unrestricted movement across the border, and both sides responded in the same way. In order to travel across the border, citizens needed travel passes, or “passports”.
A travel pass was a document signed by an official, usually the local provost-marshal. It was an officially printed document with the name of the person to whom the pass was granted handwritten in the appropriate place. The document declared the purpose of the trip and where the person was allowed to travel. These were presented for viewing to train conductors and to any military pickets that the person might come across. Confederate travel passes were printed on the cheap, locally produced brown paper that was in common usage due to shortages.
Passes were required by regular citizens who needed to cross the lines from North to South, or from South to North, in order to show that they were not spies or smugglers. Travel passes were also given to soldiers discharged from the army, captured soldiers who were paroled, and soldiers on leave (furlough), so that they would not be picked up as deserters.
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