Civil War era passwords.

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Forum Host
Joined
Aug 25, 2012
Passwords were used during the Civil War, but who picked the passwords?

When I was in the military, you looked up the passwords daily in a code book. Every soldier with a code book could look up the passwords for that day. However, during the Civl War did someone have to select an Army wide password each day? Perhaps the Corps picked their own paswords. I kind of doubt daily passwords came from Richmond every day.

I not even sure how passwords were transmitted to every soldier. Sometime divisions of a Corps were separated by some distance.
 
I would tend to think the Provost General, or Inspector General would be involved in setting passwords so the officer of the day could carry them out to the pickets, with updated orders. Wouldn't it depend on the area needed to be covered, and the season?
Lubliner.
 
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