Confederate Passports.

[Waterloo50]

I was reading an article about the Chunky Creek train crash which happened close to a confederate camp (John W Pierce's 1st Choctaw Battalion). The accident was widely reported but one newspaper article in particular which reported on the accident told a story about an overheard conversation. It mentions passports, I wasn't aware that confederate citizens had to carry passports with them. Who were the passports for and why? Judging by the overheard conversation, passports must have been viewed as a necessary nuisance, was there a penalty for not carrying a passport?



Conversation heard on Meridian and Jackson Rail Road, at Chunkey River. Dramatis Personae—Civilian and Soldier:

Civilian—Terrible smash up! How many persons were drowned here?
Soldier—They got out twenty eight bodies.
Civilian—Think they are all out?
Soldier—No.Civilian (struck with horror)—Why don't they get them out?
Soldier—Trouble, sir, trouble! By G--, sir! They wouldn't have got the twenty eight out, but they wanted to see if they had passports, sir!
— Fayetteville Observer, Vol. XLIII., Fayetteville, North Carolina, March 23, 1863

 

[DaveBrt]

I was reading an article about the Chunky Creek train crash which happened close to a confederate camp (John W Pierce's 1st Choctaw Battalion). The accident was widely reported but one newspaper article in particular which reported on the accident told a story about an overheard conversation. It mentions passports, I wasn't aware that confederate citizens had to carry passports with them. Who were the passports for and why? Judging by the overheard conversation, passports must have been viewed as a necessary nuisance, was there a penalty for not carrying a passport?



Conversation heard on Meridian and Jackson Rail Road, at Chunkey River. Dramatis Personae—Civilian and Soldier:

Civilian—Terrible smash up! How many persons were drowned here?
Soldier—They got out twenty eight bodies.
Civilian—Think they are all out?
Soldier—No.Civilian (struck with horror)—Why don't they get them out?
Soldier—Trouble, sir, trouble! By G--, sir! They wouldn't have got the twenty eight out, but they wanted to see if they had passports, sir!
— Fayetteville Observer, Vol. XLIII., Fayetteville, North Carolina, March 23, 1863

Passports could be required by the Army or Departmental Commander for a particular area. They were issued by the Provost Marshall and had to be presented to conductors, ticket agents, train guards and the Provost Marshall at the destination point. They were not required everywhere and not required all the time. They were usually issued for a specific trip and they were not required for personnel traveling on orders or on leave (those documents taking the place of the passport).

Of course, passports were required for leaving the Confederacy.

 

[Waterloo50]

Passports could be required by the Army or Departmental Commander for a particular area. They were issued by the Provost Marshall and had to be presented to conductors, ticket agents, train guards and the Provost Marshall at the destination point. They were not required everywhere and not required all the time. They were usually issued for a specific trip and they were not required for personnel traveling on orders or on leave (those documents taking the place of the passport).

Of course, passports were required for leaving the Confederacy.

Thank you.
I've just read that the passport system was introduced to help prevent desertion.

'From the onset of hostilities, the exploits of drunken recruits prompted communities from Selma to Lynchburg to beg the Richmond government to impose martial law. Southern citizens resigned themselves to a passport system for domestic travel similar to the system of passes imposed on enslaved and free blacks before the war. These restrictive measures made commerce difficult and constrained religious activity. As one Virginian complained, "This struggle was begun in defence of Constitutional Liberty which we could not get in the United States." The Davis administration countered that the passport system was essential to prevent desertion from the army, and most Southerners accepted the passports as a necessary inconvenience, ignoring the irony that the necessities of national mobilization had changed their government from a states'-rights confederacy to a powerful, centralized authority.

 

[unionblue]

@Waterloo50 ,

You might want to check out the book, Southern Rights: Political Prisoners and the Myth of Confederate Constitutionalism, by Mark E. Neely Jr.

The passport system is described on pages 2-6, 81, 175 and 176 of the book.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

 

[Lubliner]

Permits and passes were mentioned in late 1864 regarding travel along the Mississippi and Red Rivers. General Order #23 on December 29, 1864 stated certain restrictions to be effective for keeping the enemy uninformed by traders, etc. Another General Order #80, including an Executive Order from Sept. 24, 1864 issued by General Canby, and to the Navy due to frequent misunderstanding involving trade from a Treasury Department Statement. This can be found in the O. R. N. Volume 27, Series 1, Page 6 for full details.
Lubliner.

 

[Gary Morgan]

I suspect that they may also have been used on railroads near Confederate prisons. I'm working on a chapter on the guards at Andersonville, and one is sent to be a passport agent on the railroad, and another writes to his wife who he hopes will visit him and he mentions that she needs to get a passport. My impression is that by having passports, they might be able to prevent an escaping prisoner from hopping on a train out of town and pretending to be a Confederate citizen.