Travel Restrictions

The Confederate implemented a travel pass system on April 12, 1862. Any person traveling between states had to bring a brown booklet with them. Spy activity was rampant on both sides of the conflict, and the Southern soldiers struggled greatly with desertions. Several able-bodied males were imprisoned for not having them on hand, despite the fact that they were only utilized for train passengers because foot and privately-owned vehicle travel were not similarly prohibited.

This was the Confederacy's most unpopular restriction on freedoms out of all of them. The primary complaint was that the requirement reminded people too much of the documents that slaves had to carry with them when they went on trips with their masters. The fact that the Union was so lenient about travel permits—not even needing them for those traveling from the South until 1863—certainly didn't help