Manuscript note signed by George W. Ahl. [Hea]d Quarters, [Fort] Del[aware], 12 August 1864. 1 page, 4 x 5 in., Recipient to verso. 

"Countersign Tullahoma" by command of Brig. Gen. A.F. Schoepf, signed by George W. Ahl. 

Fort Delaware was originally a harbor defense fort on Pea Patch Island at the mouth of the Delaware River. During the Civil War, it was used as a prisoner-of-war camp, housing many Confederates captured at Gettysburg. Nearly 33,000 men had been held at the fort at the close of the war. 

Countersigns were passwords to be used between sentries and were unsurprisingly very useful to troops, especially for regiments like the 47th New York who were stationed in areas in close proximity to enemy forces.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Ephemera, Manuscripts, Documents, Espionage, Spies, Passwords]