In your historical era, how would someone prove their identity?

abctriplets · Jan 24, 2009

Inarticulate Babbler said:
I'm writing in the American Revolution, about the Continental Marines and Navy, and there's record of a man (Peter M'Tegart) that went AWOL, and his marine captain put out a reward for him in the Philadelphia newspaper. It described what he was wearing, that he was a darker skinned Irishman, his height and the clothes he wore.

Unless there is some immediacy in the capture of a wanted man, I always thought describing the clothes they wore never made that much sense. There was an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" that once described a wanted man as "hatless."

In your historical era, how would someone prove their identity?

abctriplets