The first prisoners were brought to Andersonville in February 1864. During the next few months, approximately 400 prisoners arrived each day until, by the end of June, some 26,000 men were confined in a prison area originally intended to hold 10,000. The largest number held at one time was more than 32,000 in August 1864. Handicapped by deteriorating economic conditions, an inadequate transportation system, and the need to concentrate all available resources on its army, the Confederate government was unable to provide adequate housing, food, clothing, and medical care to the Federal captives. These conditions, along with a breakdown of the prisoner exchange system, created much suffering and a high mortality rate.
Card files exist on most of the survivors of the prison.
The files contain a listing of the dead from most of the Civil War prisons, both North and South. Andersonville has been a national cemetery since 1865 and is considered a working cemetery with two to five funerals a week. Conditions for burial are that the individual must be an Honorable Discharged Veteran having completed 180 days of active duty, a reservist who has completed twenty years of service, the spouse and dependent children under eighteen years old. Information on these modern burials is also available. 1, Box 800, Andersonville, GA 31711.