Many Union dead buried in this section were not killed in Andersonville prison. Buried hastily on battlefields in central and southwest Georgia, many were never identified because there was no system of military dog tags during the Civil War. A memorial at the north end of the drive honors all the unknowns in this cemetery. Of the 12,920 who died at Andersonville, only 460 have graves marked "unknown U.S. soldier." By 1868, more than 800 remains from surrounding counties were disinterred from common graves and brought to Andersonville, the nearest national cemetery, for reburial in pine caskets.