Beginning of part 2 War Demartment Custody of Andersonville Prison Records At the close of the Civil War Union officers seized the Confederate prison records at Andersonville and forwarded them to the War Department at Washington, DC. There, with a few exceptions, the records passed into the custody of the Office of the Commissary General of Prisoners and the Archive Office of the War Department. In August 1867 the War Department abolished the Office of the Commissary General of Prisoners and directed the transfer of its records and duties to the newly created Prisoners of War Division of the Adjutant General's Office. Over the next 25 years this division furnished information concerning Federal prisoners of war held at Andersonville and other Confederate prisoner-of-war camps to the Army Paymaster General, the Commissioner of Pensions, the Second Auditor of the Treasury Department, and other government offices; made reports and compilations; answered private inquiries; and investigated cases involving requests to correct the records of former Federal prisoners of war. To aid the Prisoners of War Division in its work, the Archive Office copied pertinent Andersonville records in its custody and sent the copies to the Prisoner of War Division. In June 1886 a War Department order directed the former Archive Office (since 1881 the Archive Branch of the Record Division in the Office of the Secretary of War) to transfer to the Prisoners of War Division original Confederate records in its custody which related to Federal prisoners of war. An act of May 9, 1892 (27 Stat. 27), and a War Department order of May 15, 1894, provided for the transfer to the Record and Pension Office of the War Department of all the records reproduced on this microfilm publication, including those which had been in the custody of the Surgeon General's Office. In 1904 the Record and Pension Office was consolidated with the Adjutant General's Office. The records remained in the custody of the Adjutant General's Office until transferred to the National Archives in November 1938. Records Relating to the Departure of Federal Prisoners Confined at Andersonville Reproduced on roll 1 of this microfilm publication is an original register recording the departures of about 30,000 Federal prisoners from the Confederate prison at Andersonville. The two volumes (vols. 2 and 3) comprising this register are arranged alphabetically (A-K and L-z) by the first letter of the prisoner's surname. From February to October 1864, these volumes served solely as a register of deaths at the prison with the entries under each letter of the alphabet arranged chronologically by date of death. Beginning in late October 1864, in addition to recording deaths at the prison, the volumes registered escapes, transfers, and exchanges of prisoners. All the entries for this period, October 1864-April 1865, are arranged alphabetically by initial letter of surname of the prisoner, but there is no further arrangement. The final entries under each letter of the alphabet do not include the date or the nature of the departure. The entries recording escapes, transfers, and exchanges of prisoners for the February-October 1864 period are intermingled among the October 1864-April 1865 entries and are listed together by nature of departure in one chronological sequence under each letter of the alphabet. For example, the entries for the 16 prisoners who escaped from Andersonville between February and October 1864 and whose surnames begin with the letter "S" are listed together under the letter "S" in volume 3. The entries in both volumes give the name, rank, unit (company and regiment), squad and mess number (beginning in September 1864) of each prisoner, and1 except for the entries at the end of each alphabetical breakdown, the date and nature of the departure. In addition, the place of transfer (Millen and Columbia, SC) or exchange (Atlanta and Savannah, GA, or Vicksburg, MS) is often given. The volumes contain many corrections of the spelling of names and of the designation of units made by War Department clerks, mainly in the 1870's and 1880's, as they sought accurate information in order to process pensions and other kinds of claims brought by or in the name of a former prisoner. Records Re1ating to Federal Prisoners Admitted to the Hosnital at Andersonville Filmed on roll 2 is the original hospital register of admittances (vol. 113) kept by Confederate authorities at Andersonville, GA, from February 1864 to April 1865. The entries in the register are arranged by hospital admittance number (1-17,873). The entry for each prisoner includes his name, rank, military unit, a brief description of his illness or injury ("complaint"), the date of his admittance to the hospital, and the date of his return to the prison, the date of his transfer, or the date of his death. A "remarks" column sometimes indicates the place of transfer ("Sent to Pest House," "Transferred to Savannah"), place of death ("Died in Quarters"), or other information ("Escaped") regarding the prisoner. Beginning in March-April 1864, the prisoner's squad and mess number are given. The name index (vols. 111 and 112) to the hospital register has been filmed immediately before it on roll 2. The entries in the two volumes (A-Mand N-z) comprising the index are arranged alphabetically by initial letter of surname of the prisoner and then numerically by his hospital admittance number. In addition to the page number of the register on which a prisoner's name can be found, each name entry includes the prisoner's rank, military unit, and hospital admittance number. In most cases, the entry also contains either the letter D, R, or E to indicate the disposition of the prisoner: dead, returned to prison, or exchanged. The first three volumes (vols. 16, 17, and 23) filmed on roll 3 of this microfilm publication comprise a variant copy of the Andersonville hospital register of admittances prepared from the original by War Department clerks sometime before 1876. Unlike the arrangement of the original register (vol. 113), the entries are arranged alphabetically by initial letter of surname of the prisoner and thereunder by hospital admission number. Volume 16 generally covers the period February-August 1864; volume 17, August-October 1864; and volume 23, October 1864-April 1865. Overlap of dates exists among the volumes for some letters of the alphabet. All the entries under the letters I, Q, U, and Z are recorded in volume 16; all the entries under the letters D, E, J, K, N, 0, P, R, T, V, and Y are registered in volumes 16 and Volume 23 contains only entries under the letters A, B, C, F, G, H, L, N, S, and W. Filmed at the end of roll 3 is an incomplete register of Federal prisoners confined at the prison hospital, August 1864-April 1865, arranged alphabetically by initial letter of surname of prisoner and thereunder chronologically by date of admittance to the hospital. Unlike the hospital register filmed on roll 2, this register (vol. 4) was maintained by post authorities at Camp Sumter and not by the hospital staff. The register was originally bound as two volumes: August-September 1864 and October 1864-April 1865. The first volume has no entries under the following letters of the alphabet: A, E, I/J, K, N-Q, and T-V. The entries in both volumes give the name, rank, unit, and mess and squad number of the prisoner. end of part 2