Most of the Confederate dead were buried on properties owned by Fountain Branch Carter and James McNutt. Carter had the largest section of land occupied with interments. He lost his own son, Todd Carter, in the Battle of Franklin. The Carter-McNutt land was considered in temporary use as a cemetery. By the spring of 1866, the condition of the graves and markers on the Carter-McNutt lands were worsening. Many of the wooden markers were beginning to be hard to read, and some had been used as firewood at a time of shortages. The full identities of these men were at risk of being lost.