Nashville National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery

United States National Cemetery

"United States National Cemetery" is a designation for 146 nationally important cemeteries in the United States. A National Cemetery is generally a military cemetery containing the graves of U.S. military personnel, veterans and their spouses but not exclusively so...

 located in Madison

Madison, Tennessee

Madison, Tennessee is a neighborhood in northeast Nashville, Tennessee in the United States. It is incorporated as part of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County....

, a suburb of Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, in Davidson County, Tennessee

Davidson County, Tennessee

Davidson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2010, the population was 626,681. Its county seat is Nashville.In 1963, the City of Nashville and the Davidson County government merged, so the county government is now known as the "Metropolitan Government of Nashville and...

. It encompasses 64.5 acres (261,022.5 m²), and as of the end of 2005, had 34,637 interments.
At the end of the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, in July 1866, 45 acres (182,108.7 m²) were transferred to the federal government from land owner Morton B. Howell. In 1867 another 17 acres (68,796.6 m²) were acquired, and another portion was purchased in 1879 from J.