Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 120.9 acres (48.9 ha), and as of 2014, had more than 50,000 interments.

The cemetery was established in 1863, by an order from Major General George Henry Thomas after the Civil War Battles of Chattanooga, as a place to inter Union soldiers who fell in combat.

Franklin Guest Smith, who served as secretary and member of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park Commission from 1893 until 1908, played an important role in preserving and expanding the cemetery, and a monument at the cemetery was dedicated in his honor.

After the war, the German government paid to have other POWs disinterred from Hot Springs National Cemetery and moved to Chattanooga.

However, due to a recent expansion project that will add the capacity for more than 5,000 interments, the cemetery is now expected to be available for burials until 2045.