The National Cemetery was established in 1866. Most of the interments are of Union soldiers that were originally hastily buried on the Seven Pines battlefield in makeshift graves. The cemetery's are located near the center of General George B. McClellan's second and main defense line of the May 31, 1862. To help facilitate visitation, an electric street railway was built to the site by a company formed in 1888. The railway has long since been removed and most visitors now park in the cemetery's driveway next to the caretaker's lodge.