Established in 1862 under legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln, the New Albany National Cemetery is historically significant as one of the nation's original fourteen national cemeteries. During the American Civil War, New Albany served as a vital transportation hub and military hospital center for the Union Army due to its strategic location along the Ohio River. The cemetery was established to provide a formal, permanent resting place for Union soldiers who succumbed to wounds or disease in the city's makeshift hospitals, as well as those recovered from nearby battlefields and encampments. Over the decades, the cemetery's role expanded to inter veterans of subsequent American conflicts, ultimately serving as the final resting place for thousands of service members and standing as a solemn monument to the region's military heritage and the immense human cost of the Civil War.

Architecturally and landscape-wise, the 5.46-acre cemetery exemplifies the standardized design principles developed by the Union's Quartermaster General, Montgomery C. Meigs, in the post-Civil War era. The site features a highly ordered, park-like layout with symmetrical rows of upright marble headstones that embody the democratic ideals of the national cemetery system, where officers and enlisted men are buried without distinction of rank. Notable physical features of the property include a late 19th-century Second Empire-style superintendent's lodge, a formal limestone enclosing wall, a decorative wrought-iron entrance gate, and a classic iron rostrum used for commemorative services. These elements combine to form a remarkably preserved, cohesive commemorative landscape that reflects the federal government's early efforts to honor and memorialize its fallen defenders.