
Malvern Hill - Richmond, VA
Posted by:
archway
N 37° 24.800 W 077° 15.209
18S E 300570 N 4143109
Placed by the Battlefield Markers Association, marker #22 is located on the ridge where Union artillery repelled the Confederate attack.
Waymark Code: WM81TD
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 01/11/2010
Views: 2
Even before the end of the Seven Days Battles, parts of the Union army had reached the safety of the James River and the protection provided by Union gunboats located off-shore. Gen. George B. McClellan, in fact, was at the James River and not present at Malvern Hill for the final battle.
Most of the engagements over the previous six days had ended in a stalemate. The Battle of Malvern Hill was different. The Union army had a better position with a good view of the area to the north. After an artillery duel in which the Federals disabled most of the Confederate batteries, Gen. Robert E. Lee ordered his infantry to charge the Union line. The results were disastrous - the Confederates were repulsed by artillery fire and got no closer than 200 yards to the Union line.
"It wasn't war; it was murder." – Confederate General D.H. Hill
Malvern Hill – Confederate Assault
Up the face of this ridge and through the meadow to the left J.B. Magruder's troops charged the Federal positions on the crest, around the Crew House, July 1, 1862. D.H. Hill's charge was to the right, on both sides of the Willis Church Road.
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About the Battlefield Markers (Source: National Park Service):
This is one in a series of 61 markers erected beginning in 1925 to identify the battlefields around Richmond. The tablets were the work of the Battlefield Markers Association, a group of historians committed to commemorating the Richmond battlefields. Most prominent among the association's members was Dr. Douglas Southall Freeman, the eminent biographer of George Washington and Robert E. Lee. The work of Dr. Freeman and the Association ultimately led to the purchase of battlefield lands and the establishment of Richmond National Battlefield Park in 1936.