The Battle of Malvern Hill

The earliest Confederate attacks on this part of the battlefield came from across Western Run, a stream several hundred yards to the northeast. Men from Couch’s division stopped these attacks without great exertion, but ammunition dwindled and Confederate troops began to accumulate on the edge of the hill. General Couch called for reinforcements and received six fresh regiments. Two of them, under the supervision of twenty-seven-year-old Francis C. Barlow, established a line of battle here in the open field just to the right of this road, and they were soon joined by two other regiments from Daniel Sickles’s Excelsior Brigade of New York City. Colonel Nelson Taylor’s 72nd New York approached the front lines along the farm lane, and H. C. Ford of the 72nd New York Infantry recalled reaching the field, relieving the 7th New York Regiment, and pouring in a hot fire as men fell all around them while they kept firing as fast as possible.

Virginia · United States