Richmond Battlefield

The Battle of Malvern Hill was the last in the weeklong series of engagements in 1862 known as the Seven Days battles. General George B. McClellan's Union army, having been maneuvered away from its base at White House Landing east of Richmond, sought the shelter of a new position on the James River. Having reached the river, his army turned back north and on July 1 confronted the pursuing Confederates here at Malvern Hill. Less wooded in 1862, this hilltop with its steep sides provided its defenders with both protection and extensive fields of fire. From here a line of Union artillery, supported by infantrymen, repulsed a long series of assaults launched up the hill by the men of General Robert E. Lee's Confederate army. During the night McClellan's soldiers moved southeast, toward their new base at Harrison's Landing. Although it lasted less than half a day, the Battle of Malvern Hill extracted a deadly toll from its participants. More than 8,000 men fell killed and wounded here. The national battlefield park contains sites relating to three separate events of the Civil War: the Seven Days Campaign of 1862, the Overland Campaign of 1864, and the late-war fighting north of the James River.

Virginia · United States