Chapter 9: the escape. Battle of Malvern Hill
- Enemy's New position. -- line formed. -- Pendleton's artillery. -- artillery combats. -- Whiting's report. -- Sumner seeks cover. -- Lee's reconnoissance. -- Lee misled. -- attack begun. -- Wright's report. -- Semmes and Kershaw. -- D. H. Hill's report. -- Toombs's report. -- casualties. -- Lee's report. -- Stuart shells a camp. -- McClellan writes. -- Stuart's report. -- attack abandoned. -- casualties. -- an artillery raid. -- the South side. -- our balloon.
Next morning (Tuesday, July 1) we began to pay the penalty for our unimproved opportunity of the day before. Of course, the enemy was gone, and about three miles down the road we came upon his whole army, now united and massed, upon Malvern Hill. This position is a high plateau stretching north from the lowlands along the valley of James River, over which it dominates in high steep hills, with Turkey Run on the west, and Western Run on the east. It is about a mile wide and, for two miles from the river, is open land, rolling and sloping toward the north where it ends in a heavy forest, intersected by marshy streams, with only one good road leading through the forest out upon the plateau. The Rev. L. W. Allen, already mentioned as on the staff of Magruder, was a native of this section, and had described to D. H. Hill its striking features, noting, —
‘its commanding height, the difficulties of approach, its amphitheatrical form and ample area, which would enable McClellan to arrange his 350 field guns, tier above tier, and sweep the plain in every direction.’Hill writes in the Century magazine: —
Jackson moved over White Oak Swamp on July 1, Whiting's division leading. Our march was much delayed by the crossing of troops and trains. At Willis's Church I met Gen. Lee. He bore grandly his terrible disappointment of the day before, and made no allusion to it. I gave him Mr. Allen's description of Malvern Hill and presumed to say,
