Battle of Malvern Hill - Aftermath

Aftermath

D.H. Hill wrote afterward in a postwar article, "It wasn't war; it was murder." Lee's army suffered 5,650 casualties (versus 2,214 Union) in this wasted effort, but continued to follow the Union army all the way to Harrison's Landing. On Evelington Heights, part of the property of Edmund Ruffin, the Confederates had an opportunity to dominate the Union camps, making their position on the bank of the James potentially untenable; although the Confederate position would be subjected to Union naval gunfire, the heights were an exceptionally strong defensive position that would have been very difficult for the Union to capture with infantry. Cavalry commander Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart reached the heights and began bombardment with a single cannon from Capt. John Pelham's artillery. This alerted the Federals to the potential danger and they captured the heights before any Confederate infantry could reach the scene.

Malvern Hill ended the Peninsula Campaign. When McClellan's army ceased to threaten Richmond, Lee sent Jackson to operate against Maj. Gen. John Pope's army along the Rapidan River, thus initiating the Northern Virginia Campaign. After reporting to the Union authorities in Washington that a further advance on Richmond was hopeless, McClellan's army was slowly transferred to northern Virginia to reinforce Pope.