Henrico in Henrico County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Artillery’s Terrible Effect
Richmond National Battlefield Park
| — | National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior | — |
Photographed by Bernard Fisher, September 6, 2011
1. Artillery’s Terrible Effect Marker
Malvern Hill is barely 900 yards wide here at its narrow crest, leaving room for only a small number of the nearly 200 cannon available to the Union army on July 1. The defenders placed between two and three dozen pieces of artillery across the hill and waited. When Confederate artillery appeared on opposite fields, the better-posted Union cannon blasted them into silence. Soon the gunners turned their attention to attacking Confederate infantrymen, firing with devastating accuracy into the unprotected masses charging up Malvern Hill’s gentle slope.
“As soon as they made their appearance from the woods, our artillery opened on them with terrible effect. The air over their heads was filled with the smoke of bursting shells whose fragments plowed the ground….Half way across the field, and already their ranks show many a gap….”(caption) One battery on the crest fired 1,392 rounds from its six cannon during the afternoon, demonstrating the remarkable intensity along the entire Union line.
Charles A. Phillips, 5th Massachusetts Light Artillery
Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
this page online
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, US Civil. A significant historical date for this entry is July 1, 1862.
Location. 37° 24.815′ N, 77° 14.879′ W. Marker is in Henrico, Virginia, in Henrico County. It can be reached from Willis Church Road (Virginia Route 156) 0.2 miles north of Carters Mill Road (County Road 606), on the left when traveling north. Marker is located in the Malvern Hill Unit of Richmond National Battlefield Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 9175 Willis Church Road, Henrico VA 23231, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Virginia’s Piedmont, in Central Virginia, and in the Richmond Metropolitan Area. It is also in the American South and specifically in the Upper South. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At
Photographed by Bernard Fisher, September 6, 2011
2. Malvern Hill Trail
Also see . . .
1. The Battle of Malvern Hill. Richmond National Battlefield Park (Submitted on September 7, 2011.)
2. Malvern Hill. Civil War Trust (Submitted on September 7, 2011.)
Credits. This page was last revised on September 29, 2024. It was originally submitted on September 7, 2011, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia. This page has been viewed 795 times since then and 18 times this year. Last updated on September 26, 2024, by Carl Gordon Moore Jr. of North East, Maryland. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on September 7, 2011, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.
