Malvern Cliffs

Malvern Cliffs. . General John B. Magruder sent wave after wave of Confederate infantry against the tempting target of Union artillery. In 1862, many of those attackers had to negotiate a largely treeless landscape filled with small ridges and ravines that bisected their route. The ground both exposed them to deadly fire and temporarily sheltered them. Some of that difficult terrain can be seen here., The last fighting on this part of Malvern Hill occurred at dusk. Georgians, Virginians, Louisianans, and North Carolinians approached the high ground here and to your right front. Some got as far as the slave cabins before Union counterattacks ended the Confederate advance. Most Confederate survivors spent an uneasy night among the dead and wounded., "The last hill passed over, the Yankee canister killed our men in large numbers.... We ran up [to] the top of the hill and poured volleys into them and would run back under the hill and load.... Every time we would go to the top to fire, someone would fall." , Asa Winn, 3rd Georgia Infantry, (caption) , (background) Soldier-artist Robert K. Sneden depicted the Union position along open slopes as it appeared during the battle. Virginia Historical Society