Video: 'Malvern Hill: Richmond Animated Battle Map'

(Tuesday, July 1, 1862, around 1:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. local time; part of the Seven Days Battles during the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War (Eastern Theater)) — The Battle of Malvern Hill,  taking place near the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, was fought today between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac,  resulting in a Confederate defeat.

Yet it still managed to halt Union general George B. McClellan’s offensive up the Peninsula and against the Confederate capital.

Video: 'Ken.Burns.The.Civil.War.3of9.Forever.Free.' (Battle of Malvern Hill at 0:07 and 20:54)

The battle occurred in stages: an initial exchange of artillery fire, a minor charge by Confederate Brig. Gen. Lewis Armistead, and three successive waves of Confederate infantry charges triggered by unclear orders from Lee and the actions of Maj. Gens. Magruder and D. H. Hill, respectively.  In each phase, the effectiveness of the Federal artillery was the deciding factor, repulsing attack after attack, resulting in a tactical Union victory.

In the course of four hours, a series of blunders in planning and communication had caused Lee’s forces to launch three failed frontal infantry assaults across hundreds of yards of open ground, unsupported by Confederate artillery, charging toward firmly entrenched Union infantry and artillery defenses. These errors provided Union forces with an opportunity to inflict heavy casualties.