The "farcical" performance of the Confederate artillery allowed the Union artillery to dominate the battle.
The Confederate artillery, taking advantage of the high ground north of Malvern Hills, Robert E. Lee ordered two "batteries", large artillery batteries, to support the left and right flanks of the army. Lee believed that the fire from these massive cannons would focus on the heart of the Confederacy and weaken the Yankees' ability to fend off the oncoming assault infantry. After a week of hard marching and maneuvering, the new Confederate commander, Robert E. Lee, decided to attack McClellan full-on at Malvern Hill, where the Union general had massed his artillery. His assault was piecemeal, however, and bloodily repelled, prompting Confederate general D. H. Hill to remark that it was not war, it was murder. The Confederate artillery deserves to be one of the facts about the Battle of Malvern Hill.
During the Confederate artillery campaign, unfortunately for the Confederates, logistical problems prevented all but a small part of Lee's artillery from reaching the battlefield, and those guns were put in place. The hot-tempered divisional commander, General Daniel H. Hill, went so far as to call the performance of the Confederate batteries "the weirdest". Confederate artillery - up to 40 cannons concentrated in the center of the Confederacy's position - quickly suppressed the Rebel counterparts. With Confederate guns no longer the primary factor, Yankee gunners turned their attention to the line of gray-clad infantry advancing up the slopes of Malvern Hills, thereby dominating the battle.
