 Several farms were positioned near Malvern Hill . Roughly 1 @,@ 200 yards ( 1 @,@ 100 m ) north of the hill were the Poindexter and Carter farms . Between the two farms was a swampy and thickly wooded area that made up the course of Western Run . The largest in the area was the <unk> family 's farm , usually called the Crew farm for a former owner , situated at the western side of the hill . About a quarter of a mile due east of Malvern Hill was the West farm . Between these two farms lay the Willis Church Road , which some locals called the Quaker Road . This road also ran past the Malvern house , the hill 's namesake , which was perched atop the southern edge of the plateau . " It was , altogether , an exceedingly formidable position " , wrote historian Douglas Southall Freeman . " Had the Union engineers searched the whole countryside below Richmond , they could not have found ground more ideally set for the slaughter of an attacking army . " 
