Hill's division had been drawn again into the main operation and followed the Federal line of retreat to Malvern Hill with Huger and Magruder on their right.
Lee 's other divisions under Magruder, Huger and Holmes were to defend the lines which covered Richmond from the east, and so prevent McClellan effecting a counterstroke.
At the outbreak of the Civil War the city was abandoned, and the navy yard was burned by the Federals in April 1861; Norfolk was then occupied until the 9th of May 1862 by Virginia troops, first under General William Booth Taliaferro (1822-1898) and later under General Benjamin Huger (1806-1877).