On July 1, the retreating Federals finally stopped at the James River. Confident in their support from naval warships on that river, McClellan’s men selected Malvern Hill as a defensible position and invited a Confederate attack. Lee obliged with a series of deadly frontal assaults that resulted in a stinging defeat, and ended the campaign on a deceptively positive high for the Union army. On July 2, the Army of the Potomac arrived at Harrison’s Landing on the James River and commenced a six-week period of recovery and rehabilitation, before authorities in Washington transferred McClellan’s army back to the Potomac River in August.