Vandegrift later stated that Kawaguchi's assault on the ridge in September was the only time during the entire campaign he had doubts about the outcome and that had it succeeded, "we would have been in a pretty bad condition."
Vandegrift sagde senere, at Kawaguchis angreb på højderyggen i september var det eneste tidspunkt under hele slaget hvor han var i tvivl om udfaldet, og at hvis det var lykkedes "ville vi have været i en temmelig vanskelig situation."