The terrain of the battlefield made it difficult for those commanders to monitor events outside of their sectors, and McClellan's headquarters were more than a mile in the rear (at the Philip Pry house, east of the creek), making it difficult for him to control the separate corps.
Terrænet på slagmarken gjorde det svært for den enkelte korpschef at følge med i hvad der skete rundt omkring, og McClellans hovedkvarter lå mere end 1,5 km bag fronten (at Philip Pry house, øst for creeken), hvilket gjorde de svært for ham at styre de enkelte korps.