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 kasnije navodi kako je Kavagučijev juriš na greben u rujnu bio odlučujući tijekom cijele kampanje, te kako je postojala sumnja u njegov ishod, "mi bismo se našli u jednom značajno lošijem položaju."