on april 17, the weather cleared and banks started moving south towards harrisonburg. at about this time the strategic situation changed for the confederacy. general joseph e. johnston had moved to the peninsula taking 55,000 confederate soldiers to defend against mcclellan's 110,000 troops. confederate general richard s. ewell's division was now between johnson on the peninsula and jackson in the valley and could support either as the need arose. so jackson no longer needed to keep union forces in the valley from joining mcclellan, he now wanted to force them out of the shenandoah valley completely.