The troops filed past and Jackson said: "We will soon pass the Gap in the Massanuttons, and Shields cannot come out there ahead of us.

That danger is left behind." "What of the junction between Shields and Fremont, General ?" asked one of the older officers.
Jackson cast one glance at the somber heavens.
"Providence favors us," he said.

"The south fork of the Shenandoah flows between Fremont and Shields.

It is swollen already by the rains and the rushing torrents from the mountains, and if I read the skies right we're going to have other long and heavy rains.

They can't ford the Shenandoah and they can't stop to bridge it.