June 8, 1862 – In Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, a portion of Major General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson's Confederate army met a Federal advance from the northwest while Jackson faced a separate Federal threat from the northeast.
By the morning of the 8th, Major General Richard Ewell's Confederates were at Cross Keys, while Jackson was with the rest of his force outside Port Republic, three miles south, where the North and South rivers merged to form the Shenandoah River. Two Federal forces were converging on the Confederates: Major General John C. Fremont's from the northwest, and Brigadier General James Shields's from the northeast. Neither force could support the other due to swollen rivers and burned bridges.
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