After the Battle of Camp Allegheny, Johnson also knew that the post was vulnerable to being flanked, and believed that Shenandoah Mountain, 40 miles to the southeast, was a better position to defend the Staunton to Parkerburgs Pike and the approaches to the Shenandoah Valley. Combined with the loss of men in the harsh mountain winter and the logistical challenges of keeping the remote mountain post effectively supplied, General Robert E. Lee agreed to let Johnson abandon the post in favor of Shenandoah Mountain on April 2, 1862. By April 6, 1862, Johnson's constructed Fort Edward Johnson at the site on Shenandoah Mountain, just 26 miles west of Staunton. However, the new fortification was soon abandoned on April 19, when Johnson left to rendezvous with the Confederate Army of Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson in advance of the Battle of McDowell.