Ironically, the Confederates had received orders to withdraw a few days prior to the battle. But the failed Union assault convinced the Confederate higher command to reinforce Johnson's force in place at Camp Allegheny with five regiments through the remainder of the harsh winter of 1861–62. The weather was bitter snow was often knee deep, something the southern soldiers, mainly from Georgia and Virginia, were not accustomed to. The toll on the Confederate troops was brutal. On March 18, 1862, prior to the subsequent Battle of McDowell in Highland County (May 8, 1862,) Johnson, by then promoted to General, had roughly 4,000 men stationed at Camp Allegheny in Pocahontas County, but his effective strength was only 2,784, as nearly 1,200 men were sick or unavailable.