Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli meet Gandalf the White in Fangorn Forest on T.A. 3019 March 1 (S.R. 1419 Rethe 1), which also happens to be Aragorn’s 88th birthday! Then they set out for Edoras:
They rode on through sunset, and slow dusk, and gathering night. When at last they halted and dismounted… The night was barred with long clouds, fleeting on a chill wind, when they arose again. Under the cold moon they went on once more, as swift as by the light of day.
Hours passed and still they rode on… The miles went by. The waxing moon sank into the cloudy West.
A bitter chill came into the air. Slowly in the East the dark faded to a cold grey.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers, “The King of the Golden Hall“
At dawn on this date, Frodo and Sam, guided by Gollum, begin the passage of the Dead Marshes. Later that night they seem to hear “a long wailing cry” that makes them shiver, and then:
The night became less dark, light enough for them to see, or half see, shapeless drifts of fog, curling and twisting as it rolled over them and passed them. Looking up they saw the clouds breaking and shredding; and then high in the south the moon glimmered out, riding in the flying wrack.
For a moment the sight of it gladdened the hearts of the hobbits; but Gollum cowered down, muttering curses on the White Face. Then Frodo and Sam staring at the sky, breathing deeply of the fresher air, saw it come: a small cloud flying from the accursed hills; a black shadow loosed from Mordor; a vast shape winged and ominous. It scudded across the moon, and with a deadly cry went away westward, outrunning the wind in its fell speed…
And then it was gone, flying back to Mordor with the speed of the wrath of Sauron; and behind it the wind roared away, leaving the Dead Marshes bare and bleak. The naked waste, as far as the eye could pierce, even to the distant menace of the mountains, was dappled with the fitful moonlight.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers, “The Passage of the Marshes“
They all fell and cowered from the “shadow of horror”. After it passed Frodo and Sam got up, but Gollum would not.
‘Wraiths!’ he wailed. ‘Wraiths on wings! The Precious is their master. They see everything, everything. Nothing can hide from them. Curse the White Face! And they tell Him everything. He sees, He knows. Ach, gollum, gollum, gollum!’ It was not until the moon had sunk, westering far away beyond Tol Brandir, that he would get up or make a move.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers, “The Passage of the Marshes“
The moon would have reached its zenith high in the south an hour or two past sunset on this date, and it would set two or three hours past midnight. I was pleased to find the artwork above by Mariët Theune, where the artist got the moon phase right, and it looks almost exactly like the same shape as the moon in my Stellarium screenshot below! Look for this same kind of moon any time before midnight tonight (2021 February 20)!
The Shire Reckoning Project 