Sample, the young confederate officer who had seen some of the worst fighting at Olustee, was ordered to deter any advance from Jacksonville.

On that same day an expedition of a Union cavalry of the 40th Massachusetts left Camp Mooney and went west to probe the Confederate position.

Because of the difficulty of the approach, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Sample ordered his force towards the creek in a piecemeal manner.

The Union forces met reinforcements from Camp Mooney and were ordered back to Cedar Creek but retreated again to their defense breastworks at Three Mile Run.

The camp name comes from George Mooney (Builder of the Confederate Gun Boat in Jacksonville, on whose land it was located.