Springs, Dickison's regiment detoured four miles through Whitesville and caught the Massachusetts regiment at Jeremiah Halsey's Plantation, engaging in a skirmish that resulted in twelve Union deaths and Confederate victory. This skirmish is known officially as the Battle of Halsey's Plantation, but has also been referred to as the Battle of Big Gum Creek. The exact location of Halsey's Plantation is not known, but it was near the site that is currently Shadowlawn Elementary School on County Road 218. Among the repeated skirmishes between the 4th Massachusetts and 2nd Florida cavalries was a two-hour engagement whereby Dickison's troops rescued cattle that had been seized by Union troops, which local history refers to as the Battle of the Tiger Head. Decline and expansion Middleburg suffered from the Civil War, after which there were less than 100 residents. Middleburg's population numbered in the 700s between 1890 and 1920. The Great Freeze of 1895 in and a reduction of the river trade further contributed to the town's decline. In the 1890s, African American homesteaders, starting with Grant Forman (1868-1951) in 1895, settled and developed the community of Hill Top in what is Forman Circle." According to "Embedded in Clay," Forman fled to South Carolina after his house was burned by a white mob. Frosard Budington, a leader of Whitesville, covered the cost of Forman's land taxes until such time as it was safe for Forman to return to Hill Top. The 1989 film, Brenda Starr, was partially filmed on Black Creek. Since the 1990s, Middleburg's population and industry have rapidly expanded along with the surrounding communities of Orange Park, Lakeside, Lake Asbury, Fleming Island, and Jacksonville. Because of this development, construction to extend the First Coast Expressway through the area is underway, including the addition of exit junctions in Middleburg, Green Cove Springs, and Asbury Lake. Notable people Gary Barnidge, NFL tight end Lenny Curry, mayor of Jacksonville, Florida Roy Geiger, USMC World War II general Ashley Greene, actress Richard Owens, NFL tight end Donnie Van Zant, musician for 38 Special, Van Zant Johnny Van Zant musician for Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Zant Slim Whitman, country singer and songwriter Bands The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, rock band References Census-designated places in Clay County, Florida Census-designated places in the Jacksonville metropolitan area Census-designated places in Florida Former county seats in Florida