This blog is devoted to exploring the history, historic sites and heritage tourism opportunities of the American South! A guide to new additions and updates to the expansive site www.exploresouthernhistory.com, this blog features forts, battlefields, Native American sites, architectural treasures and natural wonders.
An original street runs along Church Square in Sunbury
I have a fascination with ghost towns because I love to walk their former streets and wonder what they looked like and what life was like in them.
Perhaps my favorite of all Southern ghost towns is Sunbury, once a booming port town that rivaled Savannah in commerce. Today, all that remains are a few old roads, the earthworks at Fort Morris State Historic Site and a cemetery.
Founded in 1758 as part of the Congregationalist movement from Dorchester, South Carolina, to what is now Liberty County, Georgia, Sunbury grew dramatically in the years before the American Revolution. By 1773, for example, it had over 1,000 residents. The town was visited that year by the famed naturalist William Bartram:
Markers tell the story of the "Dead Town"
There are about one hundred houses in the town neatly built of wood frame having pleasant Piasas [i.e. piazzas] around them. The inhabitants are genteel and wealthy, either Merchants or Planters from the Country who resort here in the Summer and Autumn, to partake of the Salubrious Sea Breeze, Bathing & sporting on the Sea Islands.
The people of Sunbury were fierce supporters of the cause of American Independence and they paid dearly for it. The British occupied their town in both 1778 and 1779, even using it as a place to hold American prisoners of war. Residents fled the British occupation and by the end of the Revolution, Sunbury was but a shell of its former self.
The town continued its decline after the war until eventually it was gone. Union troops even burned the Baptist church during Sherman's March to the Sea. Not a building still stands and even the vast majority of the graves in the cemetery are no longer marked. Sunbury is a true ghost town of the Georgia coast.
One of the classic moments in American history took place at a rough fort in Liberty County, Georgia, in 1778. The place was Fort Morris and the moment developed when a British force surrounded the outpost and demanded its surrender: Sir: - You cannot be ignorant that four armies are in motion to reduce this Province. One is already under the guns of your fort, and may be joined when I think proper by Col. Prevost, who is now at the Midway Meeting-House. The resistance you can or intend to make will only bring destruction upon this country. On the contrary, if you will deliver to me the fort which you command, lay down your arms, and remain neuter until the fate of America is determined, you shall, together with all the inhabitants of this parish, remain in peaceable possession of your property. Your answer, which I expect in an hour's time, will determine the fate of this country, whether it be laid in ashes, or remain as above proposed.- Col. L.V. Fuser, British Commander
Earthworks at Fort Morris State Historic Site
The British had invaded Georgia from East Florida, which along with West Florida had not joined in the revolt and had remained loyal to King George III. One British force, commanded by Lt. Col. J.;M. Prevost, had defeated outnumbered Patriot forces at the Battle of Midway Church and had already burned the Midway Congregational Church, which Col. Fuser referred to in his demand as Midway Meeting-House.
Fuser's column, which was to surround and pin down the garrison of Fort Morris at the port town of Sunbury, had been slow in arriving and Col. Fuser did not know on the date he issued his demand that Col. Prevost had already begun a slow withdrawal back to Florida.
Neither did Col. John McIntosh, the American commander of Fort Morris, not that he would have cared:
American Cannon at Fort Morris State Historic Site
Sir: - We acknowledge we are not ignorant that your army is in motion to endeavor to reduce this State. We believe it entirely chimerial that Col. Prevost is at the Meeting-House; but should it be so, we are in no degree apprehensive of danger from a juncture of his army with yours. We have no property which we value a rush, compared with the object for which we content, and would rather perish in a vigorous defense than accept of your proposals. We, sir, are fighting the battles of America, and therefore disdain to remain neutral till its fate is determined. As to surrendering the fort, receive this laconic reply: COME AND TAKE IT. - Col. John McIntosh, American Commander.
"Come and take it!" would become a battle cry for generations of Americans and would symbolize defiance against attacking forces for years to come. In the Texas Revolution, for example, it was adopted in 1835 by the men of Gonzales who organized to defend a cannon from an attempt by the Mexican government to take it from them. They raised a flag emblazoned with the words, "Come and take it!" and when the Mexican army tried to do that, defeated them in the first fighting of the Texas Revolution.
Fort Morris also stood defiant against the British in 1778. Viewing the walls of the fort, its 24 pieces of artillery and having read Col. McIntosh's bold words, Col. Fuser decided not to make the attempt. His men withdrew from Sunbury and retreated to their ships, American cannon balls falling in their dust.
Fort Morris State Historic Site is a fascinating place on the Georgia Coast just south of Savannah. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortmorris.
