There were block houses along the beach, near the Dock Yard wall, built by Col. Spry about 1775. The drawings of the town, published about the year 1774 or '6, show a strong fortification on George's Island.[90] It was not until the commencement of the revolutionary war that regular works appear to have been constructed for the defence of the town and harbor. About the year 1778, the Citadel Hill appears to have been, for the first time, regularly fortified; the summit was then about eighty feet higher than at present; the works consisted of an octangular tower of wood of the block-house kind, having a parapet and small tower on top with port holes for cannon--the whole encompassed by a ditch and ramparts of earth and wood, with pickets placed close together, slanting outwards. Below this there were several outworks of the same description extending down the sides of the hill a considerable distance. [Footnote 90: We have seen that Governor Cornwallis, at the very commencement of the settlement, selected George's Island as the most eligible position for the fortification. Prisoners were sent here at a very early period.] Fort Massey, George's Island and the East Battery exhibit the same kind of fortifications in the pictures of the town made about 1780. At the latter place there was a barrack, afterwards rebuilt by the Duke of Kent about 1800. During the American Revolutionary War, Colonel Spry, the chief engineer, erected a battery and several small block houses near the old Dutch Church in Brunswick Street. Several fields on the north and east sides of the Citadel were then taken by government and equivalents given to the owners. There was another block house at the extremity of Brunswick Street, in the field adjoining the present Admiralty grounds; the first were demolished about 1783, and part of the land granted by the Crown as a parsonage lot for the minister of the Germans, but the latter remained many years after till it fell into decay. The Lumber Yard, Ordnance Yard and King's Wharf were all commenced about the same time, (1784 or '5) but the present buildings were put up at a much later date. The north barracks were built soon after the settlement. The buildings known as the south barracks were erected under the directions of the Duke of Kent, as also the north barracks, destroyed by fire some years ago. During the revolutionary war the main guard house stood on the spot now occupied by the Mason Hall. It was used as a military post at a very early period, as the French prisoners from Annapolis, etc., were lodged there. The guard house was removed over ninety years ago, and the present building afterwards erected. A building called the Military Office stood at the south corner of the market wharf, near where the main guard house now is. It was used as a military office until 1790, or perhaps later. At this time a guard was kept at the Prince's old playhouse, where the Acadian School now stands.