At the inception of the Revolutionary war the coast defenses of Georgia were in a most pitiable and dilapidated condition. All her forts were in ruins, or nearly so. On the 20th of September, 1773, Sir James Wright,—who makes no mention of any defensive work at Sunbury,—reports Fort George on Cockspur island, which was built in 1762 of mud walls faced with palmetto logs, with a caponiere inside to serve for officers’ apartments, as “almost in ruins, and garrisoned only by an officer and three men, just to make signals, &c.” Fort Halifax, within the town of Savannah, constructed in 1759 and 1760, and made of plank filled in with earth, with the exception of two of its caponieres, was totally down and unfit for use. Fort Frederick, at Frederica, erected by General Oglethorpe when his regiment was stationed there, had been without a garrison for upwards of eight years, and although some of its tabby walls remained, the entire structure was fast passing into decay. Fort Augusta, in the town of Augusta, made of three-inch plank, had been neglected since 1767 and was rotten in every part. Fort Barrington on the Alatamaha river was in like condition. Of the fort at New Ebenezer, of Fort William on the southern extremity of Cumberland island, of Fort Argyle, and of the other minor defenses erected in the early days of the Colony, scarce a vestige remained. [Illustration: _Fort Morris_ _J. Bien, Photo. Lith. N. Y._] Located some three hundred and fifty yards due south of Sunbury, and occupying the bluff where it first confronts Midway river as, trending inward from the sound, it bends to the north, Fort Morris was intended to cover not only the direct water approach to the town, but also the back river by means of which that place might be passed and taken in reverse. Its position was well chosen for defensive purposes. To the south stretched a wide-spread and impracticable marsh permeated by Pole-haul and Dickerson creeks,—two tributaries of Midway river,—whose mouths were commanded by the guns of the fort. This marsh also extended in front of the work, constituting a narrow and yet substantial protection against landing parties, and gradually contracting as it approached the southern boundary of Sunbury. This fortification was an enclosed earth-work, substantially constructed. Its walls embraced a parade about an acre in extent. The eastern face, confronting the river, was two hundred and seventy-five feet in length. Here the heaviest guns were mounted. The northern and southern faces were respectively one hundred and ninety-one, and one hundred and forty feet in length, while the curtain, looking to the west, was two hundred and forty-one feet long. Although quadrangular, the work was somewhat irregular in shape. From the southern face and the curtain, no guns could be brought to bear upon the river. Those there mounted served only for defense against a land attack. The armament of