the northern face could be opposed to ships which succeeded in passing the fort, until they ascended the river so far as to get beyond range. It also commanded the town and the intervening space. The guns were mounted _en barbette_, without traverses. Seven embrasures may still be seen, each about five feet wide. The parapet, ten feet wide, rises six feet above the parade of the fort, and its superior slope is about twenty-five feet above the level of the river at high tide. Surrounding the work is a moat at present ten feet deep, ten feet wide at the bottom, and twice that width at the top. Near the middle of the curtain may be seen traces of a sally-port or gateway, fifteen feet wide. Such is the appearance of this abandoned work as ascertained by recent survey. Completely overgrown by cedars, myrtles, and vines, its presence would not be suspected, even at a short remove, by those unacquainted with the locality. Two iron cannon are now lying half buried in the loose soil of the parade, and a third will be found in the old field about midway between the fort and the site of the town. During the recent war between the States, two 6-pounder guns were removed from this fort and carried to Riceboro. No use, however, was made of them. Two more, of similar calibre, of iron, and very heavily reinforced at the breech, were taken by Captain C. A. L. Lamar,—whose company was then stationed at Sunbury,—and temporarily mounted on the bluff to serve as signal guns. Despite their age and the exposure to which they had so long been subjected, these pieces were in such excellent condition that they attracted the notice of the Ordnance department, and were soon transported to Savannah. There they were cleaned, mounted upon siege carriages, and assigned to Fort Bartow, where they remained, constituting a part of the armament of that work, until upon the evacuation of Savannah and its dependent forts by the Confederate forces in December, 1864, they passed into the hands of the Federal army.[199] Sunbury was occupied by the Revolutionists as a military post, and its fort garrisoned at a very early period in the Colonial struggle for independence.[200] In 1776 when Gen. Charles Lee, after full conference with the venerable Jonathan Bryan, projected a plan of operations against St. Augustine for the relief of the southern frontier of Georgia, which had been constantly and sorely vexed by raiding bands from Florida, and to destroy what promised to be a stronghold for the English, the Virginia and North Carolina troops who were in the expedition were ordered to rendezvous at Sunbury. It being the sickly season of the year, and the men being unaccustomed to the climate, much suffering was encountered from fevers. The mortality became so great,—from ten to fifteen dying in a single day,—that the soldiers were removed to the sea-islands in the vicinity for health.[201]