To the inhabitants of Ebenezer, particularly, this was a source of perpetual annoyance. British troops were constantly quartered among them, and to avoid the rudeness of the soldiers and the heavy tax upon their resources, many of the best citizens were forced to abandon their homes and settle in the country, thus leaving their houses to the mercy of their cruel invaders. “Besides all this, they were forced to witness almost daily acts of cruelty practised by the British and Tories toward those Americans who happened to fall into their hands as prisoners of war; for it will be remembered that Ebenezer, while in the hands of the British, was the point to which all prisoners taken in the surrounding country were brought and from thence sent to Savannah. It was from this post that the prisoners were carried who were rescued by Sergeant Jasper and his comrade, Newton, at the Jasper Spring, a few miles above Savannah. “There was one act performed by the British commander which was peculiarly trying and revolting to the Salzburgers. Their fine brick church was converted into a hospital for the accommodation of the sick and wounded, and subsequently it was desecrated by being used as a stable for their horses. To this latter use it was devoted until the close of the war and the removal of the British troops from Georgia. To show their contempt for the church and their disregard for the religious sentiments of the people, the church records were nearly all destroyed, and the soldiers would discharge their guns at different objects on the church; and even to this day the metal “_Swan_” (Luther’s coat of arms) which surmounts the spire on the steeple, bears the mark of a musket ball which was fired through it by a reckless soldier. Often, too, cannon were discharged at the houses; and there is a log-house now standing not far from Ebenezer, which was perforated by several cannon shot.... The Salzburgers endured all these hardships and indignities with becoming fortitude; and though a few were overcome by these severe measures, yet the great mass of them remained firm in their attachment to the principles of liberty.”[33]