It is suggested that the establishment of tippling houses in Ebenezer, during its occupancy by the British, and constant intercourse with a licentious soldiery, corrupted the lives of not a few of the once sober and orderly Germans. That the protracted presence of the enemy, the confiscation of estates, the interruption of regular pursuits, the expulsion of such as clave to the Confederate cause, and the general demoralization consequent upon a state of war, tended to the manifest injury and depopulation of the town, cannot, for a moment, be questioned. Indications of decay and ruin were patent in Ebenezer before the cessation of hostilities. From the time of its occupation by Maitland, shortly after the capture of Savannah by Colonel Campbell in December, 1778,—with the exception of the limited period when its garrison was called in to assist in the defense of Savannah against the operations of the allied army under the command of Count D’Estaing and General Lincoln in the fall of 1779,—Ebenezer continued in the possession of the British until a short time prior to the evacuation of Savannah in July, 1783. In his advance toward Savannah, General Anthony Wayne established his head quarters at this town. The Tory pastor, Triebner, who, during the struggle had sided with the Royalists and remained unmoved amid the sufferings and oppressions of his people, betook himself to flight so soon as the English forces were withdrawn, and found a refuge in England, where he ended his days in seclusion. Upon the evacuation of Savannah, many of the Saltzburgers returned to Ebenezer. Its aspect was sadly changed. Not a few of the abandoned dwellings had been burned. Others had fallen into decay. Smiling gardens had been trampled into desert places, and the impress of stagnation, neglect, and desolation was upon everything. Jerusalem Church was a mass of filth, and very dilapidated. Notwithstanding this sad condition of affairs, much energy was displayed in the purification and renovation of this temple of worship, and in the rehabilitation of the town. The arrival of the Reverend John Ernest Bergman,—a clergyman of decided talents and of considerable literary attainments,—and the revival of the parochial school greatly encouraged the depressed inhabitants and promoted the general improvement of the place. The population began to increase. It assumed an apparently permanent character, and countenanced the hope that the ante-bellum quiet, good order, thrift, and prosperity would be regained. This expectation, however, was not fully realized. The former trade never revived. The mills were never again put in motion. Silk-culture was renewed only to a limited degree. Having for twenty-five years more remained about stationary, New Ebenezer commenced visibly to decline; and, when scarcely more than a century old, took its place, in silence and nothingness, among the dead towns of Georgia.[34]