Having patiently listened to the request, Mr. Oglethorpe, on the 9th of February, 1736, set out with the Saltzburger ministers and several gentlemen for Ebenezer, to make a personal inspection of the situation and satisfy himself with regard to the expediency of the removal. He was received with every mark of consideration, and proceeded at once to consider the causes which induced the inhabitants to desire a change. Admitting that the existing “dissatisfaction was not groundless, and that there were many embarrassments connected with their situation,” he nevertheless endeavored to dissuade them from their purpose by reminding them that the labor already expended in clearing their lands, building houses, and constructing roads would, upon removal, be almost wholly lost. The hardships incident upon forming an entirely new settlement were urged upon their serious consideration. He also assured them that in clearing the forests, and in bringing the lands on the bank of the Savannah river under cultivation they would encounter the same diseases which afflicted them in their present location. He concluded, however, by assuring them that if they were resolved upon making the change he would not forbid it, but would assist them, as far as practicable, in compassing their design. After this conference, and upon Mr. Oglethorpe’s return to Savannah, the question of a change of location was again considered by the Saltzburgers, who resolved among themselves that a removal was essential to the prosperity of their colony.[9] Acting upon this determination the community, without delay, set about migrating to the site selected for the new town. This was on a high ridge, near the Savannah river, called “Red Bluff” from the peculiar color of the soil. It received the name of New Ebenezer; and, to the simple-minded Germans, oppressed by poverty and saddened by the disappointments of the past, seemed to offer future happiness and much coveted prosperity. The labor of removal appears to have been compassed within less than two years. In June, 1738, Old Ebenezer[10] had degenerated into a cow-pen, where Joseph Barker resided and “had the care of the Trust’s Cattle.” William Stephens gives us a pitiable view of the abandoned spot when he visited it on the 26th of that month:—Indian traders, returning from Savannah, lodging for the night with Barker, who was unable to give due account of the cattle under his charge, and a servant, Sommers, moving about with “the Small-Pox out full upon him.”[11] Thus early did “Old Ebenezer” take its silent place among the lost towns of Georgia. Its life of trials and sorrow, of ill-founded hope and sure disappointment, was measured by scarcely more than two years, and its frail memories were speedily lost amid the sighs and the shadows of the monotonous pines which environed the place.