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310 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
Situated on the direct line of travel, Ebenezer was destined to play an important
part in the approaching drama of hostilities. The account which, follows is con
densed from "Dead Towns of Georgia": "Three days after the capture of
Savannah by Colonel Campbell, a strong force was advanced, under the command
of Lieutenant-Colonel Maitland, to Cherokee Hill. On the following day—January
2, 1779—Ebenezer was occupied by the British troops. They at once threw up a
redoubt within a few hundred yards of Jerusalem Church and fortified the position.
The remains of this work are said to be still visible. As soon as he learned of the
fall of Savannah, Mr. Treibner hastened thereto, proclaimed his loyalty, and took
the oath of allegiance. The intimation is that he counseled the immediate occupation
of Ebenezer and accompanied the detachment which compassed the capture of Ms
own town and people. Influenced by him, not a few of the Salzburgers took the oath
of allegiance to England and received certificates guaranteeing the royal protection.
Prominent among those who maintained adherence to the rebel cause were: John
Adam Treutlen, afterwards governor; William Holsendorf, Col. John Stirk, Secre
tary Samuel Stirk, Capt. Jacob Casper Waldhaur, who was both a magistrate and
a soldier; John Schnider, Kudolph Strohaker, Jonathan Schnider, J. G-otlieb Schnider,
Jonathan Eahn, Ernest Zitthauer, Joshua Helfenstein, and Jacob Helfinstein."
Mr. Strobel draws a graphic picture of the situation at this time. Says he:*
The citizens of Ebenezer were made to feel severely the effects of the war. The
property of those who did not take the oath of allegiance was confiscated and the
helpless sufferers were exposed to every species of insult and wrong. Besides, some of
the Salzburgers who espoused the cause of the Crown became inveterate whigs, placed
themselves at the head of marauding parties, and committed the most wanton acts of
depredation, including arson itself. The establishment of a line of British posts
along the western bank of the Savannah River to check the demonstrations of the
rebel forces in South Carolina, made it a kind of thoroughfare for British troops in
passing through the country from Savannah to Augusta. To avoid the rudeness of
the soldiers who were quartered among them and to escape the heavy tax upon the
scant resources which remained to them, many of the best citizens abandoned the
town and settled in the country districts. Those who remained were forced almost
daily to witness acts of cruelty perpetrated upon American prisoners of war; for
Ebenezer, while in the hands of the British, was the point} to which most of the
prisoners were brought, thence to be taken to Savannah. It was from this post that
a number of prisoners were being carried southward, when the two Sergeants, Jasper
and Newton, rescued them at Jasper Spring."
"There was one act performed by the British commander which was peculiarly
trying and revolting to the Salzburgers. The fine brick church was converted into
a hospital for the accommodation of the sick and wounded and was afterwards
desecrated by being used as a stable for the horses. The records were destroyed,
targets were made of different objects, and even to this day the metal swan bears
the mark of a musket ball. Often, too, cannon were discharged at the houses. But
the Salzburgers endured these hardships and indignities with fortitude; and though
a few of them were overcome by these severe measures, yet the mass of them remained
firm.''
According to Colonel Jones, t the establishment of tippling houses in Ebenezer,
during the British occupation, corrupted the lives of not a few of the once sober
Germans.- Says he: "Indications of decay and ruin were patent before the cessa
tion of hostilities. Except for a brief period, during the siege of Savannah, when
the garrison was summoned to assist in defense of the city against the allied army,
Ebenezer remained in the possession of the British until a short time prior to the
evacuation of Savannah, in July, 1783. In advancing toward Savannah, General
Wayne established his headquarters in the town. As soon as the British forces were
withdrawn, the Tory pastor, Triebner, betook himself to flight and found a refuge
in England, where he ended his days in seclusion."
It was an altered scene upon which the poor Salzburgers looked when the refugees
began to return to Ebenezer at the close of the Eevolution. Many of the homes had
been burnt to the' ground. Gardens once green and fruitful had been trampled into
desert places. Jerusalem Church had become a mass of filth, and the sacred edifice
* '' Salzbnrgers and Their Descendants,'' pp. 203-207, Baltimore, 1855.
t"Dead Towns of Georgia," p. 39, Savannah, 1878.