The first settlement in what is now Atlantic County was made at Chestnut Neck on the west bank of the Mullica River near the present village of Port Republic. In 1637, John Mullica sailed up the river that took his name, landing at Chestnut Neck, Green Bank, and Sweetwater, now Pleasant Mills, then journeyed across the county to Mullica Hill, where he settled, lived, and died. The river and town still bear the name of the first employer of this section of New Jersey. He reported the county as a vast wilderness inhabited by Indians, with forests rich in wild grapes and nuts and waters teeming with fish, geese, ducks, and sea birds. Sea birds laid their eggs and raised their young on the beach sands, and the abundance of eggs later gave the place the name Egg Harbor. In its early days, Port Republic was known as Wrangleboro. During the American Revolutionary War, it provided refuge to residents of nearby Chestnut Neck after the British Army sacked their town on October 6, 1778. Among the refugees was tavern keeper Daniel Mathis, who built the Franklin Inn in Port Republic, now a private house. Port Republic was also known as Unionville until it was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 1st, 1905, from portions of Galloway Township.