General James Oglethorpe explored this area along the Medway River in 1734 and saw its potential for a seaport city. Captain Mark Carr, a member of Oglethorpe's regiment and an early settler in this part of Georgia, later petitioned for a land grant to make that vision real. He received 500 acres from the King of England and used the land to establish the town of Sundbury in 1758. Carr laid out lots and public squares on the Medway River in St. John's Parish, intending to sell the lots for a profit. Sunbury began as a seaport for the settlement of Medway, 10 miles inland, and for nearby farms and plantations in the parish. As migration increased, its port rivaled Savannah's trade market and it became the second-largest shipping port in colonial Georgia. Just before the Revolution, Sunbury was also the second-largest town in Georgia, with a population of approximately 1,000. The Revolutionary War ruined the prosperous town. By 1778, the British occupied much of coastal Georgia, including Savannah, but not Sunbury. Colonial forces repelled a British sea attack in November 1778 with cannon fire, but a second British fleet attack succeeded. The British occupied the town for three years and left it in shambles, and Sunbury never recovered from the war's effects. Like other Southern towns and cities, it also suffered deaths from yellow fever in the 1700s, and hurricanes in 1804 and 1824 brought further trouble. By the middle of the 1800s, Sunbury had become nearly a ghost town.