Fort Morris was erected at the beginning of the Revolutionary War to guard the Port of Sunbury and St. John's Parish. An enclosed earthwork in the shape of an irregular quadrangle, it was surrounded by a parapet and moat and contained a parade of about an acre. The fort was defended by more than 25 pieces of ordnance of varied size and was named in honor of Captain Morris, who commanded the artillery company that first garrisoned it early in 1776. On November 25, 1778, Colonel John McIntosh commanded the garrison when Colonel L.V. Fuser, with 500 British ground troops supported by armed ships in the Medway River, landed at Sunbury and demanded the immediate surrender of Fort Morris. McIntosh, with 127 Continental troops, some militia, and citizens of Sunbury, less than 200 men in all, replied, "Come and Take It!" The British retreated to the south, and Continental troops held Fort Morris until January 9, 1779, when British forces captured it.