m a letter which
was written by Stephen Bull to Col. Henry Laurens, President of the
Council of Safety, Charleston, South Carolina, March 14, 1776. In that
letter he says: "It is better for the public, and the owners, if the
deserted Negroes who are on Tybee Island be shot, if they cannot be
taken."[14] By this means, as he informs us, he hoped to "deter other
Negroes from deserting" their masters. According to Bull's
representation, the Negroes along the Savannah River were abandoning
their masters, and now going to the British in scores and hundreds, to
the detriment of their owners, and the menace of the cause of American
independence.

Now George Liele, although not a runaway slave, appears to have had
some liking for the Tybee River, as a place of abode, and it is
probable that when he could no longer visit Silver Bluff, and was not
in camp with Henry Sharp (who had not only given him his freedom, but
also taken up arms against the Revolutionists), he reported to Tybee
Island to preach to the refugees there assembled. At any rate, when
Liele appears in Savannah, Georgia, as a preacher of the Gospel, his
biographer declares that "He came up to the city of Savannah from
Tybee River."[15]

The next hint which we get from the statements of David George, in
regard to the time when the Silver Bluff Church was planted, is where
he says that George Liele preached at Silver Bluff both before and
after the organization of the church. Happily, Liele himself refers to
Silver Bluff as a place where he used to preach. Liele also informs
us that he became a Christian about two years before the American
Revolution, but did not immediately connect himself with a church;
that when he did join, he became a member of Matthew Moore's church,
in Burke County, Georgia; that he was a member of this church about
four years; that his membership terminated with the evacuation of
Savannah; that he preached at Yamacraw and Brumpton Land about three
years; and that he went to Jamaica, in the West Indies, in the year of
1782.

Let us consider carefully these facts, with reference to time. The
three years, which preceded 1782, were 1781, 1780, 1779. This brings
us to the evacuation of Savannah by the Americans, within two days, as
the British captured the city December 29, 1778. The four years which
preceded 1779 were 1778, 1777, 1776, 1775. We understand from George
Liele's statements concerning himself, therefore, that he became a
member o