being . These twenty city founders are named on an historical marker in downtown St. Marys: Isaac Wheeler, William Norris, Nathaniel Ashley, William Ashley, Lodowick Ashley, James Seagrove, James Finley, John Fleming, Robert Seagrove, Henry Osborne, Thomas Norris, Jacob Weed, John Alexander, Langley Bryant, Jonathan Bartlett, Stephen Conyers, William Keady, Prentis Gallup, Simeon Dillingham and Richard Cole. The original boundaries of the town correspond to the modern waterfront, Bartlett Street, North Street, and a block east of Norris Street. There were two public town squares. However, in the original deed the town was unnamed, and for several years afterwards in public documents it was referred to as either St. Marys or St. Patrick's, and colloquially as simply "the New Town". Accounts differ regarding the origin of the name—some say it is named after the St. Marys River, while others say it comes from a seventeenth-century Spanish mission, Santa Maria, on nearby Amelia Island, Florida. St. Marys was recognized by an act of the Georgia legislature on December 5, 1792, with the result of incorporation in November 1802. Oak Grove Cemetery is included in the St. Marys Historic District and was laid outside the western border of St. Marys during its founding in 1787. On June 29, 1796, the Treaty of Colerain was signed just up the river from St Marys between the United States and the Creek Nation, the indigenous inhabitants of this territory. St. Marys town founder Langley Bryant served as the official interpreter between the Creek Indians and the United States. St. Marys was made a United States port of entry by act of the U.S. Congress March 2, 1799. The first Collector was James Seagrove. During the antebellum period, Archibald Clark served as the U.S. Customs Collector from 1807 until his death in 1848. After the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves took effect in 1808, St. Marys became, along with Spanish Amelia Island, a center for smuggling, especially during the period between 1812-1819 when various rebel groups held Amelia Island. During the War of 1812 the Battle of Fort Peter occurred near the town, at the fort on Point Peter along the St. Marys River. The British captured the fort and the town and occupied it for about a month. The United States Navy bombarded the town's shoreside buildings during the American Civil War. St. Marys served as Camden County's seat of government from 1869 until 1923.