A recent lecture and campus tour focused on the Civil War battle in the area formerly known
as Shaw’s Dam. Fought on and around the current SCPS Chatham Parkway campus on December 10-12, 1864 during Sherman’s march to the sea, remnant trenches, a gun battery, and earthenworks are still visible on campus.
Presented by author Barry Sheehy, the lecture was a joint effort sponsored by the Georgia Historical Society, The Ogeechee Canal Society, Mulberry Grove Plantation Society, and Historic Effingham Society, in conjunction with Savannah Christian Preparatory School.
More than 180 people of all ages from around the country enjoyed Mr. Sheehy’s presentation in the Lower School gym, during which he sought to bring to life the battle tactics used by both the Confederate and Union armies. His lecture focused on the Siege of Savannah, with particular emphasis on the fighting that took place at Shaw’s Dam that December of 1864. Using official records, letters, memoirs and maps projected on a large screen, he shared the real life experiences of men who fought (and in some cases died) at or near Shaw’s Dam during those desperate days, including Berrien Zettler, Colonel C. C. Jones, W. H. Mendel, Major Ferdinand Cook, W. H. Andrews, General J. Lewis, and others.
Following the presentation and refreshments, most of those in attendance joined Mr. Sheehy in a tour of the Union and Confederate trench lines involved in the fighting which still exist on school grounds. The Union battle line and large earthenworks run along the west side of the middle lake at Eden. The still existing portions of the Confederate line partly follow the campus perimeter road east of and nearest the northernmost marsh on campus. Mr. Sheehy’s tour provided a detailed perspective of the two armies as they faced each other across the old marsh.
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