CHP program receives $39K grant from National Park Service
Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries.
Salve Regina’s Noreen Stonor Drexel Cultural and Historic Preservation Program has received a $39,000 grant from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program to conduct site documentation for the Sadkeche Fight, a battle associated with the little-known Yamasee War (1715-1717) in South Carolina.
The grant will provide students in the CHP program an opportunity to substantially contribute to a real world, federally funded preservation project.
“No one has ever located a battlefield from the Yamasee War, and unlike the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, we do not have a great deal of historical records to rely upon,” said assistant professor Dr. Jon Marcoux, who applied for the grant. “There is a lot of work to do, and Salve students will play a central part in the project.”
Marcoux and his students will conduct research with a wide variety of historical documents in order to find contemporary accounts of the battle, and will also search for historical maps of the region where the battle was fought. They will then use Geographic Information System software to match historic maps with modern maps.
The goal is to identify the probable location of where the Sadkeche Fight occurred. “This sets up a future project where we actually go out and try to find physical evidence of the battle in the form of early 18th century military artifacts like musket balls, gun parts, buckles, etc.,” Marcoux said. “Once we find the actual battlefield location, we can begin to take steps to protect it through community outreach and engagement.”
The project highlights the important relationship between archaeology, history, geography and historic preservation. “The CHP program at Salve is unique in that we emphasize the poly-disciplinary nature of cultural and historic preservation,” Marcoux said. “Through this project, the students will see how these disciplines work together to gain a better understanding of our past, as well as to protect that past for future generations.”
The American Battlefield Protection Program funds projects conducted by federal, state, local and tribal governments, nonprofit organizations and educational institutions. The program’s mission is to safeguard and preserve significant American battlefield lands for present and future generations as symbols of individual sacrifice and national heritage.
