Sherman's march to the sea, the cavalry of Judson Kilpatrick, another Union general, passed through Sylvania in December 1864. This foresight and design serves the county and city to this day.ĭuring Union general William T. Enneis chose the site at the center of the county near the highest elevation. Surveyor Azariah Enneis created a spacious symmetrical city plan with variable sized lots, a design which survives intact in modern Sylvania.

Land was purchased from Charles Church for $1 per acre, and a courthouse and jail were built at the new location. The county seat was moved to Sylvania from its former location at Jacksonborough in 1847 by an act of the state legislature. In 2010 more than 30,000 acres were planted in cotton here.īy 1830 the county was filled with people. The flat fields and rich, fertile soil were perfect for growing cotton then and now. The battle occurred only a few weeks after a resounding American Patriot victory over the British at Kettle Creek, north of Augusta, reversing its effect on morale.Ĭotton played a major role in Sylvania's history following Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793. A Patriot force consisting principally of militia from North Carolina and Georgia was surprised, suffering significant casualties. The Battle of Brier Creek was an American Revolutionary War battle fought on March 3, 1779, near the confluence of Brier Creek with the Savannah River near Sylvania. Tourists travel from all over the nation to visit the city's Brier Creek Battle Site, a famous battle site of the Revolutionary War. The name, derived from the Latin word for forest or 'a place in the woods,' was suggested by Screven County poet Cuyler Young. The European-American town of Sylvania was founded in 1790 by settlers' migrating to the area after the American Revolutionary War. By the time Europeans arrived in Georgia, historic tribes included Iroquoian-speaking Cherokee, as well as Siouan-speaking tribes. The area now known as Sylvania, Georgia, was inhabited for thousands of years by various cultures of indigenous peoples.

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