In addition to founding (with David Woodbury) The South Bay Civil War Roundtable in 1989, Savas with friend Paul Sacra of Richmond, Virginia, accurately pinpointed and mapped the Civil War battlefield of Payne's Farm (part of the late Fall 1863 Mine Run Campaign), in Orange County, Virginia. Savas turned the maps and information over to a Fredericksburg-based preservation organization. This, in turn, prompted increased interest in both the battle and the battlefield, and eventually led to the land being preserved and interpreted. Savas was part of NY Times bestselling author Clive Cussler's expedition in 1994-1995 that found the Confederate submarine "CSS Hunley" off Charleston, South Carolina.