During the Civil War in Florida waterways were vital to the movement of troops and supplies. In the South, the Apalachicola River led straight to the manufacturing heart of the Confederacy in Columbus, Georgia. Controlling it meant victory or defeat. The Confederacy built obstacles in the river and gun emplacements, or batteries, at strategic points along the river edge to prevent the Union from passing upriver.
In 2010 a team of archaeologists from the University of West Florida and Florida Public Archaeology Network meticulously removed layers of earth in Florida’s Torreya State Park along the banks of the Apalachicola River. Here they uncovered a part of history from the American Civil War. This exhibit is the story of this site as it was revealed through archaeological investigations.
