Under the dark morning sky of October 9, 1861, a fire lit up an infantry camp among the dunes of Santa Rosa Island, and smoke floated on the water of Pensacola Bay. By the light of the blaze, Federal and Confederate soldiers could distinguish between friend or foe as they resumed battle over the next several hours. The site they bled and died on during the Civil War is now part of Gulf Islands National Seashore. While the fort they fought to control still stands, the story of the battle is preserved in the sand. In 2016, archaeologists investigated the area where the Battle of Santa Rosa Island occurred. Because the site is protected, archaeologists were able to define the location of the federal camp destroyed in the aftermath of the battle.
Exhibit StoryMap:
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=5c1dbf962d2d4c3582352e77655b721a
