Hatteras island has achieved a well-deserved reputation as a summer getaway and a wildlife refuge on North Carolina's coast. However, most visitors are unaware of the crucial role that Hatteras played in the Civil War. This work offers a new view of Hatteras' history, interweaving historical facts, archival drawings, and current photographs of how the Island looks today. In addition, this book reveals the largely unknown journals of Edwin Graves Champney, a Union soldier who was stationed on Hatteras from 1862-1863. Champney's prose and artistic talents, along with the drawings of soldier Charles F. Johnson of the Ninth New York, shed new light on the experiences of Civil War soldiers stationed on the Outer Banks during that time.