5 min readImage of the Day for June 26, 2026Marshy, sandy terrain and an impassable inlet helped colonial forces repel British forces during a pivotal battle on the barrier island near Charleston, South Carolina, on June 28, 1776. NASA Earth ObservatoryJun 26, 2026 Article
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As Thomas Jefferson and the Committee of Five presented their first draft of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on June 28, 1776, several British warships and thousands of troops were massing around Sullivan's Island in South Carolina.
The pitched battle for the sandy barrier island at the mouth of Charleston Harbor that played out over the course of that June day was one of the most significant in the early stages of the Revolutionary War. By nightfall, largely untested colonial troops had decisively defeated the British, an outcome that helped save Charleston from occupation and buoyed American spirits at a critical stage of the war.
The Landsat 8 satellite captured this image of the island on June 3, 2026. Two hundred fifty years earlier, the sandy beaches, salt marshes, and general shape of the island would have looked similar, though with less evidence of roads or other signs of human development.
