(RALEIGH) -- The Outer Banks of North Carolina was a vital part of the Civil War, and an exhibit opening later this month will commemorate that at Hatteras Island. Joe Schwartzer of the state Department of Cultural Resources says the legacy of the coast's involvement of the Civil War has been unheralded.

"Flags Over Hatteras has been on the planning board now for about three years and we did it because we felt that the Outer Banks was being ignored in its role in the Civil War and we were right, it was," said said Schwartzer.

The Flags Over Hatteras exhibit will feature items and documents spanning from across our country that are related to Eastern North Carolina activities and actions during 1861. The exhibit will open at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Cape Hatteras on August 22.