Union Artillery at Fort Macon

In this area, beginning in late March of eighteen sixty-two, Union artillery crews dug in for the siege of Fort Macon. General Ambrose Burnside had ordered the reduction of the Confederate-held fort after his forces swept through eastern North Carolina earlier that month. Union engineers positioned two mortar batteries and one battery of rifled Parrott guns within twelve hundred to sixteen hundred yards of the fort's walls, hauling heavy siege equipment over the sound by boat.

For thirty-three days the Federals tightened their grip. Then on April twenty-fifth, land and naval guns opened a coordinated bombardment. The rifled artillery punched through the fort's masonry scarp within hours.

Confederate Colonel Moses White raised a white flag that afternoon. The fall of Fort Macon gave the Union control of Beaufort Harbor and opened the port for Union ships.