Battle of Fort Macon

Siege of Fort Macon
Part of the American Civil War
Fort Macon, NC
Date March 23, 1862 (1862-03-23) – April 26, 1862 (1862-04-26) Location Carteret County, North Carolina Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
John G. Parke Samuel Lockwood	Moses J. White
Units involved
3rd Division, Department of North Carolina North Atlantic Blockading Squadron	Fort Macon Garrison
Strength
3,259 total 2,649 present for duty	450 total 263 ready for duty
Casualties and losses
2 killed 5 wounded 8 captured	8 killed 16 wounded ~400 captured

The Siege of Fort Macon took place from March 23 to April 26, 1862, on the Outer Banks of Carteret County, North Carolina. It was part of Union Army General Ambrose E. Burnside's North Carolina Expedition during the American Civil War.

In late March, Major General Burnside’s army advanced on Fort Macon, a casemated masonry fort that commanded the channel to Beaufort, 35 miles (56 km) southeast of New Bern. The Union force invested the fort with siege works and on April 25 opened an accurate fire on the fort, soon breaching the masonry walls. Within a few hours the fort's scarp began to collapse, and in late afternoon the Confederate commander, Colonel Moses J. White, ordered the raising of a white flag. Burnside's terms of surrender were accepted, and the Federal troops took possession of the fort the next morning.

Fort Macon was one of a system of coastal forts that were built around the borders of the still-young United States following the War of 1812. It was built on the eastern end of Bogue Banks, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and was intended to defend the entrance to the ports of Beaufort and Morehead City. Begun in 1826, it was completed and received its first garrison in 1834. As it was intended for defense against attacking enemy naval forces, it was built of masonry. Gunfire from a rolling ship's deck was not accurate enough at that time to be able to break down brick and stone walls. Although the advent of rifled artillery would soon make its walls vulnerable, no alterations were made in the fort. It was a generation out of date when the Civil War came.

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