Fort Macon was a brick and stone fort constructed in the 1820s on the eastern end of an Outer Bank Island to guard the Beaufort Inlet and Beaufort Harbor, the only deep-water ocean port in the Tarheel State. Two days after the outbreak of the War Between the States, troops of the North Carolina militia seized Fort Macon and in the following year, the Confederate soldiers positioned fifty-four heavy cannons on the fort.

the War
Between
the States

Fort Macon,
North Carolina
25^th April 1862

The photograph was taken from the Citadel’s wall looking over the covertway to the Atlantic Ocean. The attacking force under Brigadier General Parke included four war-ships, their firepower proved ineffective against Fort Macon and were easily repelled.

Union artillery was placed in this area (west of Fort Macon), including heavy siege guns and rifled cannons, to capture Fort Macon. For eleven hours on the 25 ^th of April, the fort was hit 560 times and the following morning the fort and its garrison were surrendered.