Siege of Fort Macon
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.
| Siege of Fort Macon | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
Fort Macon, NC | |||||||
| |||||||
| 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 | ||||||
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.