Battle of Fort Macon
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The Battle of Fort Macon took place from March 23 – April 26, 1862, in Carteret County, North Carolina, as part of Union Army General Ambrose E. Burnside's North Carolina expedition during the American Civil War.
In late March, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s army advanced on Fort Macon, a third system casemated masonry fort that commanded the channel to Beaufort, 35 miles southeast of New Bern. The Union force invested the fort with siege works and, on April 26, opened an accurate fire on the fort, which soon breached the masonry walls. Within a few hours the fort's scarp began to collapse, and the Confederates hoisted a white flag of surrender. This action demonstrated the inadequacy of masonry forts against large-bore, rifled artillery.
The battle site is now Fort Macon State Park.
