Key Facts
- Duration
- March 23 – April 26, 1862 (34 days)
- Location
- Outer Banks, Carteret County, North Carolina
- Distance from New Bern
- 35 miles (56 km) southeast
- Fort type
- Casemated masonry fort
- Surrender
- Confederate white flag raised April 25, 1862
Strategic Narrative Overview
In late March 1862, Burnside's Union forces advanced on Fort Macon, approximately 35 miles southeast of New Bern, and constructed formal siege works surrounding the fort. On April 25, Union artillery opened a concentrated and accurate bombardment, quickly breaching the fort's masonry walls. Within hours, sections of the scarp began to collapse under the sustained fire, rendering the fortification untenable for its Confederate garrison.
01 / The Origins
Fort Macon was a casemated masonry fortification on the Outer Banks of North Carolina that controlled the channel leading to Beaufort Harbor. Following early 1862 Union successes along the North Carolina coast, Major General Ambrose E. Burnside's North Carolina Expedition moved to eliminate remaining Confederate strongholds. Capturing Fort Macon would deny the Confederacy a key coastal position and open Beaufort to Union naval use.
03 / The Outcome
Late on April 25, with the fort's walls crumbling, Confederate commander Colonel Moses J. White ordered a white flag raised. Burnside's surrender terms were accepted, and Federal troops took formal possession of Fort Macon on the morning of April 26, 1862. The fall of the fort secured Union control over Beaufort Harbor and effectively completed Federal dominance of North Carolina's central coastal region.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Ambrose E. Burnside.
Side B
1 belligerent
Moses J. White.
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.