Fort Macon

USA / North Carolina / Beaufort /
 fortification, American Civil War 1861-1865
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This fort was begun in 1833 as part of the Third System of fortifications.
As of 1851, it was intended to be armed with twelve 32-pounder seacoast guns, twenty-two 24-pounder guns, four 18-pounder guns, 4 12-pounder guns, three field pieces, six flank howitzers, six 8" heavy seacoast howizters, two 10" heavy mortars and two coehorn mortars, for a total of 61 guns.

Captured by North Carolina state militia when the state seceeded, the fort was taken after a short siege by a Federal joint Army/Navy force in 1862.
After only two days of bombardment, 19 guns of the fort had been dismounted, and the magazine was in danger of blowing up. The relative ease with which the fort was taken led to a reassessment of the various Third System forts in use across the south.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Macon
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Coordinates:   34°41'46"N   76°40'43"W

Comments

  • there was an incident here during WWII where an old confederate shell killed a soldier who was stationed here. that was the last casualty of the civil war this was used to protect the inlet from German U-boats at the time.
This article was last modified 13 years ago