Description: 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 Berne. 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. This action demonstrated the inadequacy of masonry forts against large-bore, rifled artillery.

Previously, the Union forces had successfully demonstrated its Anaconda Plan by blockading the North Carolina coast, securing the barrier islands and outer banks, and capturing the vital and strategic locations of Hatteras Inlet Batteries, Roanoke Island, and New Bern. The fall of Fort Macon, consequently, was a continuation of the Federal demonstration to strengthen its blockade and secure the North Carolina coast.

Result(s): Union victory

Sources: National Park Service; Autobiography of General Winfield Scott, New York. 1864.