The Bombardment and Surrender of Fort Macon- April 25-26, 1862 (Walking Tour)

At 5:40 AM on April 25th Captain Morris initiated the Union bombardment of Fort Macon. Soon thereafter all 11 Union cannon were firing on the fort. Because of their fixed location only 27 of the 54 Confederate guns could return fire. Commander Lockwood led the naval squadron made up of 4 ships (Daylight, State of Georgia, Chippewa, Gunsbak) and 23 cannon opened fire at 8:40 AM for about an hour when rough seas made their guns inaccurate, and they withdrew. The Fort Macon batteries did some damage to the sand dunes in front of the land batteries that was easily repaired. Union land batteries had difficulty finding their target because the fort was shrouded in smoke due to the wind direction. Around 11:00 AM seeing that the Federal batteries were missing their target two Union Signal Corps Lieutenants William Andrews and Marvin Waitt, stationed in Beaufort, began wig-waging corrections to the signal team stationed behind the batteries which proved remarkably effective. Morris’ battery was especially accurate and concentrated their fire on the southwest angle of the inner part of the fort where one of the fort’s three magazines was located. One well aimed shot around 2:00 PM knocked out three guns and killed one and wounded five men from three Rebel crews. When the first day ended 17 of the Confederates 24 cannon were disabled and there was a 12-foot-long crack in the wall adjacent to the powder magazine. Colonel White sent Captain H.T. Guion and S.D. Pool under a flag of truce at 4:30 PM to General Parke to inquire regarding surrender terms and after negotiation the garrison was surrendered. The fort’s men marched out at 9:00 AM on April 26th. The 5th RI Artillery were given the honor of being the first Union troops to enter the fort. Of the 1150 shells fired by Union gunners more than 560 hit their target. The combination of rifled cannon guided by the Signal Corps had carried the day. The walls of the fort were no match for the power of the new and improved rifled guns. Seven Confederates were killed and 20 were wounded. The Federals lost one killed and two wounded during the bombardment. Burnside now had a deep-water ocean port to supply his forces and had completed the three major objectives of his expedition. The pictures below are from Fort Macon. The Visitor’s Center will be covered in a separate post.

Between the parking lot and the Sally Port entering the fort.

The three images below illustrate the fort’s layout. The fort has an outer masonry wall and an inner masonry wall separated by a ditch/moat.

This aerial view of the fort shows the two walls well. The northeast wall is to the left and the southwest angle of the inner wall (red dot) to the right. On the top of the walls you can see how the cannon were distributed and the potential weakness of the fort. Most of the cannon are pointed to the left- the ocean face of the fort. **To the left you can see the bridge between the two walls where one enters the inner fort. Near the top you can see the bridge that connects to the top of the outer wall.** **The red dot represents the southwest angle of the inner wall where Federal artillery concentrated their fire.**

**The** **Sally port** **to enter inner walls of the fort** **and the bridge crossing the moat**

**Looking at the top of the outer wall**

The next two pictures were taken from the bridge between the two walls.

**Looking to the left, outer wall to the left**

**Looking to the right, outer wall to the right**

**Second** **original 10-inch Siege Mortar**

The next several pictures are of different empty casemates.

**The hot shot furnace to the left of the stairwell**

**Walking up the stairwell to the top of the inner wall**

The 10-Inch Confederate Columbiad shown below was part of a shipment of cannons that were sold for scrap. The ship carrying them from Charleston to Philadelphia, the three-masted schooner Philadelphia, sank off the coast of Georgetown, South Carolina in February of 1877. The 26 cannons sank to the bottom of the ocean, but the crew was able to row to safety. The cannons remained there in 80 feet of water 18 miles off Cape Romain until Fisherman Rick Skimmyhorn rediscovered them by accident in 1997. He was curious as to what was attracting so many fish to the site and showed the site to Rufus Perdue. A dive there revealed the ship and its contents on the ocean floor. Since the wreck was in international waters, Long Bay Salvage (Rufus Perdue and Glenn Dutton owners) was able to lay claim to the wreck and the 26 cannons. He and his team were able to raise six 10-inch Columbiads made in the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond. One of these cannons (made in 1863 and raised from the ocean floor in 2013) was purchased by Fort Macon and is seen in the next two images below. It was placed in the exact same location as another 10-inch Columbiad from the Tredegar Iron Works was during the Civil War.

The bridge between the two walls.

Pictures atop the outer wall

**The southwest angle is at the far end of the inner wall to your right**

The next five pictures below are of the southwest angle where the patching is visible.

**To your lower right is the southwest angle of the inner wall where Federal gunners concentrated their fire**

Shown below is an original carronade that was cast in 1820 and served until the 1840s aboard the U.S.S. Columbus. Afterward, it remained for many years at the Norfolk Navy Yard. In 2011, the US Navy History and Heritage Command loaned this carronade to Fort Macon State Park for display. It arrived 150 years after the six original carronades were brought to Fort Macon from the same Navy Yard in 1861.