Civil War  |  Fort

Fort Macon State Park

North Carolina

2303 East Fort Macon Road
Atlantic Beach, NC 28512
United States

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Construction on this "Third System" brick fort began in 1826 to guard Beaufort Inlet and Beaufort Harbor, North Carolina's only major deepwater ocean port. The fort was then garrisoned in 1834 and named after U.S. Senator Nathaniel Macon. On April 14, 1861, local militia seized the fort for the state of North Carolina and the Confederacy. Union forces under Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside recaptured the fort in 1862. For the duration of the war, the fort protected ships recoaling in Beaufort.