On March 25th, 1862, Morehead City, on the mainland, opposite Bogue Island, was occupied by a portion of General Parke’s division of Burnside’s army. A few days subsequently a landing had been effected on Bogue Island, and a camp established for the force selected to operate against Fort Macon. On the 11th of April the enemy’s pickets were driven in by the Fifth Rhode Island regiment and one company of the Fourth Rhode Island, and eligible localities for the batteries were selected by Captain Williamson, Topographical Engineer on General Burnside’s staff. On the next day a working party commenced the erection of the main battery, and from that time the labor proceeded night and day. The troops employed in this service were the Fourth and Fifth Rhode Island and the Eighth Connecticut regiments. The labor was most severe. The men were often on duty twenty-four hours at a time, and labored zealously to accomplish their task in the shortest possible period. What rest they got when on duty was obtained by sleeping on the sands, as no tents or barracks could be erected, since these would have informed the rebels of the location of the troops, and indicated the position of the batteries. The picket duty performed by the men was also very severe. All their work had to be done under a continuous and often severe fire from the fort. From this, however, they were protected by the peculiar formation of the ground, which consisted of a succession of sand-hills up to within about half a mile of the fort.
Previous to the bombardment the garrison were allowed to send letters to their friends at Beaufort.
Three batteries were erected for the reduction of the fort. The first was mounted with four ten-inch mortars, and was built under cover of a large sand-hill, near the edge of the marshes which line the northern shore of the island, at a distance of about 1,400 yards from the fort. This battery was allotted to Lieutenant Flagler, and manned by a portion of battery I, New York Third artillery. The second was in advance 100 yards, built and worked by Captain Lewis O. Morris, and Lieutenants Gowan and Pollock. Three long thirty-pound siege Parrott guns, rifled, composed its armament. The last battery consisted of four eight-inch mortars. It stood 100 yards in advance of the second battery, and was placed in charge of Lieutenant Prouty, and manned by a detachment of battery I, Third New York artillery. Rifle-pits and trenches were also excavated.
On the 24th of April, the preparations having been completed, General Burnside arrived from Newbern, on the steamer Alice Price, having in tow two barges, the Schrapnel and Grenade, fitted up as floating batteries, each armed with two thirty-pound Parrott guns. The Schrapnel had in addition a twelve-pounder rifled Ward gun. They anchored about three miles below the fort.
During the afternoon a flag of truce was sent to the fort, in charge of Captain Biggs, of General Burnside’s staff, with a demand for its surrender. Colonel White refused to yield to the demand, and announced his purpose to defend the fort to the last extremity. An understanding was obtained, however, that the commander should have a personal interview with General Burnside on the following morning.
Accordingly, at an early hour on the 25th, the steamer Alice Price, under a flag of truce, proceeded down the bay to a point previously indicated, where General Burnside was soon joined by Colonel White. The meeting was courteous. Colonel White said that he had been placed in command of the fort for the purpose of holding it, and should defend it to the best of his ability.
On the following morning, the 26th, the Federal forces took their respective posts at an early hour. The morning mists had not yet disappeared, when orders were given for the opening of the siege, and before six o’clock the loud thunder of the guns and the deep boom of the heavy mortars broke on the ears of the sleeping citizens of Beaufort, and roused the slumbering garrison of the belligerent fort. Booming loudly over the waters, and rolling away in the distance, the explosions followed in rapid succession for half an hour before the garrison was ready to respond. When prepared, the rebels bravely assumed their allotted positions, manned their guns, and Fort Macon opened upon the national flag.
During the forenoon the eight-inch mortar battery of Lieutenant Prouty sent its shells with regularity and precision into the fort, and at each explosion the red dirt and sand of the glacis’ slopes, ramparts, parapets and terrepleins were dashed in a cloud many feet into the air. The flagstaff, with its defiant colors floating at the top, was at times completely obscured in the smoke and dust which rose with the bursting of the missiles. The ten-inch mortar battery was not so successful in the morning. The shells from it burst beyond or high in air over the fort, scattering the fragments of iron far and wide into the water; but in the afternoon the battery played with an effect that was evidenced in the decreased fire from the fort.
The battery of Parrott guns under command of Captain Morris, in the mean time, kept up an incessant fire upon the ramparts. The difficulty of obtaining accurate range was for some time experienced, and the shots either went over the fort, ricocheting across the water towards Shackleford Banks, or fell short and buried themselves in the sand and glacis on its westerly side. But the range grew more accurate with every shot, and from twelve o’clock until the close of the fight Captain Morris seldom failed to plant his terrible conical balls among the guns, on the edges of the ramparts, and against the walls. The latter were pierced in two places, the balls passing through into the casemates, from which their unceremonious visit hastily expelled the occupants. Wherever these shots struck they tore through all obstacles with a force that hurled fragments of iron and brick, stones, grass-sods and sand bags about in every direction. Many of the rebels were knocked down senseless by the flying sods. When it is considered that the walls of the fort were protected by the slopes of the glacis, the accuracy of the firing from the Parrott battery will be perceived. That part of the walls just protruding above the ramparts of the glacis was the only target presented whereat to aim for the purpose of penetrating the casemates.
About two o’clock, P. M., Major Allen went out with a flag of truce to carry letters written to the garrison from their friends in Beaufort. Many of these entreated the officers to prevail upon Colonel White to surrender the fort. Some ladies in Beaufort set on foot a petition to that effect.