over the fort, falling harmlessly into 

 the water beyond. As the crisp morn- 

 ing changed to a warm noon, the shots 

 began to rain upon the fort with more 

 accuracy. A Union signalman sta- 

 tioned at Beaufort had a bird's-eye 

 view of the attack. As the Union 

 artillerymen fired, he signaled to them 

 ways to adjust their aim. 



Meanwhile, the Confederates in 

 Fort Macon were slinging their own 

 powerful artillery at their Union oppo- 

 nents. But the shells failed to shut 

 down the Union thrust. Because the 

 Rebs had no mortars, the Union troops 

 avoided the fort's guns by simply 

 ducking behind the dunes. The big 

 guns could only fire in a straight line. 



During the battle, Bumside or- 

 dered an attack on the fort by sea. But 

 this proved to be the Confederates' 

 only victory of the day. No seagoing 

 craft could match the fort's great guns. 



For 1 1 hours the two sides bom- 

 barded each other. The Yanks fired 

 more than 1,000 shells at the fort, 

 with about 565 hitting their mark. 

 Amazingly, the dead included only 

 seven Confederates and one Union 

 soldier — one who failed to heed the 

 warning, "Duck!" 



But the fort was a shambles. 

 What had been hailed as one of the 

 finest forts of its kind had been re- 

 duced to rubble. The Union's rifled 

 cannons had thrust their bombs with 

 such accuracy and force that some 

 areas of the fort were literally split- 

 ting under the pressure. The missiles 

 struck ever closer to the fort's main 

 gunpowder magazines. White knew 

 he was outnumbered. He feared a 

 gigantic explosion and the loss of 

 many lives. Realizing he was being 

 attacked by the same people who had 

 designed Fort Macon, the colonel 

 raised the white flag of truce. 



Later, White and Bumside agreed 

 to simple terms: the fort would be 

 turned over to the U.S. government, 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 17 



