{"id":1339,"date":"2012-12-15T10:07:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-15T15:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=1339"},"modified":"2024-09-18T14:23:12","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T18:23:12","slug":"people-and-places-strongholds-of-the-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/people-and-places-strongholds-of-the-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"PEOPLE AND PLACES: Strongholds of the Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Scattered along the banks of the Cape Fear River, Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic Ocean are several historic coastal forts. Each provides a glimpse into our state’s past, from the American Revolutionary War to as recently as the Persian Gulf War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some are visible structural fortifications with noticeable additions of stone, brick or concrete that have aged throughout the years. Others are only identifiable by a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker placed near where the earthwork or stronghold once stood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Located in Atlantic Beach, Fort Macon is a state park. “It is a unique place, rich in history and nature, a recreation and an attraction area that will appeal to the family,” says Paul Branch, historian and park ranger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A unique bit of history occurred at Fort Macon in late 1941. A soldier placed two old Civil War cannonballs in a fireplace of the living quarters to serve as andirons. One cannonball was live and abruptly exploded into a full room of soldiers from the 244th Coast Artillery. Fortunately no one was killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This incident “has been remembered ever since as the ‘last shot of the Civil War,’ because the 244th Coast Artillery originally was the Ninth New York National Guard,” Branch recalls in a 1995 issue of Ramparts, a publication of the Friends of Fort Macon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pentagonal fort had been constructed between 1826 and 1834 to bolster North Carolina’s coastal defenses, especially to guard Beaufort Inlet and Harbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Confederate forces occupied Fort Macon for the first year of the Civil War. It fell to Union control in 1862, after the fort took heavy artillery fire from land and sea. The Union controlled the fort for the remainder of the war and Beaufort Inlet became a vital repair and coaling station for the Union’s Navy blockade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the Reconstruction Era, the fortification became a civil and military prison for roughly a decade due to the lack of state and federal penitentiaries. In the early 1900s, the U.S. Army abandoned the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
North Carolina acquired the fort and surrounding land in 1924 for a public park. After restoration work by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression, the park officially opened in May 1936. This was the second state park, after Mount Mitchell State Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In World War II, the U.S. Army garrisoned the old fort to protect the coast against the threat of German U-boats lurking offshore. The Army returned the fort to state control in 1946.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fort currently is considered “one of the best-preserved examples of 19th-century fortifications in the country,” Branch says. “It is one of the most visited state parks and is a huge tourist draw that brings money to the local economy.” Tours and reenactments depict life in the fort during the Civil War. Fort Macon State Park is open year-round for visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Whether through a narrated public demonstration on drill, small arms, the artillery pieces or simpler aspects of fort life such as cooking or serving as a sentry, the Living Historians that participate in the programming at Fort Macon State Park help bring the fort to life…literally,” says Lee Gordon, adjutant of the First N.C. Volunteers\/11th N.C. State Troops Civil War Reenactment Regiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once the largest earthen fortification in the world, Fort Fisher is a state historic site with a namesake state recreation area nearby. Located in Kure Beach, Fort Fisher is “rich in Civil War history, and is in a fabulous location near the coast and Cape Fear River,” says Si Lawrence, III, the historic site’s public information officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The fort is sacred ground where thousands of soldiers gave their lives for what they believed was right. The fort gives visitors the opportunity to learn about and appreciate those sacrifices,” Lawrence explains. It was constructed in 1861 to protect valuable blockade-runners traveling to ports along the Cape Fear River. In particular, the Confederate forces needed the port town of Wilmington to export their naval supplies. Wilmington would become the last southern port open to trade during the Civil War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fort Fisher was attacked twice through the Civil War. During the first attempt on Christmas Eve 1864, the Confederates thwarted the Union forces by land and sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
General Ulysses S. Grant considered this attack “a gross and culpable failure,” the N.C. Historic Sites website notes. Union troops intentionally exploded USS Louisiana off the shoreline of Fort Fisher with the objective of destroying the earthen walls of the fort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ship was loaded with 215 tons of powder and anchored roughly 300 yards from the Northeast Bastion of Fort Fisher. However, it drifted off location. When USS Louisiana exploded, no damage was caused to Fort Fisher because the explosion occurred so far off target, the online history continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n