Fort Macon Replaced Fort Hampton

Fort Hampton guarded North Carolina's Beaufort Inlet during the War of 1812.  After Fort Hampton's destruction, Fort Macon replaced it.

Interior Shot Of Fort Macon

From the North Carolina State Park site:

...a small masonry fort named Fort Hampton was built to guard Beaufort Inlet during 1808-09. This fort guarded the inlet during the subsequent War of 1812, but it was abandoned shortly after the end of the war. Shore erosion, combined with a hurricane in 1825, swept this fort into Beaufort Inlet by 1826.

The War of 1812 demonstrated the weakness of existing coastal defenses of the United States and prompted the US government into beginning construction on an improved chain of coastal fortifications for national defense. The present fort, Fort Macon, was a part of this chain.


From North Carolina War of 1812 Bicentennial's website's History of Fort Hampton:

"The citizens of Beaufort felt proud and secure with their new fort when the country at last went to war with Great Britain in the War of 1812. During the war, the presence of the fort forced British warships to keep their distance. Apparently the British believed the fort was quite formidable, because they never attacked it."