history banks
The Early Days of Fort Macon Beaufort’s Importance as a Harbor Required Fortification Fort Macon was built to thwart foreign invasion. The fort and grounds have been preserved as a North Carolina State Park, and Ranger Paul Branch is a crackerjack historian who knows all. He tells us the Town of Beaufort was captured twice in its early history because “hostile ships were able to sail right into the harbor through an undefended Beaufort Inlet.” Spanish marauders invaded in 1747, creating true mayhem. (This event is noted by the North Carolina Highway Historic Marker Program with signage in Beaufort, titled “Spanish Attack.”) The Spaniards were eventually driven away by the local militia under command of Col. Thomas S. Lovick and Maj. Enoch Ward. Col. Lovick served as Carteret County’s justice of the peace as well as the port customs agent and tax collector. He was instrumental in gaining funding from the colonial assembly to build a fort using gathered and bundled wood to guard Beaufort Inlet. The fort was to be named for Arthur Dobbs, who sat as the 54
ISLAND REVIEW • September 2020
colonial governor from 1754-65. The project began in 1756 but was never completed, Branch said. Therefore, throughout the entire American Revolutionary War, Beaufort was at great risk. The colonists were jubilant when British Gen. Charles Cornwallis surrendered to America’s Gen. George Washington at Yorktown, Va., on Oct. 19, 1781. Yet, not every battle unit got the memo, as pockets of fighting continued. One such encounter occurred in Beaufort Harbor on April 4, 1782. Four British vessels sailed up the coast from Charleston, S.C., and entered Beaufort Harbor. The British boats posed as friendly ships. Townspeople did not suspect the ruse. British dragoons came ashore to ransack Beaufort once more. “The British spent the next five days pillaging and plundering the town, while skirmishing with local militiamen who had begun to gather in increasing force from neighboring communities,” Branch said. Cols. John Easton and Enoch Ward Jr. eventually assembled
