The gruesome death of a Civil War soldier haunts Fort Macon – Shaffer
FORT MACON
In April of 1862, the Confederate Army huddled inside Fort Macon as Union cannons blasted from all sides, raining down shells in a bombardment that lasted 11 hours.
Their commander, Col. Moses J. White, refused to surrender the seaside stronghold – originally built to keep Beaufort safe from pirates. But nearly half the rebels were too sick to fight that day, making long odds even longer. Some had already floated toy boats across the channel, packing them with hopeful letters home.
One luckless soldier stood sentinel that day: Ben Combs, only 25. He’d volunteered in the potent months after secession, leaving his wife, Eliza, on their Wayne County farm, marching to the Atlantic Ocean for what was likely the first time. And as he stood with a rifle on his shoulder, a mortar shell dropped out of the sky and landed on a hill nearby, rolling down to him with its long fuse still whizzing.
When it exploded, it blew open his back and knocked five ribs into his lungs. It took him five days to die, and not long after, Eliza began collecting the small payment offered by the state, wearing a widow’s black.
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