The band was formed in New Brunswick, New Jersey by Chris Ross (drums), Walt Svekla (bass), and John Fraunberger (guitar) in 1995 and self-produced a demo.
After this, Walt Svelka and Chris Ross departed and were replaced by Nate "Edge" Gluck (ex-Strength 691, Vision) and Ryan Murphy (ex-Undertow) respectively.
John Fraunberger then left the band to take up a teaching degree, but not before recording material for the first full-length album, Direction of Things to Come which came out in November 1997.
[1] Although the band had switched labels, they retained the services of the same recording studio (Trax East, South River, New Jersey) and the same producer (Steve Evetts) as their debut on Indecision for the next full-length outing, Cast the First Stone released in March 1999.
In April 2000, Indecision Records released a retrospective album of Ensign material, Three Years Two Months Eleven Days — the precise amount of time the band had spent on the label.
They took to a studio in Hoboken, New Jersey, and in seven days recorded twenty cover versions of artists such as Bad Brains, Descendents, Dag Nasty, Hüsker Dü, Misfits and Discharge, all seminal punk bands who had influenced members of Ensign in their formative years.
In November 2003, UK-based record label, Household Name released a split EP with Ensign and Leeds, England-based hardcore band Fig 4.0.