[2] Captain Randolph B. Marcy was assigned to select the site and oversee construction of the fort, named to honor the recently deceased General Matthew Arbuckle.

Eventually the fort consisted of thirty buildings constructed of hewn logs, with stone chimneys.

Many of the buildings were in a poor state of repair; ordnance stores were depleted; and surplus ammunition and gunpowder had to be buried in order to be weather protected.

Although Fort Arbuckle was briefly occupied by Confederate troops, no battle occurred in the vicinity, and it played no part in the war.

In 1868 General Philip Sheridan planned to use Fort Arbuckle as a supply depot for his campaigns against the Comanche.