It was erected to secure the region against the French in upstate New York near the town of Crown Point, and it was the largest earthen fortress built in the American colonies.

The French built a fortress at Crown Point in the 1730s with 12-foot (3.7 m) thick limestone walls named Fort Saint-Frédéric.

Amherst used the construction of the fort as a means of keeping his men working through the winter of 1759 after pushing the French into Canada.

According to archaeologist David R. Starbuck, Crown Point was "the greatest British military installation ever raised in North America.

Seth Warner and 100 Green Mountain Boys on May 12, 1775 in the battle of Crown Point at the start of the Revolutionary War.