Fort Dobbs' primary structure was a blockhouse with log walls, surrounded by a shallow ditch, and by 1759, a palisade.

Between 1756 and 1761, the fort was garrisoned by a variable number of soldiers, many of whom were sent to fight in Pennsylvania and the Ohio River Valley during the French and Indian War.

[3] In 1747, approximately 100 men of suitable age to serve in the colonial militia lived in North Carolina west of present-day Hillsborough.

Within three years, North Carolina's frontier population increased, driven by the immigration of Scots-Irish, England, and German settlers traveling from Pennsylvania on the Great Wagon Road.

[5] In 1755, Governor Arthur Dobbs ordered the construction of a fortified log structure for the protection of settlers in Rowan County from French-allied Native American attacks.

[6] Dobbs stated in a letter on August 24, 1755, to the Board of Trade that the fort was needed "to assist the back settlers and be a retreat to them as it was beyond the well settled Country, only straggling settlements behind them, and if I had placed [Waddell's garrison] beyond the Settlements without a fortification they might be exposed, and be no retreat for the Settlers, and the Indians might pass them and murder the Inhabitants, and retire before they durst go to give them notice".

[16][17] Hugh Waddell, who had close ties to Governor Dobbs and commanded the "Frontier Company" of Provincial soldiers in 1755, oversaw construction of the fort.

The land on which the fort was located was a part of a 560-acre (230 ha; 0.88 sq mi) tract owned first by one James Oliphant, then by a Fergus Sloan.

Francis Brown and future governor Richard Caswell, commissioners appointed by Dobbs to inspect frontier defenses,[19] wrote the following report to the North Carolina General Assembly on December 21, 1756: [Brown and Caswell] had likewise viewed the State of Fort Dobbs and found it to be a good and Substantial Building of the Dimentions [sic] following (that is to say) The Oblong Square fifty three feet by forty, the opposite Angles Twenty four feet and Twenty-Two In height Twenty four and a half feet as by the Plan annexed Appears, The Thickness of the Walls which are made of Oak Logs regularly Diminished from sixteen Inches to Six, it contains three floors and there may be discharged from each floor at one and the same time about one hundred Musketts [sic] the same is beautifully scituated [sic] in the fork of Fourth Creek a Branch of the Yadkin River.

The governor gave specific instructions on July 18, 1756, in a letter sent from New Bern to Waddell and two other men, stating: I have given Orders to make you or any two of You a Commission as often as Necessary to go and make complaints to the Chief Sachims of the Cherokee and Catauba Nations when any Murders Robberies or Depredations are made by any of their People upon the English and to know whether it is done by their Orders or Allowance and if not to give up the Delinquents if Known or then when not Known that they should give Strict Orders to their Hnnters [sic] and warriors not to rob Kill or abuse the English Planters their Bretheren and Destroy their Horses cows Swine or Corn and if they should afterwards do it that the English their Bretheren would be Obliged to repell force with force and in Case they dont own to what Nation they belong that they will be treated as other Indian Nations in alliance with our Enemies the French who are now Spiriting them up to make war against us.

[25]In addition to warning nearby natives against attacking settlers in the Carolinas, Dobbs also charged Waddell with attempting to keep peace with the Catawba.

During the Anglo-Cherokee War of 1759–1761, the fort served as the base for a soldiers tasked with repelling Cherokee raids in the western portion of the province.

The Anglo-Cherokee War began in 1759 after the capture of Fort Duquesne by the British and their native allies, including the Cherokee.

[33] The violence committed by the Cherokee against American settlers continued, which in turn caused the colonial authorities to seek better relations with the Creek and Catawba nations.

[34] The Catawba, who were allied to the provinces of North and South Carolina, were only able to provide minimal assistance to the settlers, as that tribe had been decimated by smallpox in 1759 and early 1760.

Several of the signatories for the Cherokee intended to disavow their promises as soon as they were able, in order to seek retribution for the capture of their peace delegations.

Ensigns Coytmore and Bell of Fort Prince George, along with some soldiers, raped several Cherokee women in Estatoe, including the wife of Seroweh, a pro-peace leader.

[38] Many of the Cherokee captives held at Fort Prince George were murdered in their jail cells in mid-February, 1760 after an attempt was made to rescue them.

[39] Lyttelton, who was soon appointed Governor of Jamaica, requested assistance from Dobbs, but North Carolina's militia could not be convinced to serve outside of its home province due to long-standing custom.

Colonel Archibald Montgomerie, 11th Earl of Eglinton led a force of 1737 British Soldiers on a punitive campaign against the Cherokee.

Hampered by South Carolina's unwillingness to assist, his troops slowly made their way west, attacking and burning 10 Cherokee Towns between June 2 and 3rd.

On July 24, Montgomerie's troops began their march north, and were defeated three days later in the Battle of Echoee Pass.

Simultaneously, Lt Col. James Grant, 4th of Ballindalloch led a force of nearly 2800 British and South Carolina Provincial Soldiers, and Native American Allies in a second attack of the Cherokee Middle Settlements.

[44] With the Anglo-Cherokee War ended, North Carolina refused to fund troops to garrison Fort Dobbs.

On March 7, 1764, the North Carolina General Assembly's Committee on Public Claims recommended to Governor Dobbs that stores and supplies be removed from the fort to spare the government further expense in upkeep.

By 1910, the Chapter erected a stone marker at the site, and in 1915, it purchased the 10 acres of land surrounding the original donated parcel.

[53] From these comparisons, the contemporary description of the fort, and the soil record, Babits concluded that the "opposite angles" described by Francis Brown in 1756 actually referred to "flankers", or square wooden structures attached to the corner of the fort that would have allowed defending soldiers to shoot into the flank of any attacking forces surrounding the building.