The fort was erected by Col. William Clapham, with the order of Governor Morris, and guarded by a garrison of the Third Battalion of the Pennsylvania Provincial Regiment.

He picked the site along the Susquehanna due to its proximity to a vast stand of pine timber that could be used for construction and because it was near a water-powered sawmill on Armstrong Creek.

In a June 11 letter to Governor Morris, Clapham noted that the site he chose for the fort was suitable in part due to "...the vast Plenty of Pine Timber at Hand, its nearness to Shamokin and a Saw within a Quarter of a Mile."

[9] Excavations by staff and students of the PennDOT Highway Archaeological Survey Team, in the area where the fort was believed to have stood, started in 2011-2013 and continued in 2014-2015.

[10] In June, 2023 renewed excavations led by archaeologists from Juniata College uncovered stones believed to be part of a barracks hearth, arrow points, musket balls, a bone die, a watch winding key, a copper button, and fragments of hand-painted Delft pottery from Europe.