[5] In late 1755, Colonel John Armstrong wrote to Governor Robert Hunter Morris: "I am of the opinion that no other means of defense than a chain of blockhouses along or near the south side of the Kittatinny Mountains from the Susquehanna to the temporary line, can secure the lives and property of the inhabitants of this country.

[8]: 569–572  On 25 December, the Provincial Commissioners reported that "The Country all above this Town, for 50 Miles, is mostly evacuated and ruined, excepting only the Neighbourhood of the Dupuy's, five Families, which stand their Ground.

"[2]: 271 In response to these attacks, the Pennsylvania Legislature placed Benjamin Franklin and James Hamilton in charge to erect a chain of forts along the Blue Mountain in the Minisink region.

[2]: 266 Construction was evidently completed by early February, when Franklin reported that Captain Van Etten, Lieutenant Hyndshaw, and thirty men occupied the fort.

I gave some direction to alter the Bastions which at present are of very little use, it is clear all round for 300 yards, and stand on the Banks of a Large Creek, and ab't a quarter mile from the River Delaware, and I think in a very important Place for the Defence of this Frontier.

As the garrison was now reduced to about half a dozen men, Van Etten insisted that local settlers share sentry duty at night, as there had been a few attacks in the area.

On 15 June, Samuel Dupui wrote: Archaeologist Danny Younger has proposed that the Native American warriors who captured the fort killed most or all of their prisoners, who may have been the families of Moravian missionaries.