Fort Saunders, a solid log house of two stories, was probably constructed in or before May 1856, becoming a stronghold for southerners who settled the area.
Daniel Woodson, kept a number of U.S. muskets for the defense of Douglas County inside his fortress home.
On this same day Maj. David S. Hoyt, a partisan of the northern cause, made his way to the fort to learn all he could about the conditions there.
Hoyt was not harmed while at the fort, but on his return trip he was brutally murdered and his body was mutilated before it was buried in a shallow grave.
On August 15 a group of possibly 400 to 500 men, including the Stubbs, led by James H. Lane, moved toward Fort Saunders.
Pickets from Fort Saunders saw the approaching men and the entire command under Treadwell fled without firing a shot.
[6] Woodson claimed the muskets allotted for the defense of Douglas County at the fort were stolen by the northerners.