[4] Conrad Weiser visited Aughwick in September 1754 and found it surrounded by fields of corn, squash and pumpkins as well as "about twenty cabins [with]...at least 200 Indians, men, women and children.

"[6]: 395 In September 1755, Croghan began fortifying his post[7]: 88  to protect against Native American attacks after General Edward Braddock's defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela.

Croghan wrote to Major General William Johnson that "I have been Oblig'd to Rase a Volunteer Company on My own Expense and am building a Small Stockade fort.

He received numerous warnings from his Native American friends, including Scarouady, to leave or his fort would be destroyed.

In March 1756 he resigned, unhappy with the way the Provincial government was managing the war, and Captain Hugh Mercer took command of Fort Shirley.

[11] On 18 April, Mercer wrote to Governor Morris that he found the 30-man garrison preparing to desert as they had not been paid for several months.

[9]: 105  On 2 August 1756, the French succeeded in taking Granville, killing the lieutenant in charge of the fort and capturing 22 soldiers, 3 women, and 5 or 6 children.

Troops gathered at Fort Shirley and made their way through a roadless stretch of mountains and forest to the village, which they destroyed on 8 September 1756, killing Captain Jacobs and rescuing 11 captives.

[5] In 2009, a metal detector survey uncovered musket balls and pewter buttons dating to the 18th century, in addition to a copper charm which probably belonged to an African slave or indentured servant, bearing the inscription "No god but Allah" in Arabic.

[17][18] In 2011, the Pennsylvania State University archaeological field school found several charred palisade logs that may have been part of the fort's stockade, as well as wire-wound glass trade beads, a Jew's harp, Native American pottery sherds and flint tools.