Constructed in 1797 and garrisoned by federal soldiers until 1811, the fort served as a major point of interaction between the Cherokee and the United States government as well as a way station for early migrants travelling between Knoxville and Nashville.

At the height of the American Revolution in 1779, Colonel Arthur Campbell suggested the confluence of the Clinch and Tennessee as a possible site for a fort to the governor of Virginia.

During this period, two events occurred that greatly enhanced Southwest Point's strategic importance: the construction of the Avery Trace in 1788 and the signing of the Treaty of Holston in 1791.

Territorial governor William Blount kept the militia on call for much of the early 1790s in order to protect settlers and enforce the terms of the Holston Treaty.

[6] Around the same time, lots had been sold for what eventually become the city of Kingston, named for Major Robert King, an officer stationed at the fort.

However, the first Treaty of Tellico— which Butler helped negotiate in 1798[8]— resolved many of the issues regarding squatters, and reduced the need for federal troops in the area.

Although its garrison had been reduced, Fort Southwest Point served as an office for Meigs and as a distribution center for the Cherokee "annuity" (an annual payment of goods by the U.S. government in exchange for land cessions).

Meigs immediately began negotiating with the Cherokee in hopes of obtaining permission to build a wagon road across their lands connecting Knoxville and Nashville.

These excavations uncovered nine additional structures and the palisade ditch, allowing researchers to determine the fort's original layout.