The fort was constructed due to civilian agitation about the massacre in 1847 at the Whitman mission.

The indigenous Nisqually tribe attacked white settlers in the area on October 29, 1855, as a result of their dissatisfaction with the Treaty of Medicine Creek that had been imposed on them the previous year, particularly angered that their assigned reservation curtailed the traditional fishing economy.

At the conclusion of the war, Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens brought Chief Leschi of the Nisqually tribe to trial for the death of Moses during a skirmish at Connell's Prairie on October 31, 1855.

In 1871 Washington Territory repurposed the fort as an insane asylum, with the barracks serving as patient and staff housing.

[1] Four cottages from the fort remain on the site, and serve as a living history museum.