The original fort was built in 1753 on the Great Wagon Road leading from Philadelphia to North Carolina,[3]: 43  to protect the home of Ephraim Vause and his neighbors.

There is no description of the fort, but privately-built fortified homesteads of this period were typically stockades surrounding the farmhouse and outbuildings, in some cases including a crude two-storey blockhouse.

[6] Another source states that a settler who had been captured by the Indians escaped and came to the fort with a warning that the Shawnee were preparing to attack them.

[7]: 93–94 Later the same day, at "about ten in the morning," Fort Vause was attacked by 25 French soldiers together with 205 Miami, Ottawa and Shawnee warriors[3]: 43 [8]: 13  under the command of François-Marie Picoté de Belestre.

"[16] Eventually only three of the fort's defenders were still able to fight,[5]: 28, 32 [17]: 396  and their ammunition gave out,[5]: 28  at which point the garrison surrendered on condition that they be permitted to leave.

The fort's commander, Captain John Smith, was sent to England in an exchange of prisoners and returned to Virginia in early 1758.

[9]: 399  On 3 April 1758 Smith submitted a proposal to the Virginia House of Burgesses offering to lead an expedition against the Shawnee, but no action was taken.

[5]: 32 A relief expedition of 47 men sent by Major Andrew Lewis and led by Captain William Preston arrived on 26 June,[18] and found the fort abandoned.

His speech was recorded by a British prisoner, John Wotton, whose account was published in newspapers in Boston, New York and Philadelphia.

[20][3]: 46 In late 1757, Ephraim Vause attempted to organize a military expedition to rescue the prisoners, which included his wife and daughters.

[5]: 31  Vause left the Shenandoah Valley soon afterwards, moved to Kentucky, and sold his land to John Madison in 1760.

The 30-man construction crew was paid sixpence per day, but in July 1756 they demanded an additional payment of 40 pounds of tobacco daily, which Washington refused to consider.

It has cost infinitely more money than ever was intended for it, and, by the injudicious spot of ground you have chosen to fix it upon, it has caused a general clamour.

Archaeological test excavations undertaken in 1968 identified the location and general size of the second fort[25] as well as evidence of its predecessor.

[21] Artifacts uncovered during these excavations included wrought iron nails, clay pipe stems, British Brown stoneware, salt-glazed stoneware, a cast iron kettle fragment, a gunflint, lead musket balls of several different calibers, and glass bottle fragments.