Fort Dobbs is a historical site located in Statesville, North Carolina. The fort was constructed in 1755 and abandoned by 1766. Though it’s life was short and it only saw one engagement, Fort Dobbs has an important place in North Carolina history. The Fort served many functions during it’s time. It was a safe haven for both settlers and Indian allies, a center for trade, brought previously inaccessible services such as blacksmithing, and represented the military backing of the British Army on the edge of the western frontier. After the end of the French and Indian War and the peace treaty with the Cherokee, Fort Dobbs was abandoned as the frontier expanded rapidly to the west forgotten to history until Fort Dobbs is currently being reconstructed through multiple sources of funding on its original site outside of Statesville.
Governor of the North Carolina Colony, Arthur Dobbs, set out on the 17th of June in 1755 to “view his lands and fix a place to station the Frontier Company”. This was in response to the growing attacks on the colonial inhabitants and mounting tensions with the natives who were believed to be instigated by the French. A military presence was in order due to the many threats surrounding the western settlements. The French and Indian War was threatening to inhabit land from Canada to Louisiana and had already sparked open war fare in Virginia. There were also land disputes between South Carolina and North Carolina. Governor Dobbs wrote “…Mr. Glen’s ill-judged proposal or make these Indians ill neighbors, who at present upon it go and shoot the Planters Cattle and Hogs, and go into their Houses and take what they please, having been supported by him, and I hope you will not delay fixing the Boundary Line”.
The inhabitants of the region were fearful and steadily abandoning the settlements west of the Yadkin River. During a span of 3 years, from 1755 to 1758, the taxable inhabitants decreased from 1,531 to less than 800. Governor Dobbs was joined by Captain Hugh Waddell and a regimen of 50 men. The goal was to survey the western frontier and establish a military presence to fortify colonial expansion to the west. Governor Dobbs also had a personal interest in securing this area as he owned 200,000 acres of land in this region himself and many settlers of the area were from his birthplace of Antrim County, Ireland. Governor Dobbs and Waddell decided to erect the western fort in the Fourth Creek area, just inside the established bounds of the frontier and within view of the South Carolina border.
Funding for the defense of the western frontier was approved by the General Assembly on September 25, 1755. Monies in the amount of 10,000 pounds were to be distributed to erect a fort in an appropriate locations as well as to raise and arm three companies of soldiers to occupy the region. (NC General Assembly, Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly 1755) Fort Dobbs began construction under the supervision of Waddell in the fall of 1755. Its design is believed to have been conceived and drafted by Governor Dobbs. In a letter Dobbs later wrote to the Earl of Loudon regarding needing an engineer to build a fort, Dobbs wrote “As I have no engineer here, nor know how to get one, I was obliged act as engineer myself, and have accordingly, drawn up a plan” Construction was completed one year later. Fort Dobbs was described in detail by Francis Brown and Richard Caswell in a letter they wrote to the General Assembly on December 21, 1756. They found it to be a “good and substantial building” and listed the strategic design and specifics of the construction.
They also stated in their correspondence that the western frontier was “mostly defenseless except for the area around Fort Dobbs” and urged that another fort be erected. Waddell was later dispatched to South Carolina to assist with the erection of a Fort for the Catawba Indians in response to a treaty agreement stating that the English should provide a Fort in each Indian territory to serve a protection for Indian families should the warriors be dispatched to fight against the French. (Waddell and Waddell) The intent was to build an exact replica of Fort Dobbs but construction was halted due to disagreement between the Catawba Indians, SC Governor Lyttleton, and NC Governor Dobbs. (Coggins)
Fort Dobbs served as a safe haven for the surrounding are during this uncertain time. It was a permanent defensive outpost established to dissuade attacks by the French and Indians and was occupied by, at minimum, fifty men and easily fortified by another two companies of fifty men each. It served as center for trade amongst the native people and settlers. The Cherokee were allies at this time and found the fort beneficial. The establishment of the fort brought services such as blacksmithing to the Cherokee and allowed them to trade their crafts and wares for supplies and goods that were previously inaccessible. Tensions continued to mount between the Cherokee and British politics in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia. Attacks were becoming frequent towards the end of 1759 with many settlers and Cherokee killed in retaliations.
The isolation of the western frontier made it’s settlers an easy target. On February 27, 1760, Fort Dobbs was attacked by the Cherokee (Waddell and Waddell). The Cherokee were unsuccessful in their raid on the fort and that would be the only action seen by its walls. Waddell wrote a detailed description of the event to Governor Dobbs depicting the casualties he suffered and the casualties he believed inflicted upon the enemy. In his letter he also stated his intent to pursue the Cherokee. (H. Waddell) Whether he did engage or not is uncertain but it is know that Grant’s campaign destroyed 15 Cherokee towns and drove an estimated 5,000 Cherokee into the mountains. (Anderson) Fort Dobbs was no longer needed for protection of the colonial settlers due to the eradication of the Cherokee and dispatch of the French and Indian war. The NC General Assembly requested removal of goods from the fort in 1764 and the fort was deconstructed in 1766. (Lefler and William)
Fort Dobbs has since been resurrected. The Daughters of the American Revolution obtained a small piece of land that was the footprint of Fort Dobbs in 1909. The DAR erected a granite historic marker on the site in 1910. It was not until 1967 that official excavations began and by 1968, the official location of the original fort had been determined. Fort Dobbs became a historic site in 1973. It was not until the early 2000 that further work would be done. An archaeologist from Eastern Carolina University, Lawrence Babits, undertook a large excavation to determine if it were possible to reconstruct the fort in a historically accurate manner. In 2006, he unveiled the potential reconstruction of Fort Dobbs. Construction of the Fort is still under way.
If you visit Fort Dobbs today, you will find it sitting on a grassy field with open views in most directions as now there are some trees impeding the view. There is a small visitors shop that has been constructed of old logs from other old structures in North Carolina. Inside are depictions of the fort, information regarding the reconstruction, artifacts gathered from the site, depictions of colonial times, and some physical replicas of clothing and munitions from that era. You can walk a nature trail around the site where you will find some other small structures to depict the wasy of life around the fort. Fort Dobbs hosts re-enactment events on occasion. Fort Dobbs also offers educational programming where a person will come to your school dressed in regalia to talk about the historical significance of the Fort and it’s time frame. Fort Dobbs will also host customized tours for school groups on site.
Certain events require a fee but in general, admission to the grounds are free. The Fort itself is still under construction. It is currently built up to the second floor. You may walk around the perimeter of the construction site but are not allowed within. The representation of the era seems accurate though there is not a lot of information regarding the relationships with the different groups of settlers and Indian tribes. It clearly describes it role as an outpost on the western frontier as well as it’s skirmish with the Cherokee in 1760.
Though Fort Dobbs was only in service for a few years, it has significant historical value. It is the only historic site in North Carolina with ties to the French and Indian war. At it’s inception, it was the only fort of the colony not on the coast but it represented the power of the British army and determination of it’s intent to settle the western lands. While it only cost around 1,000 pounds to build Fort Dobbs in 1755 (which equates to around 170,000 pounds today or 216,000 dollars), it is estimated that the current reconstruction will cost 2.6 million to complete.
