North Carolina Historic Sites

Fort Dobbs

The French & Indian War

England and France had been enemies for centuries before either claimed parts of the New World. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the struggle for power between the English and French in North America had reached a crescendo. Great Britain's colonies extended down the Atlantic Coast while French territory formed an arc from Canada to the Mississippi Delta. The continuing contest for control of lands finally led to war, with the British and their Native American allies opposing the French and their Native American allies. The nine-year French and Indian War conflict began in the Ohio Valley in 1754 and spread throughout the world. In Europe, the war was referred to as the Seven Years' War.

Attacks on the vulnerable Pennsylvania and Virginia frontiers, by French and Native American forces eager for territory, forced many settlers to flee south down the Great Wagon Road to the Carolinas.

When war began, North Carolina leaders fortified the coast against possible invasion. Unprotected frontier settlements were considered at risk from Indians friendly to the French.

In 1754, Arthur Dobbs called on the North Carolina Assembly to implement and support defensive measures for the province. He concluded his address with an appeal to hold on to the spirit of liberty and civil rights and "hand them down to our posterity." Dobbs persuaded the 1755 legislature to fund “a Barrack and Fort for the Company on the Western Frontier” to protect settlers, colonial land investments and the imperial ambitions of the English crown. One year later, Fort Dobbs was built to protect settlers of the Carolina Piedmont and their Native American allies on the westernmost frontier of North Carolina.

The Fort & it's Role

In 1756, Fort Dobbs was constructed by a company of provincial rangers. The new fort was located in the Piedmont region near the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and was named for royal governor of the colony, Arthur Dobbs. Fort Dobbs served as the official Colonial North Carolina frontier headquarters.

A report to the North Carolina assembly, prepared by Richard Caswell and Francis Brown shortly after construction, contains the only known contemporary description of Fort Dobbs. The report noted:

... a good and Substantial Building of the Dimentions following (that is to say) The Oblong Square fifty three feet by forty, the opposite Angles Twenty four feet and Twenty-two, In height Twenty four and a half feet as by the Plan annexed Appears, The Thickness of the Walls which are made of Oak Logs regularly Diminished from sixteen Inches to Six, it contains three floors and there may be discharged from each floor at one and the same time about one hundred Musketts the same is beautifully scittuated in the fork of Fourth Creek a Branch of the Yadkin River.

Waddell and his provincial rangers headquartered at the fort, scouting the backcountry for the protection of frontier colonists. During periods of extreme danger, colonists occasionally left their homes and camped near the protective log walls of the fort.

On the night of February 27, 1760, a raiding party of sixty to seventy Cherokee Indians were repelled by Waddell's Rangers during the only direct attack ever attempted against Fort Dobbs. Waddell described the encounter in a dispatch to Governor Dobbs:

We had not marched 300 yds from the fort when we were attacked by at least 60 or 70 Indians ... We recd the Indian's fire: When I perceived they had almost all fired, I ordered my party to fire which We did not further than 12 Steps each loaded with a Bullet and 7 Buck shot, they had nothing to cover them as they were advancing either to tomahawk or make us prisoners ... the Indians were soon repulsed with I am sure a considerable Loss, from what I myself saw as well as those I can confide in they cou'd not have less that 10 or 12 killed and wounded ... On my sided I had 2 Men wounded one of whom I am afraid will die as he is scalped, the other is in a way of Recovery, and one boy killed near the fort.

By 1761, the British had essentially won the war in North America and only thirty troops remained at the fort. The legislature soon disbanded the company as settlement along the western frontier moved 50 miles west of the fort. The following year, the colonial assembly chose to dismantle the fort and remove supplies.

For more information visit: North Carolina Historic Sites - Fort Dobbs