HISTORICAL RESEARCH REPORT
FOR
FORT OOBBS , IREDElL COUNTY
•
•
FORT DOBBS
A HIS'IDRICAL RESEARCH REPORT
by
Jerry C. Cashion
1968
State Department of Archives and History
Raleigh, North Carolina
•
•
PART ONE
On October 6, 1754 t he storm - ravabe~ H . w. S Garl and p ut
into Hampton , Vriginia . Among the passengers was the long
awaited ~overnor for the Province o f North Carolina , Arthur
Dobhs . He was received by Lieutenant Governor Robert
Dinwiddie of Virginia , who took his guest to Wi l liamsturg .
Here the two officials awaited the ir counterpart from
1-v.aryland , Horatio Sharpe , who arrived on October 19 . Dobbs
acquainted Dinwiddie and Sharpe with t he latest i nstructions
from :ngland . Later the three con.ered on how to defend the
backcountry of the reGion from the continual harass~ent of
the Fre~ch and their Indian allies . Already provincial
troops had engaged the French in brisk fi ght in~ on the
Vir inia f rontier , and new outbreaks were anticipated daily •
•
•
•
~en the meeting was comp l eted Dobbs journeyed southward
to assume his new du ... ies , arriving in North Carolina in
1
late October .
~orth Carolina was already caught up in the Anglo­French
conflict before the arrival of her third doyal
3
gov~rnor . President !._etthew Rowan had a nswered Dinwiddie ' s
appeal for aid with a generosity that was little short of
a miracle considering the impoverished condition of the
faction- ridden province . At Rowan ' s insiste~ce , asse~blymen
from the Sound region and th~ Cape Fear area put away their
differences to provide for the raisin~ of a force of 7 50
men t o march to the aid of Virginia in the spring of 1754 .
This regiment , nhich was destined to fall upon hard times ,
was commanded by Colonel James Innes . One of the junior
officers who accompanied Innes to the VirgiLia frontier
was a young immit;rant who had only recently arrived in the
2
province , Lieutenant Hugh Waddell .
Wadd~ll was just one of the thousands of immigrants who
uere changing the face and complexion of North Carolina .
5
Most of the new ar!'ivals swarmed into the bac country.
1
~~snond Clarke, ~thur ~obbs, ~s~uire . (G~apel Hil l:
The Univ.rsity of North Carolina Pr~~s , 1957) , p . l08 ff .
Alfred l~oore ·,addell , A Colonial Officer and His TLles
1754-1775 . (~aleigh: ~dwards and Broughton , ~O~p . 28 .
--3--
See, Robert \7 . Rams a y , Carolina Cradle ; Sdttleme.:Lt of
the North st Carolina Frontier , 1?47- 1762 . ( G~apel Hill :
The University of North Carolina Press~64 ) •
~ President Rowan had found about on ~ hundred fighting men
west of the fall line when he visited that r~eion in 17~6 .
Even as late as 1752 Bishop Spangenberg noted that there
was only one house v.i thin s.:.xty n il ~ s of the area that he
5
selected as a new home for his ~oravian followers . But
times l'l'ere changing at a rapid pace , and i!l the following
year RO\Jan observed that in the three Vlt!stern counties of
Orange, Roue~ and Anson , . the fighting men numb ~ red "at
least three thousand for the most part Irish Pro~~~tants
6
and dayley increasing . "
The two large st tribes situabed on the frontier o f
the province were the Catawbas arrd the Ch~rokees, both
at t:is time nominel allies of the British ~ericans . The
4
Cherokees number ~· <l about 2 , 600 ilarriors , but the nation was
7
4
divided into at lePst five loose- knit factions . On the other
rand , the 240 Catawba warriors .ere rather closely controlled
8
by their ruler , King Hagler .
4
Ro-:an to Bo~rd o!' T.tade , 28 .Tune 1753 in iilliaJ L . Sau.n"l~rs ,
~d ., ~hn Colonial ~ecords of Jorth Carolina . ( RaleiGh : ~he State
of North Carol~na} , volume-v, J4 . (H re:naftvr cited as Colonial
Records} .
5
Spangenberg Diary , 20 December l752 , ·Colon1al RecorQ.s v l 13; .... ~ . . . ' :1
) . ' \ ...
6
RoTten to Board uf Trade , 28 June 1753 , Ibid ., v , 24 . ...
7
321 .
8
:>obbs to Bo ard of Trade , 4 January 1755 , Ibid .J V, 320-
Dobhs to Board of Trade , 4 January 17 55 , Ibid ., V, 320 .
•
•
Meanwhile , the North Carolina frontier was kept in a
state of prepetual uneasiness by rumors of marauding bands
of northern ~ French" Indians . President Rowan reported
that in ~une 1753 "tnree French and five Northward Indians
came down to kill some of the Catabahs but were met by
thirteen of the Catabah Indians who killed two french and
three of the ~ward Indians the other three made thr escape
the five were killed deaa so that no information could be
had from them this action was within less than two miles of
9
Rowan County Court House dureing the siting of the Court .n
Less than a month befor e Governor Dobbs arrived, sixteen
settlers were killed "on the North side of Broad river on.
Buffellow Creek;" however , it is uncertain as to whether
10
French Indians were involved in this affair . At the time
that Dobbs was meeting Ylith Sharpe and Dinwiddie , Lord
Granville ' s syrveyor , William Churton, was unable to lay
out all of the Moravian tract because "there ~as so much
11
danger from Indians on the Cadauer LCatawba River]."
Immediately upon his arrival in the province , Dobbs
set out to put the country in a state of readiness for the
9
Rowan to ~arl of Holdernesse , 21 November 1753, Ibid~V~
25 . See also , Douglas Summers Brown , The Catawba Indians; ~··
The People of the River . (Columbia: Un1versity of South
Carolina Pr ess , 1966), ~ · 191 .
10
Col . John Clark to Rowan, 25 September 1754 , Colonial
Records, V, 140 .
11
Adelaide L. Fries, et . al., eds . , Records of the Moravians
in North Carolina. (Raleigh: North Carolina Depar~me nt of ~chives
and History), I, 109-110. (Hereinafter cited as Abravian Records) .
•
•
6
anticipated French hostilities . The sixty- six year old
governor worked dogedly ~ith a determination that characterized
the early years of his administration. As was to be expected ,
the defenceless condition of the coast received the greater
12
part of his attention in these early days . After ali , this
13
same coast had been ravaged at will during the last war .
Even with this preocupation with coastal defence , Dobbs
realized that the unprotected frontier nas an i nvit ing
avenue for invasion . A little over a ~eek after his arr~val ,
Dobbs informed the Board of Trade that "considering the
murder lately committed by the French Indi~s in the back
settlements , • • . it will be necessary to erect a Fort beyond
our fartherest setlers to protect that Frontier and our
14
Indian Allies •••• "
Dobbs called the Assembly to me at in New Bern on December
12 to implement and support defensive me a sures for the
province . In an a ddres s to the Assembly , Dobbs unleashed a
vituperative attack against the oft - expected French invasi on :
"This sche~e hatched in hell aad supported by the Court of
Rome so ini~uitous and unlikely to be brought to perfection
could never be adopted by the Coutt of France if they were
12
Dobbs to Lord Halifax , 20 November 1754 , Colonial
Records , V, 159- 160 .
13
Hugh T . Lefler and Albert Ray Ne\!Some, North Caroi ina;
T~eNHit~oCy of a Southern State . (Chapel Hill : The University
o or arOTina Press , 1963 ) , p . 14? .
14
Dobbs to Board of Trade , 9 November 1 754 , Colonial
Records , V, 148 .
7
• not perpossed that the British Colonies were unVIilling or
Incapable of uniting and exerting their force Imagining
•
(for which they have some grounds) that the several Colonies
are like a Rope of sand each guided by selfish partial
15
Views ••• • ~ The governor concluded his address w~th a
patriotic appeal that ~In this Critical situation let us
his Majestys t'aithful subjects of the Colony of ~ carolina
shew that we are true sons of Britian whose ancestors have
been ever famous for defending their ~aluable religion and
liberties , and that we are still Inspired with the same
spirit of Liberty , and are determined to support our Religi ous
16
and civil rights , and hand them down to our Posterity •• •• "
The Assembly reminded Dobbs that the previous year , at
Rowan ' s insistence, the province granted nto his Majesty
such an aid as exceeded that of any of the other Colo~ys
(altho they were either far more opulent and more exposed
than us) And in wch we hoped we should have been followed
by our neighbors , but their indolence was such that for
want of exerting themselves , ~he French defeated the
Virginia Forces and thereby became quiet possessors of
17
their unjust pretentions •••• n Nevertheless , the following
15
Ibid., V, 223.
16
Ibid. ' v ' 2f:4 .
17--
Ibid. , V , 227 •
8
4lt day the Assembly allocated ta , OOO proclamation money nas an
18
•
Aid to his Majesty . " Then the upper and lower houses fell
jnto debate over how the ~ 8 , 000 should be raised. Soon
after this issue was resolved, Dobbs prorogued the g athering .
The g overnor reported to the Board of Trade about his
first encounter with the Assembly : "I was in hopes to have
got 200 [me ~ for one year for Virginia alone , but upon a
nivision i t was carried to have but 100 Men f or 2 years in
one Compa ny commanded by one Captain two Lieutenants and
one Ensign , and a Company of 50 men under one captain one
Lieutenant & Ensign for the Defence of this frontier , having
had so many lately murder 'd by the French Indians anQ French
1 9
in the Indian Dress . "
The fro ntier company , designated 11 Rangers ," was placed
under the command of Captain Hugh Waddel l , who at thi s time
20
still remaine d in Virginia . In early February Dobbs i n f ormed
the Board of Trade t hat " I propose going up to the Mountai n s
in Summer and f ixing upon a proper Pl ace to bui l d a Fort i n
2 1
f or the security of our Frontier and I ndi an All i e s •• •• tt
(Note that Dobbs is of the opini on that t h is western f ort
should placed beyond the settled are a and s erve the dual
purpose of defending both Indians and settlers) .
1 8
I bid., V, 243 .
19- -
Dobb $ ) to Board of Trade , 1 January 1755 , Ib i d ., V, 313 .
20-
R . A. Brock , ed . , Official Records Q! Robert Dinwiddie •• ••
( Richmond : Virg inia Historical Society) , I, 487 - 488 . (Hereinafter
cited as Di nwiddie Papers) .
21
Dobbs to Board of Trade, 8 February 1 755 , Colonial Re c o r d s,
v, 333 .
• Meanwhile, North Carolina spent the fi r st half of 1755
preparing her other company to march to Virginia . There
provincial forces along with a contingent of British regulars
gather ed to remove the French interl opers f rom the frontier .
The commanding officer , ~~ jar - General Edward Braddock, was
confident t hat he would be able to take the French stronghold
of Fort Duquesne . Dinwiddie , anticipating Braddock's success ,
sent t he following message to Dobbs : "It will be proper to
keep Y'r Co'y to the Westw'd, close on their watch , the Gen ' l
being informed y't if he succeeds in tak ' g the Fort y't t he
Fr . and their Ind's will march into our Frontiers to oppress
and robb our settlers , w' sh you'll please give Directions
22
accordingly."
Braddock's forces were soundly defeated at the Battle of
the Wilderness on July 9 , and terror filled the strongest
hearts in the backcountry settlements. Nothing stood between
them and the French . "A cold shuddering possessed every brest ,
and paleness covered almost every face . In short , the whole
inhabit ant s were put into universal confusion . Scarcely any
man durst sleep in his own house-- but all met in companies
with their wives and children , ,and set about building little
fortifications, to defend themsel ves from such barbarian and
22
Dinwiddie to Dobbs , 13 June 1755, Dinwiddie Papers II,
&G- 61 .
1 0
• inhuman enemies whom they concluded \70uld be let loose up on
•
23
them at pleasure . " (Pro fessor E . F . Rockwel l described and
located , by secondary information, six such small fortifications
24
in the vicinity of present- day Statesville, North Carolina .)
Within a fe\'1 weeks whole frontier communi ties in Virginia
were depopulated as panic struck settlers moved south into
25
North Carolina . The disillusioned Dinwiddie noted that if
the settlers had not been "siezed \lith a Pannick , " they
26
could have protected themselves . Of all the maladies known
to man , feu are as contagious as fear .
It was at this time that the Presbyterian minister,
Hugh McAden, visited North Carolina . His appearance was a
mixed blessing . He spread The jtord to all who would listen:
" .•• alarming the people of their danger on ac count of sin,
the pr ocuring cause of all evils that befal l us in this life,
or that wh ich is to come; encouraging them to turn to the
Lord with a ll their hearts, to wait upon Him for deliverance
2 7
from. al l t heir enemies • • •• " One can v.ell imagine the effect
this had on the already terror- struck frontier•sinners ~
23
"Diary of Hugh McAden ," in Willian Henry Foote , Sketches
of North Carolina . ( New York : Robert Carter , 1 846 } , p . 163 .
(Her e:tnafter cited as Sketches) .
24
Elisha Frinks Rockwel l , "Anbther Fort in the Indian War
of 1755 to 1763 ," Historical .1\'~agazine , II, /3rd s ries/ (July ,
1873) , 40 - 41 .
25
Charleston, South Carolina Gazette, 25 Septefube r 1755 .
26
Dinwiddie to Dobbs , 23 J"uly 17 55 , Dinwiddie Papers , II ,
lll- 11 2 .
27
"Diary of Hugh Mc Ade n," J u ly 1755 , in Sketches , p . 162 .
•
•
In addition to the imperial calamity of Br addock ' s
defeat , the region sustained a natural catastrophy as we l~ .
The summer of 1755 witnessed one of the worst droughts in
anyone's memory . Crops failed at the very time the area
28
was overrun with refugees.
By July 23 , word reached the Moravian settlement at
Bethabara "that the people on the Yatkin were pl anning to
29
get together , in order to be safer from the Indians .R The
following day the Bathabara diarist noted: "We heard many
reports especially that peop1e were moving sway from this
30
neighborhood ."
Governor Dobbs had visited the area on the eve of
Braddock 's defeat . ~he frontier comp~y had been r anging
throughout the oackcountry. He hoped to be able to select
a site for winter quarters for the company . It ~s while
he was on this excursion that Dobbs l earned of Braddock's
fate . Dobbs described his journey to the Board of Tr ade :
I sett out the 17th of June to v i ew my Lands,
and at the same time t he Western Front i er and
fix a place to station our Frontier Company
and proposed viewing the South Carolina Line ,
as rormerly proposed by the Commissioners •• ••
28
Charleston, South Carolina Ga~ette , 25 December 1?55.
See also , 11 Diary of Hugh McAden," 1 ~ Oct o ber 1755, Sketches
p. 168 .
29
11
Bethabara Diary, 23 July 1755, Mor avian Records, I, 135.
30
Ibid., I , 135 •
•
•
•
• .. I arrived at Salisbury the county town of
Rowan the Town is but just l aid out , the Court
House built and 7 or 8 log Houses erected, from
this unto the end of Lord Granville ' s Line which
is at yet run on farther , upon cold water Creek
on the Catawba' s path , is 14 niles, the Lands
still very good , here I was within 3 miles of
the North west corner of my Lands, TThich lye
upon Rocky river , and its several Branches, it
being v~ry rocky , ,being very rapid with many
fal l s until it joins the Yadkin , wrich has also
many falls , where they join the river takes the
name of Pedee , and falls into the sea near
George ' s Town or Winyau , ..••
I had ordered Capt Uaddell with our Frontier
Company to scout upon the edges of the mountain ,
and upon their return I set out to fix upon a
proper and most central place for them to winter
at, and erect a Barrack , and aft~rwards if found
proper there to build a Fort; I want N. W. ~o the
Catau~a ' s river , which runs by the Catawba ' s
~own into the Santee, a:J.d proceeded North·uard to
the Latitude 350 , 40 ' to third Creek whl.ch 1alls
into the south Yadkin, wnere I found an ~nence
and good Springs , and fixed upon t hat &s mos t
cintral to assist the back settl rs and be a
retreat to them as it was ~eyond the well settled
Coun try , only strageling settlements behind them ,
and if I had placed them beyond the Settlements
without a fortification they might be exposed , and
be no retreat for t he Settlers, and the Indians
might pass them and murder the Inhabitants , and
retire be fore they durst go to give them notice .
As I uas returning I was alarmed \iilh a report of
our Troops being defeated and Gener Braddock
being killed .•••
As I came a1ay I sent ~presses for the field
officers of t~e ualitia of Anson and Rowan to
meet me at the Yadkin, a~d trere ordered out a
piquet to be chosen out of th~ most active men
of the lli l itia of each County with a chosen officer
at their head of fift) ~en each and a c~ntral
place of rendezvous to be fixed for ~ach to the
northward and Southuard of our Frontier Company ,
to be under Captain Uaddell ' s command, to join
him when necessary or for him to march to assist
them in case of any incursion, and ordwr~d down
12
•
•
13
two waggons to ChRrles Town for ammunit~ln and
two waggons hereLNew Ber~ for arms • ...
(Note : ~he ~ort ?.as n~w to be locat9d ~ithin the settled
area . Bear in mind that the Cherokcles were still ' friendly '
to the British, although Dinwiddie and Dobbs were convinc~d
that south Carolina Governor Glenn ' s mismanagem~nt was
32
driving them into the arms of the French . At this time
Dinwiddie and Dobbs increased their eff orts to keep the
33
Catawbas and Cherokees 'lithin the British sphere . Dobbs
noted that the fort should be built on Thrid Creek, "if
found proper ." The tr~ditional site of Fort Dobbs is on
Fourth Creek . Perhaps the old ~~verner's geography was
fuzzy as he r ecounted his journey upon his return to New
Bern , or perhaps this Thrid Creek site was not "found
proper .").
The Provincial Assembly met on September 25 , but due
to the drought and conse~uently the extension of the " sickly
34
season," they rushed to complete their business . Dobbs , as
expected , called for more defensive measures . He pleaded
with the Assembly to strengthen the front i er end coastal
31
Dobbs to ooard of Trade , 24 ~ugust 1755, Colonial
Records , V, 353- 364.
32 18 September 175fu
Dinwiddie to Dobbs 1~Ibid . V, 426- 428.
33
Dinwiddie to Dobbs , 13 December 1?55, Dinwiddie Papers
II, 289- 90 ; Dobbs t o Secretary Pitt , 5 January 1?56 , Colonial
Records , V, 560 •
34
Dobbs to Board of Trade , 28 October 1755, I bid., V,
439-440 .
•
•
defenses , and send aid to the other provinces . Dobbs
reported in his address to the Assembly : " ••• in a progress
I made tot1erds the Uestern Frontier /!] fixed upon a
prop~r situation upon third creek on South Yadkin near
the Catawba ' s River to station the frontier Company being
the most central , from North to South to protect the
i nhabitants and must therefore recommend it to you to
have a small fort or strong barrack built there for the
lodging of the Company and security of the frontier , they
;35
at present have nothing to shelter them . "
The Lower House , aware of the urgency of the situation
and , no doubt , anxious to leave New Bern , " resolved Una Voce
to grant unto his L~jesty the sum of Ten thousand pounds
36
proclamation money •••• " ~ 1 , 000 of this amount was allocated
"to build a Ba r rack and Fort for the Company on the \!estern
37
Frontier . n
Early in the following year (1756) , Dobbs reported on
the rilitary posture of the frontier to Sec:r-etary ililliam
Pitt: "We are ••• erecting t1 snall fort on our. western
Frontier against the Indians , but Labour is so dear here ,
and Labo urers scarce to be had at anj Pric~ , that all our
44.0 •
35
Assembly Journal, Ibid ., V, 497- 498 .
36
Ibid ., v , 498 .
37--
Dobbs to Board of Trade , 28 October 1755, Ibid , V,
•
•
Affairs here are retarded . We have had no At.tacks or
Insults yet upon our Frontier , owing principally to our
front ier Company, and the Neibhbourhood of the Cataubas
38
Indians our friends ." (Note : The anticipated construction
of Fort Dobbs before the onset of winter had not taken
place . This could also be a factor in re9onciling the
projected Third Creek loc&tion of 1755 with the actual,
or traditional, Fourth Creek location. )
With the comming of spring , once more rumors of
39
impending Indian attacks spread across the frontier .
By mid-May, Dobbs reported that the frontier fort had
not yet been erected: na stockadoed fort is ordered to
be erected for our •frontier Compacy,but as we expect our
15
frontier will ~xtend Westward , we shall not be at any great
Kxpence as it may afterdards be proper to extend it further
to the Westward wha~e only Swivel Guns will be necessary
40
or Mus,...uetoons •••• ~ In July, Dobbs reported to Lord
Loudoun, the B=itish co!!ll!la!lder in America , that wort had
started on the fort: "We ere ••• ercc~ing a small Fort
upon our destern or Indian Frontier , where ue heve a
38
Dobbs to Secretary Pitt , 5 danuary 1756 , Ibid., V,
550 .
39
Bethabara Diary , 10 llarch- 20 ~Y 1756 , ~roravian
Records , I , 164- 165.
40
Dobbs to Board of ~rade , 15 1~rch 1756 , Colonial
Records , V, 572 •
16
4lt C omp~ny of 50 men , but as I hope when this war is over our
Frontier uill be extended beyond t~e mountains this is
•
41
only occasional at present . " Dobbs continued his report
by describing the coastal fortifications , ~d in conclusion
remarked , t ••• as I have no 3nginee~ here , nor know how to
get one , I was obliged to act as ~lgineer myse lf ,& rub up
my former knowledge in tortifications when I was in the
42
Army •• • • "
Meanwhile , the Cherokees became more and more disenchanted
in their alliance with the British. Both South Carol ina
and Virginia tried to keep the Cherokees within the British
sphere by erecting fortifications within their midst for
their protection against the Fre~ch and their Indian allies .
North Carolina was directed to build a fort for the
43
protection of the Catawbas .
When the Assembly met the followi ng autumn , it drafted
an address to the king in which the precarious mi litary
situation of the province was described :
To His Kings most Excellent Majesty .
41
The HtL~ble Address of the Assembly of North
Carolina
Dobbs to Earl of Loudoun , 1 0 ~uly 1?56 , Ibid ., V, 59 ? .
42
Ibid . , v ' 59 ? .
43--
Dinwiddie to Dobbs , 22 ~uly 1?56, Din.iddie Papers ,
II, 458- 4 59 •
•
•
-:CST G~CIO'CS S01JEREIGN ,
We your Majestys most Dutiful and Loyal
Subjects the ~embers of the ~sembly of North
Carolina be i n g ~rt:.ly sen s i ble of your .L..ajestys
eytensive recard for the ~lelfare of all your
Coloni e s beg leave to represent to jour Majesty
the Defenceless Condition of this your l._ajestys
Province and the Danger to which its Inhabitants
are Exposed our Frontiers being Far Extended to
the 7lestward may easily be attacked as well by
the French as their Indian Allies the latter
have already conmitted several Hostilities
there and from their Menacing Speeches we may
expect they will soon make a farther Progress .
The Cherokees a numerous and Warlike Nation of
Indians who have formerly given the strongest
Assurances of their Attachment to your Lajestys
Interest Since the Loss of Os~eco seem wavering
in their Friendships seve~al parties of them
having lately committed divers Outrages on the
Inhabitants of the Frontier of this Government
r.hich no l onger leaves us in doubt of their
Friendly Disposition towards the French . Uhen
we raised Supplies for paying Forces sent on
your ~jesty ' s Service to the Assistance of
Virginia a Sum of Money ~as Appropriated to
Building a Fort on our Frontier and paying a
Company to Garrison the same . The MOney has
been duly applied to those purposes But in
Case of a Revolt from the Cherokees any Defenc e
that can be made by that Company though
assisted by the Militia i~ their Neighbourhood
will be very Inconsiderable . We have raised
several Sums of Mone¥ for erecting Forts and
Batteries on the Sea Coast all whioh though
Conviently situated for the Protection of our
Trade are Incaoable of Defence for the want
of Artillery and 1Jen so that should our Harbours
be Infested with Privateers as in the late War
our Navigation would be ruined a~d an Incursion
from the French and Indians on our Frontiers
would Totally destroy those Settlements.
44
44
Ibid . , v, 7 1 0 - ? ll •
17
•
...
18
This Assembly also allocated funds for the erection of
45
a second fort on the frontier . To help in the implementation
of this allocation, the Assembly informed Dobbs :
This House having Resolved That it may be for
his Majestys Service that Commissioners be
appointed to View the Western Settlements and
report to your Excellency their present
condition and in ~at Part of the Frontier
they think it would be most for the Safety of
the Ihhabitants that a Fort should be built
and also to Ins ~ ect the Condition of Fort
Dobbs desire to Recommend to your Excellency
Mr . Francis Brown Mr . Thomas Relf and Mr.
Richard Caswell as Gentlemen on ~hose
Impartial Representation your EXcellency may
rely and \mo are willing to undertake a
Journey with your Ex4511encys Approbation
for those purposes .
Two of the commissioners did inspect Fort Dobbs. Their
report , submitted at the next meeting of the Assembly , contains
the onl y known description of the fort :
Mr . Brown one of the Commissioners Appointed
for Viewing the Western Settl ements and report
their present condition and at what part of the
Frontier t hey think it would be most [ suitable]
for the safety of the Inhabitants that a Fort
should be Built , And also to Inspe~~ the present
Condition of Fort Dobbs , Reported ttiat he
to~ether with Yx . Richard Caswell one of the
45
Ibid . , V, 717. It was decided to place this fort among ~he
Catawbas:- It was not completed . For location see Douglas Summers
Brown, The Catawba Indians • • •• (Columbia : University of South
Carolina Press , 1956 ), p . 237 .
46
Assembly Journal , Colonial Records , V, 729 •
•
•
other Commissioners had viewed the Western
Settlements and that the said Settlements were
in a Defenceless Co ndition except that part near
Fort Dobbs and that they recommended to this
House a certain Place for Building a Fort near
the Catawba Nation as by ? plan annexed to t he
said report Appears, And that they had likewise
viened the State of Fort Dobbs and found it to
be a good and Substantial Building of the
Dimentions following (tha t is to say) The Oblong
S~uare fifty three feet by forty , the opposite
Angles Twenty four f eet and Twenty- Two , In
height Tvrenty four and a half feet as by the
plan annexed Appears , the Thickness of the ~talls
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
~usketts the same is beautifully scituated in
the fork of Fourth Creek a Branch of the Yadkin
River . And that they a lso found under Command
o f Capt Hugh Waddel Forty six Effective men
Officers and Soldiers as by the List to the
said Report Annexed Appears the same being sworn
to by the said Capt in their Presence the said
Officers and Soldiers Appearing well and in good
Spirits . Signed the 21 st day of December 1 756 .
47
FRANCIS BROWN .
RICH.d.RD CASWELL . 47
19
assembly Journal , 20 'Eay 1757, Ibid ., V, 849 . The
"annexed" papers were not printed in ~Colonial Recorda.
As in other critical anstances, the printed copy was checked
against a· microfilm copy of the original Journal located in
the British Public Records Office in London. Unfortunately,
it appears that the "plan annexed" was not sent to England
with the orieinal Journal •
•
•
PART TVIO
In April of 1967 , Mr . Stanley South prepared a report
entitled, nFort Dobbs on the Carolina Frontier 1755- 1764 ."
The present report is not intended to be , nor should it
be interpreted as a counterblast against Mr . south's report .
However , this writ er does find himself in serious disagreement
on several points . This will be evident in the material
that follows .
The present v~iter has concerned himself with three
basic ~uestion s: lfuen was Fort Dobbs built? Where was it
built? ~fuat did the structure look l ike?
By close scrutiny of Dobbs's reports, which are cited in
the first section of this report , it appears evident that the
20
•
•
traditional date of 1755-1756 can be narr owed down . We
find that t he actual construction took pl ace i n the summer
of 1756 .
21
As to l ocati on , this uriter is satisfied beyond a
reasonable doubt that the traditional site of Fort Dobbs
near Fourth Creek appro xima~es t he actual site . Mr . south
has performed a commendable task in establishing t he present
day location of the John Kdward Tracts , granted in 1752 .
Now we arrive at t he third quest ion, which is also the
major guestion as far as historical restoration is concerned~
What did the Fort look like? It is hoped that archaeological
investigation conducted on the site will provide further
information that will be constructive in laying the groundwork
for the anticipa~ed restoration. However , one is discouraged
by the fact that earlier in this century road machinery was
used to level the area of the traditi onal site so that it
would be suited to the cultivation of cotton.
The historian faces a serious task when he tries to
present a description of how Fort Dobbs must have looked.
His trouble may be traced to two sources . One source is
an early, and erroneous , sketch of For t Dobbs by Mrs . Minnie
Hampton Eliason . This i s easily dismissed when the sketch
is compared to the dimensions cited in the report of Brown
and Caswell to the Assembly i n 1757 .
The second source is harder to dispell , due in l arge
• part to the fact that the idea of what a frontier fort
should look like has been firmly planted in our minds by
the cinema and television. This image consists of what
we may call the "Boonesborough type" fort , which was a
22
series of log bloc~~ouses connected by log walls or curtains .
These structures were unsophisticated affairs built by
unlettered frontiersmen as protection against a savage
advisary who was untrained in the military arts . Fort
Harrison, constructed in 1777, is an example of this type
of fortification .
It ha s, unfortunately, been the tendency to project
this image of a frontier fort backward on former periods .
For example, we are all aware of the fact that there were
those who insisted upon constructing a "Boonesborough type"
fort at the Fort Raleigh site on Roanoke Island .
Thus , if we are going to make an effort to discover
bhe truth about Fort Dobbs, it will first be necessary to
clear our minds of preconceived notions of how the fort
ll \\should have looked, and instead, concentrate on what
information is available to us .
A.t the time of the French and Indian war , both British
and French military men were well aware of the changes in
warfare that had been wrought by the Marquis de Vauban, the
inventor of the modern system of defense . Some knowledge
of Vauban' s tactics was considered essential even among the
• lower officers in any eighteenth century army. Vauban
23
~ equiped ~hls fortificati6ns with bastions so that all of
the exterior sides could be protected by a flanking fire
f r om an adjacent part of the structure . Bastions should
never be confused with blockhouses . They were two dissimilar
structures as far as the eighteenth century military man
was concerned .
The provi ncial forces in British America were QUick
to adopt crude facsimilies of Vauban's works . The materials
used in their construction varied widely according to
location and availability, but the design was mos t al ways
similar . For example , Fort Stanwix was a "Vauban type"
fort const ructed from horizontal l ogs .
Therefore , duri ng the French and Indian conflict a
series of these forts were thrown up al ong the frontier
of British America . If Fort Dobbs had peaked roof blockhouses
connected by a l og curtain , it was , i ndeed, a rare sight in
its day, and unlike the majority of other fortifications
erected by the neighboring provinces of New York , Pennsylvania ,
Virginia, and South Carolina .
We must remember that Fort Dobbs was erected as a
barrier against a French invasion , or an invasion by French
I ndians commanded by French officers . A."Boonesborough type"
fortification would be less likel y to withst and an attack
by a foe even remotely familiar with Vauban's defensive
tactics . The builders of Fort Dobbs could not have known
•
24
that their erstwhile Cherokee allies woul d be the fort!s
only assailants .
From the primary sources cited in the first section
of this report we are able to learn much about Fort Dobbs .
We are told that it was a small st r uct ure . tl, OOO Pr oc.
money was allocated for its construction . This was not a
small sum. By comparison, Fort Loudoun /Loudon] in the
Overhill country in present Tennessee cost Virginia £2 , 000 .
Dobbs complained that the construction of Fort Dobbs was
held up because of the lack of labor . Yet , we know that
the country was overrun with refugees who were potential
unskilled laborers. Could it be that the construction of
the fort demanded a certain ~ount of skilled or semi­skilled
labor? Certainly, any group of frontiersmen could
(and did) throw up a nBoonesborough type" fort , but hardly
at the cost of £1 , 000 .
It is obvious that Fort Dobbs was designed by one of
two men; Arthur Dobbs or Hugh Waddell . Dobbs noted that
there were no engineers in the Province , and that it was
necessary for him to "rub up" on his army training and
act as his own engineer. Dobbs had adeQuate experience '
for the job , but a "Boonesborough type" fortification would
have been alien to him. He had been t r ained in the construction
of the "Vauban type" of fortification during his tenure in
the British Army. Also, he planned several of the "Vauban
type" forts for coastal defense at the same time that Fort
25
~ Dobbs was being cons t ructed .
~
Although it is unlikely that the plans for the Province ' s
sole f nontier fortification would be left to a company ~
captain , this does remain within the rel~ of a possibility.
Hugh Waddell was an ambitious young man . He was far more
sophisticated than his Revolutionary counterpart,on tne· '
North Carolina frontier , Griffith Rutherford. Waddell had
seen action on the Virginia frontier where "Vauban type"
forts had been erected by provincial troops . Indeed , he
was serving with J~es Innes when that officer build Fort
Cumberland , a nvauban typen fortification. Therefore , it
seems only logical that if Waddell was the person who drew
up the plans for Fort Dobbs , then he would have turned to
that type of fortification with which he was most familiar .
It is hoped that the arguments advanced above are
sufficient to ascertain that Fort Dobbs was not a "Boones-borough
type" fortification with blockhouses attached by
curtains , but that it was a "Vauban type" fortification
constructed of hori~ontal logs with bastions .
A bastion is defined as "a work projecting outward
from the main enclosure of a fortification, consisting of
two faces meeting in a salient angle , usually acute ,
commanding the foreground and outworks , and two t lanks ,
each able to. defent by a flanking fire the face of the
adjacent bastion and the adjacent curtain, or wall which
.:
26
~ joins the flank of one bastion with the adjacent flank of
another ;"
~
With this definition in mind, let us once again turn
to the description of Fort Dobbs recorded in December of
1756: u •• • The Oblong Square fifty three feet by forty ,
the opposite Angles T~enty four feet and Twenty-Two •••• "
It is obvious that "the opposite Angles" mentioned
in the Brown and Caswell Report are the salient angles
of the structure . Thus , Fort Dobbs was a typical small
fort of the type erected on the British American frontier
during the French and Indian War .
•
•
28
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I . GUIDES
Andrews, Charles McLean, and Frances G. Davenport , co~pilers ,
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Anonymous , Consolidated Index, I - XL, 1 900-1959 t o the South
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•
•
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Jenkins , William Sunmer , compiler , A Guide to the Microfilm
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North Carolina Historical Records Survey Project, "Guide to
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the University of North Carolina ," The James Sprunt
Studies in History ahd Political Science , XXIV (1941).
II. 'MAPS (chronological order)
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A New Iv:ap of the Cherokee Nation (1760) .
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A New Map of the Western Parts of VIRGINIA·; PENNSYLVANIA,
MARYLAND and NORTH CAROLINA, Comprehend.ing the RIVER
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the RIVZR ~~SSISSIPPI , the Whole of the ILLINOIS RIVER,
LAKE ERIE; Part of the LAKES HURON , ?t.ITCHIGAN &c . And
all the COUNTRY bordering on these LAKES and RIVERS .
By Thos Hutchins . Captain in the 60 Regiment of Foot.
Londont Published according to Act of Parliament
Novemb ye l st , l778 by T . Hutchins .
III . PRIN..ARY SOURC~S
Brock , R.A., editor·, ,The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie ,
Lieutenant- Governor of the Colony of Virginia , 1751- 1758
•• • • 2 Volumes . Ricliiiiond: Virginia Historical society,
1 : ±$83-1884.
Charleston , South Carolina Gaaette , 1753- 1758 •
•
•
30
{C luny , Alexande tl , The American Travell er : or Observati on s
on the pres~nt state , culture and commerce of the BritiSh
colonfes in Amer i ca , and the further Improvemo~ of
which they are c apable; ;lith Ari .a.c count of t he lxports ,
Imports and Returns o f eech CO'rony refpe'C'E"ivel"y , - and of
the Numbers of British Ships and Seamen , .LiLt.;rcho.nts ,
Traders and ~Ufacturers empTOYed by all col l ec~~ve l y :
Together uith the Amount of the Revenue-8ririnf to Great
Britian t herefrom . In a Series of Let t ers , ur tten
originally to the RigEt- HonourabYe t he ~ arl o f~*** ~ * ***
By an Old and Experi enced TR...AD.ER . London : E . and c .
Dill y , in the Poultry , and J . Almon , Pic c adilly , 1759 .
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Kenneth G. Hamilton , editors , Record s of the ~ravians
in Nor t h Carolina, l Ovolumes . 3aleigh:-North Carol ina
Depart ment of Erchives and history , l 9G2 - l966 .
Henry Eustace ~cCulloh Survey Book 176~ - 17 63 . Southern
Eistoric~l Collection , University of North Car.ol ina .
Morgan , .Ca ptain Jac ob , "Life in a Fr ontier Fort During the
I ndian War , " Penns ylvania Mag azine of h i stor y and
Biography , XXXIX (1 9 1 5 ), pp . 186- 191 .
Saunders , dilliam Laurence , editor , The Colonial Re c ords
of l!orth Carolina , 10 v d) lume s , Ra.Ie i gh: Th e s tat e o f
North Carolmna , 1887- 189C .
Vauban , Le 1~ e chal de , Trait~ Des Sieges et Del At ta~ues
des Places . Par is : Ansel~n , Successeur de ruag i me ,
Li1rarie Pour L'Art Militarie , 1828.
III . S3CONDa3Y SOURC~
Anonymous , "..A Sketch of Fort Dobbs , 11 The (Statesville)
Landmark , Auoust 10 , 1915 . --
---:;---' " Fort Dobbs .....ark:er Unveiled b:l Societ) , " Raleie,h.J
News and Observer , No vemb er~ l 4 . 1 940 .
Armfield , Charles H ., Address Delivered Ez Charl es H .
Ar!Lfie ld, At the Laying of t he Corne=st one of Iredell
County ' s NetT Court House . States ville : Brady the
Printer , 1 899 .
Arthur , John Preston , ~estern Caroli na A History (From 1730-
1 91 3 ) . Raleigh: Ed war d s and Br oughton , 1 914 . --
•
•
.31
Atkin, Edmond , Indians of the Southern Colonial Frontier
(edited bJ idlbur H-.-Jacobs) . Colunbia: University of
South Caro l ina Press , 1954 .
Brenrley , .James Shober , The Rowan Story 1753- 1953 . Salisbury:
Rowan Printing Company , 1953 .
Brown, Douglas SUllli!lers , The Catawba Indians ; The People of
the River . Columbia : University of South Carolina Press ,
1966 .
Cawthorn , Joel w., and v . s . Jenkins , Soil survey of Iredell
County, North Carolina . -/ashington : Government Printing
Office , 1964 .
Clarke , Desmond , Arthur ~obbs , ~s ~ui re. Chapel Hill ; The
Un i versity of North Carolina Press , 1957 .
Dorsey , Cl are n ce w., et. al ., "Soil Survey of the Statesvill e
Area , North Ca rolina:U Report ££ Field Operations o f
the Bureau of Soils of 1 901. Washington: Gov e r nmen t
Prin t1ng Offfce. -- ----
Eliason, Krs . Minnie Hampton , Fort Dobbs . Stat esville : Fort
Dobbs Chapter, Daugh ters or-the Ameri can Revolution, 1 915 .
Foote , William Hen ry , Sketche s of North Carol ina . Hew York:
Robert Cart er, 1846 . --
Grant , Bruce , American Forts Yesterday and Today . New York :
E . P . Dutton & Company , l 965 .
Hammond , John Martin , Quaint and Histori c Forts of North
Ame rica. Philade l phia: J . B. Lippincott co ., 1 91 5 .
Harrill, Fanni e Gertrude, "For t Dobbs , " Ame rican ~nthly
Magazine , (Ap ril , 1910) , pp . 404- 406 .
, "Old Fort Dobbs , tt Daughters of the American
--=R_e_v o,....lu-t· ion I.:S.g azine , XLV ( December , 1914"'},'" pp . 299 - 303 .
Henderson, Archibald , The Con Que st of the Old Southwest ;
~e ~omantic story of t he ~ar l y Pioneers into V1rg1nia ,
the Carolinas , Tennessee , and Kentucky 1740 - 1790.
New York: The Century Co mp any , 1920.
Houston, n~rtha Lou, compi ler, "Census
N. C. List of Persons Aged 80-100 .
1936 located in the Nor t h Caro lina
of Nor t h Carolina
of 1840 Iredell Co . ,
Typescrip t copy dated
Collection , Universiw
•
•
32
Hoyt , "Jilliam Henry, editor, The Papers of Archibald D.
Uurphey. Ral eigh: North Carolina Historical Commission ,
1914 .
Lazenby, Mary Elinor , Lewis Graveyard With Mention of Some
~ Settlers ~ong Fifth Creek, Iredell County, N.Q.
[ttp: np , nd]
Lee, Enoch Lav1eence, Indian Wars in North Caro lina 1663-
1763 . Raleigh : The Caroiina cnarter Tercentenary-­Commission,
1963.
Lefler, Hugh Talmage , and Albert Ray Newsome , North Carolina ;
the History of a Southern State. Revised edition.
Chapel Hill: The University or North Carolina Press,
1963 .
McGeachy , Neill Roderick , "AHist ory of Fort Dobbs , Iredell
County , Statesvill e , N. c . 1755- 1766," Typescript .Mss.
Located in the Nor th Carolina Coll ection, University of
North Carolina.
----=-~-' editor , A History of t he Oid Fourth Creek
congregation 1764-1964 Now the First Pres byterian
Church of Statesville , North Caro11na PubliShed
on the occasion of the Bi- cemt ennial of the Formal
orgaiiization of tlie-congres ation . [ np : np ,ncg
Meriwether , Robert L., The Expansion of South Carolina
1729-1765 . Kingsport : Southern Publishers , Inc., 1940 .
Milling , Chapman~ ., Red Carolinians . Chapel Hill: The
University of Nor~Oarolina Press , 1940 .
Montgomery, Thom~s Lynch , editor , Report of the Commission
to Locate the site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania .
a volumes .-:ffarrisburg: Wm. Stanley Ray , State Printer ,
1916 .
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Friend and Masonic ~ournal , XLVIII (September 28 , 1921},
pp . 1 , ll-12 .
Powell , William Stevens , nNotes for a Tour of Iredell County
Conducted on September 12 , 1948 By Wi lliam Powell for
the North Carolina Society of County Historians ." Mss .
copy and map located in the North Carolina Collection,
University of North Carolina •
•
•
Ramsey, Robert W. , Carolina Cradle; Settlement of the
Northwest Carolina Frontier , 1747- 1762 . Chape!Jaill:
The University of North Carmlrna-Press , 1964 .
Rockwell , Elisha Frinks , An Ancient kap of the Central
Part of Iredell County, N. C. ," Historical !'118.gazine,
(August, 1867), pp. 84- 90 .
33
, "Anotmer Fort in the Indian war of 1755 to 1763,"
--~H=1~.-s~t-o-rical ~Agaaine, II f3rd Series] (July, 1783) , pp. 40-
41 .
--=-.,.---,-..-' compiler, "Scrapbook of Clip~ ings and Notes
Relating to Statesville and Iredell County, N.C.'t
Located in the North Carolina Collection, University
of North Carofuina.
Rumple , Jethro , A History of Rowan County North Carolina
Containing Sketches of Prominent Families and Distinguished
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Actual Service , InCluding~keshifts and improved
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1754- 1'773 . Raleigh: Edwerds and Broughton:-T890.
White , Henry Alexander , Southern Presbyterian Leaders .
New York: Neale Publ1shing Company, l 9ll •
.. _... ..
HIST~~ICAL RESEARCH REPORT
FOR
FORT DOBBS, IREDELL COL~ITY
Jerry C. Cashion
Jerry L. Cross
PROPERTY OF
HI STORIC PRESERVATiON
SECTION
Submitted
November 14, 1974
'I' ABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
I . Fort Dobbs Research Report
A. Historical Background, 1754- 1756
B. Supplement I: History, 1757 - 1764
C. Supplement II: Appearance as Suggested by Documentary Records
II. Appendixes
A. ?1aps ( Se ct'ions)
1 . Collet, 1770
2 . ~!ouzon, 1775
3. Revolutionary War Campaigns, 1781
4 . Price and Strother, 1808
B. Method of Laying Out a Fort, 1756
C. Conjectural Drawings
1 . L. White, Jr. , 1914
2. Stanley South, 1968
3. Jerry C. Cashion, 1968
4. Jerry L. Cross, 1974
D. Waddell's Account of Attack on Fort Dobbs, 1760
E. Statement on Research in British Records
III. Illustrations
A. Portrait of Governor Arthur Dobbs
B. Portrait of Hugh Waddell and Coat of Arms
C. Fort Dobbs by an Unkno'm Artist
D. Site of Fort Dobbs , 1971
E . D.A.R . Cabin near Fort Site , 1971
F . Archaeology at Fort Dobbs, 1972
•
j
FOREWORD
The earliest efforts to preserve the site of Fort Dobbs are attributed
to ~~ry Colvert Talley, who instigated t he formation of the Fort Dobbs Chapter
of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1909 . Under Mrs . Talley's
leadership, the D.A . R. purchased almost ten acres of land that included the
fort site. A granite marker was erected in 1910, and regular ceremonies were
held until the outbreak of \'iorld War I. Afterwards, sporadic attention was
given to restoring the fort, but no positive action was taken.
Full-scale interest in Fort Dobbs was resurrected following a preliminary
archaeological dig that uncovered a cellar and parapet ditch in the late 1960s.
The 1969 General Assembly declared Fort Dobbs a state historic site and
authorized its development .
Informative interpretation and accurate develpment of a state historic
site demand an in depth study of the doc~entary records. A preliminary research
report, prepared by Jerry C; Cashion in 1968, traced the history of Fort Dobbs
from its conception to its completion in 1756 . That report is included as his-torical
background to this enlarged study that also covers the history of the
fort from 1757 until its abandonment in 1764. Numerous sources , which are
listed in the bibliography, were consulted in the preparation of this report,
and the researchers feel that this study exhausts the available documentary
records.
Many questions about Fort Dobbs remain unansw·ered, particularly in regard
to its appearance . The researchers have rendered a few conjectures based on
-
limited evidence as possible solutions. It is hoped that further archaeologi-cal
investigation will shed additional light on Fort Dobbs research.
, • • • -- --r--· ~- --·
•
•
FORT DOBBS REPORT
(Historical Backgroun~, 1754- 1756)
On October 6, 1754 the storm- ravaged H. M. S. Garland put into Hampton,
Virginia. Among the passengers was the long- awaited governor for the Prov­ince
of North Carolina, Arthur Dobbs . He T'tas received by Lieutenant Governor
Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia, who took his guest to Williamsburg. He r e the
two offcials awaited their counterpart from l1aryland, Horatio Sharpe , ~~o
arrived on October 1.9 . Dobbs acquainted Dinwiddie and Sharpe with the latest
instructions from England . Later the three conferred on how to defend the
backcountry of the region from the continual harassment of the French and
their Indian allies . Already provincial troops had engaged the French in
brisk fighting on the Vir~a frontier, and new outbreaks were anticipated
daily. When the meeting was completed Dobbs journeyed southward to assum~
his new duties, arr iving in North Carolina in late October . 1
North Carolina was already caught up in the Anglo-French conflict be-fore
the arrival of her third Royal governor . President ~atthew Rowan had
answered Din•~ddie ' s a poeal for aid with a generosity that was little short
of a miracle considering the impoverished condition of the faction- ridden
province. At Rowan ' s i nsistence, assemblymen from the Sound Region and the
Caoe Fear area put away their differences to provide for the raising of a
force of 750 men to march to the aid of Virginia in the spring of 1754.
This regiment, which was destined to fall upon hard t~es, was commanded by
CoJ onel James Innes. One of the junior officers who accompanied In..11es to the
~- ---~-. -- -
i
Virginia frontier was a young immigrant who had only recently arrived in the
province, Lieutenant Hu gh Waddel1. 2
Waddell was just one of the thousands of immigrants who were changing
the face and comolexion of North Carolina. Most of the new arrivals S'n'armed
. 3 J.nto the backcountry. President Rowan had found about one hundred fighting
men west of the fall line when he visited that region in 1746. 4 Even as late
as 1752 Bisho~ Spangenberg noted that there was only one house within sixty
miles of the area that he selected as a ne~·r home for his Horavian followers. 5
But t:i.m.es were changing at a rapid pace, and in the following year Rowan
observed that in the three we~tern counties of Orange, Rowan, and Au1son, the
fig."'lting men numbered "at least three thousand for the most part Irish Prot ­estants
and dayley incresing. "6
The two largest tribes situated on the frontier of the province were the
Catawbas and the Cherokees, both at this time nominal allies of the British
Americans . The Cherokees numbered about 2,600 warriors, but the nation was
~ divided into at least five loose- knit factions. 7 On the other hand, the 240
Catawba warriors were rather closely controlled by their ruler, King Hagler. 8
Meanwhile , the North Carolina frontier was kept in a state of perpetual
uneasiness by rumots of marauding bands of northern "French" Indians. Pres -
ident Rowan reported that in · June, 17 53 "three French and five l~orthward Indi-ans
ca~~ down to kill some of the Catabahs but were met by thirteen of t he
Catabah Indians who killed two french and three of the N"ward Indians the
other three made thr esca~e the five were killed dead so that no information
could be had from them this action \'las within less than two miles of Rowan
County Court House dureing the siting of the Court. rr9 Less than a month be-fo
r e Governor Dobbs arrived, si.xt~en settl_ers were killed "on the North side
of Broad river on Buffellow Creek;" however, it i s uncertain as to whether
French Indians were involved in this affair . 10 At the time that Dobbs was
meeting with Sharpe and Dinldddie, Lord Gra nville 's surveyor, Wil liam Churton,
-, ..
•
\'las unable to lay out all of the Moravian tract because 11 there was so much
11
danger from Indians on the Cadauer /flata•t~ba Rivei7. 11
Immediately upon his arrival in the province, Dobbs set out to put the
country in a state of readines s for the anticipated French hostilities. The
sixty-six year old governor worked doggedly with a determination that charac-terized
the early ye ars of his administration. As was to be expected, the
defenseless condition of the coast received the greater part of his attention
in these early days. 12 After all, this same coast had been ravaged at will
during the last war. 13 Even ~dth this preoccupation with coastal defenae,
Dobbs realized that the unprotected frontier was an inviting avenue for in-vasion.
A little over a w·eek after his arri•t3.l, Dobbs informed t he Board
of Trade that 11 consideri.11g the murde r lately conmri.tted by the French Indians
in the back settlements, • •. it will be necessary to erect a Fort beyond
our fartherest setlers to protect that Frontier and our Indian Allies ••• • 111 4
Dobbs called the Assembly to meet in Ne~ Bern on December 12 to implement
and suooort defensive measures for the province. In an address to the Assembly,
Dobbs unleashed a vitup erative attack against the oft-expected French invasion:
"This scheme hatched in hell and sup-ported by the Court of Rome so iniquitous
and unlikely to be brought to perfection could never be adopted by the Court
of France if they "rere not perpossed that the British Colonies we r e unwilling
or Incapable of uniting and exerting their force L~~a.gining (for which.they
have some grounds) that the several Colonies are lLke a Rope of sand each
guided by selfish partial Vie't·Ts. • • . 1115 The governor concluded his address
with a oatriotic apoeal that "In this Critical situation let us his Ma.jestys
faithful subjects of the Colony of ~ CaroliP4 shew that we are true sons of
Britain whose ancestors have been ever famous for defending their valuable
religion and liberties, and that we are still Inspired with the same spirit
~ of Liberty, and are determined to support our Religious and civil rights,
and hand them dovm to our Posterity ~ • . • u16
. _....,.. . . . .. ·.
• I
.. _
•
The Assembly reminded Dobbs that the previous year, at Rowan's insis-tence,
the province granted "to his Majesty such an aid as exceeded that of
any of the other Colonys (altho they were either far more opulent and more
exoosed than us) And in wch we hoped we sho,.lld have been foD.o'ned by our
neighbors, but their indolence was such t hat for want of exerting themselves,
the French defeated the Virginia Forces and thereby became quiet possessors
17
of their un.;ust pretentions . • • • 11 Nevertheless , t he follm-1ing day the
Assembly allocated t,S,OOO p roclamation money "as an Aid to his Majesty. 111 g
Then the U?per and lower houses fell into debate over how the h$,000 should
be raised. Soon after this issue was resol ved, Dobbs prorogued the gather-ing.
The governor reported to the Board of Trade about his first encounter with
the Assembly: "I was in hopes to have got 200 /_mew for one year for Vi.ginia.
alone, but upon a Division it was carried to have but 100 Men for 2 years in
one Company commanded by one Captain two ~ieutenants and one Ensign, and a
Compa~y of 50 men under one Captain one Lieutenant & Ens~gn for the Defence
of this frontier, having had so many lately mu~der'd by the French Indians and
French in the Indian Dress.rr19
The frontier company, d~signated "Rangers, " was placed under the command
of Cantain Hugh Waddell, who at this time still remained in Virginia. 20 In
early February Dobbs informed the Board of Trade that "I propose going up to
the MOuntains in Summer and fixing upon a proper Place to build a Fort in
. f F . . d Indi All. n21 for the secur~ty o our ron1:.~er an an ~es . • •• Note that Dobbs
i s of the ooinion that this western fort should placed beyond the settled area
and serve the dual purpose of defending both Indians and settlers •
Meanwhile, North Carolina spent the first half of 1755 preparing her other
company to march to Virginia. There provinc ial forces along '\'lith a contingent
of British regulars gathered to remove the ?rench interlopers from the frontier.
The commanding officer, Major-General Edward Braddock, was confident that
e he would be able to take the French stronghold of Fort Duquesne. Dimdddie,
i anticipating Braddock 's success, sent the following message to Dobbs: "It
will be proper to keep Y1 r Co'y to the Westw'd, close on their watch, the
Gen'l being informed y't . if he succeeds in tak 1 g the Fort y't the Fr . and
•
their Ind's will march into our Frontiers to oppress and robb our settlers,
22
w'sh you'll please give Directions accorO.ingly."
Braddock's forces were soundly defeated at the Battle of the Wilderness
on July 9, and terror filled the strongest hearts in the backcountry settle-ments
. Nothing stood between them and the French:
A cold shuddering possessed every brest, and paleness
covered almost every face . In short, the whole inhabitants
were put into universal confusion. Scarcely any man durst
sleep in his own house--but all net in companies with their
wives and children, and set about building little fortifi­cations,
to defend themselves fro~ such barbarian and in­human
enemies who~ they conclude:i t-rould be let loose upoli
them at pleasure.
Professor E. F . Rockwell described and located, by secondary information,
six such small fortifications in the vicinity of present-day Statesville,
North Carolina~4 Within a few weeks whole frontier communities in Virginia
25
were depopulated as panic-stricken settlers moved south into North Carolina.
The disillusioned Dinwiddie noted that if the settlers had not been "siezed
26
with a Pannick, " they could have protected themselves. Of all the maladies
known to man, few are as contagious as fear .
It was at this time that the Presbyterian minister, Hugh McAden, visited
North Carolina . His appearance was a mixed blessing. He spread The \'lord to
all who would listen: 11 • alarming the people of their danger on account
- of sin, the procuring cause of all evils that befall us in this life, or that
which is to come ; encouraging them to turn to the Lord lrith all their hearts,
to wait upon Him for deliverance from all their enemies . 1127 One can
well ~wagine the effect this had on the already terror-stricken frontier .
e 11SinnerS • II
, In add ition to the iro?erial calamity of Braddock 's defeat, the region
sustained a natural catastrophy as well . The summer of 1755 witnessed one
of the worst droughts in anyone 1 s memory . Crops failed at the ver:r time
28
the area was overrun "\'lith refugees.
By July 23, word reached the Moravian settlement at Bethabara "that
the people on the Yatkin were planning to get together, in order to be safer
from the Indians."29 The following day the Bethabara diarist noted: "We
heard ~Y. reports especially that people ~ere moving away from this neigh-
30 borhood . "
Governor Dobbs had visited the area on the eve of Braddock 's defeat.
The frontier company had been ranging throughout the backcountry. He hoped
to be able to select a site for winter quarters for the company. It was
~ while he was on this excursion that Dob bs learned of Braddock ' s fate. Dobbs
•
described his ,i ourne y to the Board of Trade :
I sett out the 17th of June to view my Lands, and at the
same time the Western Frontier and fix a place to station
our Frontier Company and proposed viewing the South Ca ro­lina
Line, as formerly proposed by the Commissioners •
• • . I arrived at "Salisbury the County town of Rowan
the Town is but j ust laid out, t~e Court House built and
7 or S log Houses erected, from this unto the end of Lord
Granville's Line which is at yet run on farther, upon cold
water Creek on the Catalvba 1 s pat~, is 14 miles, the Lands
still very good, here I was within 3 miles of the North west
corner of my Lands, which lye upon Rocky river, and its
several Branches, it being very rocky, being very rapid with
many falls until it joins the Yadkin, which has also many
falls, where they join the river takes the name of Pedee, and
falls into the sea near George's To'vn or Ttfinyaw, • • •
I had ordered Capt Waddell with our Frontier Company
to scout upon the edges of the mount ain, and upon their
return I set out to fix upon a proper and most central
place fer. them to winter at, and erect a Barrack, and
afterwards if found proper there to build a Fort; I
went N.W . to the Cata"\'rba ' s r i ver, wh ich runs by the
-·
-·-- t w.,...._..--
·-'
•
Catawba ' s Town into the Santee, and proceeded Northward
to the Latitude 35° , 40 ' to third Creek which falls
into the South Yadkin, where I found an Eminen ce and
good Snrings, and fixed upon tha~ as most cintral to
assist the back settlers and be a retreat to them as
it was beyond the wall settl_e1 Country, only strag­gling
settlements behind them, ar.d if I had placed
them beyond the Settlements without a ~ortification
they might be exoosed, and be no retreat for the Set­tlers,
and the In1ians might pass them and w~rder the
Inhabitants, and retire before they durst go to give
them notice . As I was returning I was alarmed with a
reoort of our Trooos being defeated and Gener1 Braddock
being killed. • . •
As I came away I sent Expresses for the field
officers of the Militia of Anson and Rowan to meet
me at the Yadkin, and there ordered out a piquet, to
be chosen out of the most active men of the Militia
of each County with a chosen officer at their head of
fifty men each and a central place of rendezvous to
be fixed for each to the northward and Southward of
our Frontier C o~any, to be under Captain Waddell 's
command, to join hi.'ll when necessary or for him to ro.arch
to assist them in case of any incursion, and ordereq
down two "toraggons t.Q. Charles To'..m for a.nnnunition and
two "raggons here f..New Bern? for arms • ••• 31
Note : The fort was now to be located wit ~ in the settl.ed area. Bear in mind
that the Cherokees were still friendly to the British, although Din"~ddie
and Dobbs were convinced that South Caro l ina Gove rnor Glenn's misro~nagement
was driving them into the arms of the French . 32 At this time Dinwiddie and
Dobbs increased their efforts to keep the Catawbas and Cherokees within the
British snhere.
33
Dobbs noted that the fort should be built on Third Creek,
"if found proper . '' The traditional site of Fort Dobbs is on Fourth Creek .
Perhaos the old governor 's geography was fuzzy as he recounted his journay
uoon his return to New Bern, or perhaps this Third Creek site vras not "found
prooer. 11
The Provincial Assembly met on Septem!>er 25, but d ue to the drought and
consequently the extension of the "sickly season , " they rushed to c omplete
their business. 34 Dobbs, as e:x:pected, call ed for more defensive measures •
He pleaded with the Assembly to strengthen' the frontier and coastal defenses,
and send aid to tne other provinces. Dobbs reported in his address to the
I
•
Assembly: II . . . in a progress I made to,..rards the vlestern Frontier /J]
fixed upon a· proper situation upon third Creek on South Yadkin near the
Catawba's River to station the frontier Company being the most central,
from North to South to protect the Inhabitants and must therefore recom-mend
it to you to have a small fort or strong barrack built there for the
lodging of the Cornoany and security of the frontier, they at present have
nothing to shelter them. u35
The Lower House, aware of the urgency of the situation and , no doubt,
anxious to leave New Bern, 11 resolved Una Voce to grant unto his Na.;esty the
sum of Ten thousand -pounds proclamation money • . .. 36 *-1.,000 of this
amount l'TaS allocated nto build a Barrack ~nd Fort for the Company on the
Western Frontier. n
37
Early in the following year (1756), Dobbs re-ported on the milit~ry
oosture of the frontier to Secretary Willi~ Pitt : '~ie are . •• erecting
a small fort on our western Frontier against the Indians, but Labour is so
dear here, and Labourers sc~rce to be had at any Price, that all our Affairs
here are retarded. We have had no Attacks or InsQlts yet upon our FrQntier,
owing princioally to our frontier Company, and the Neighbourhood of the
38
Cataubas Indians our friends." Thus, t:te anticipated construction of
Fort Dobbs before the onset of winter had not taken place. This could also
be a factor in reconciling the projected Third Creek location of 1755 with
t he actual, or traditional, Fourth Creek location.
With the coming of spring, once more rumors of impending Ind~n attacks
spread across the frontier. 39 By mid- }fuy, Dobbs reported that the frontier
fort had not yet been erected: "a stockadoed fort is ordered to be erected
for our frontier Company, but as we expect our frontier •~11 extend Westward,
"'e shall not be at any great Expence as it may afterwards be proper to extend
it further to the \vestward where only Swi:rel Guns ''rill be necessary or
'· ...
Musquetoons . n4° In July, Dobbs reported to Lord Loudoun, the British
cormnander in Ame rica, that vmrk had started on the fort: "\ve are •
erecting a small Fort upon our 'restern or Indian Frontier, Hhere we haYe a
Comnany of 50 men, but as I hope when this war is over our Frontier will
be extended beyond the mountains this is only occasional at present. n
41 Dobbs
continued his report by describing the coastal fortifications, and in con-elusion
remarked, "· .• as I have no Engineer here , nor know how to get one,
I was oblj.ged to act as Engineer nwself, & rub up my former knowledge in
fortifications when I was in the Army •. 1142
Meam1hi l .e. the Cherokees became more and more disenchar.ted in their
alliance with the British. Both South Carolir.a and Virginia tried to keep
the Cherokees within the British sphere by erecting fortifications '~thin
their midst for their ? r otection against the French and their Indian allies.
North Carolina was d irected to build a fort for the protection of the
Catawbas. 43
vfuen the Assembly met the follo~nng aut~~ , it drafted an a ddress to
the king in which the precariou·s mi litar:v situation of the province was
described :
To His Kings most Excellent Ma.:jesty.
The Humble Address of the Assembly of North Carolina
HOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN ,
l.Ve your Ma..iestys most Dutiful and Loyal Subjects
the Members of the Assembly of North Carolina being
truly sensible of your Ma,jes~ys extensive regard for
the Welfare of all your Colonies beg leave to represent
to your t~jesty the Defenceless Condition of this
your Hajestys Province and the Danger to lvhich its
Inhabitants are Exposed our Frontiers being Far Ex ­tended
to the Westward may easily be attacked as well
by the French as their Indian Allies the latter
have alread:v· corruuitted several Hostilities there and
from their Henacing SP.eeches we nay expect they will
soon make a farther Progress . The Cherokees a numerous
and lt!arlike Nation of Indians who have fornerly given
the strongest Assurances of their Attachment to your
--- . . .. .
...
' ··
Majestys Interest Since the Loss of Qs,'fego seem
wavering in their Friendships sev:!'al parties of
them having lately committed divers Outrages on
the Inhabitants of the Frontier of this Government
which no longer leaves us in doubt of their Friend1_y
Disnosition to...,rards the French. t-ihen w·e raised Sup ­plies
for uaying Forces sent on your Ma .j esty' s Service
to the Assistance of Virginia a S,.un of Money was Ap­orooriated
to Building a Fort on our Frontier and
~aying a Company to Garrison the same . The Money has
been duly applied to those purposes &~t in Case of a
Revolt from the Cherokees any Defence that can be
made bv that Comuany though assisted by the Militia
in their Neighbourhood \·rill be very Inconsiderable .
~ve have raised several Sums of ~oney for erecting
Forts and Batteries on the Sea Coast all which
thoughConviently situated for the Protection of our
Trade are Incapable of Defence for the want of Artil­lery
and Men so that should our Rarbours be Infested
with Privateers as in the 1 ate ·.·ia!' our Navigation
would be ruined and an Incursion ~rom the French and
Indians on our Frotliers •.-rou1d To~ally destroy those
Settlements. • • •
This Assembly also allocated funds for the erection of a second fort
on the frontier. 45 To help in the imple ~nentation of this allocatio.n,
the Assembly informed Dobbs:
This House having Resolved That it may be for his
Ma.jestys Service that Commissioners be aopointed to
View the Western Settlement s ar.d report to your Ex­cellency
their present Condition and in what Part of
the Frontier they think it ...,rould. be most for the
Safety 'of the Inhabitants that a ?ort should be
built and also to Inspect the Condition of Fort
Dobbs desire to Recommend to your Excellency
Mr. Francis Brown Mr. Thomas Re l f and Mr. Richard
Caswell as Gentlemen on \ihose I mpartial Reoresentation
your Excellency may rel;v and who are willing to under­take
a Journey ~th your Excellencys Approbation for
those ourooses.4
Two of the commissioners did inspect Fort Dobbs. Their reoort, sub-mitted
at the next meeting of the Assembly, contains the only known de-scriotion
of the fort:
Mr. Brown one of the Commis s ioners Appointed for
Vie,l'ling the Vlestern Sett 1.e:nents ar.d reuort their
nresent condition and at what part of the Fronti er
they think it would be most L$uitao le7 for the
safety of the Inhabitants that a Fort shouid be
built, And also to Inspect the present Condi-
~-~- ·- - -- --
i
tion of Fort Dobbs, Reported that he together with
?1r . Richard Caswell one of the ot!'ler Commissioners
had viewed the T.'iestern Settl.errents and t hat the
said Settlements were in a Def~ncaless Condition
excent that nart near Fo rt Dobbs and that they
recommended to this House a certain Place for
Building a Fort near the Cata,..,ba Nation as by a
?l.an annexed to the said report Appears, And that
they had likewise viewed the State of Fort Dobbs
and found it to be a good and Substantial Building
of the D~ntions following (that is to say) The
Oblong Square fifty three feet by forty, the O?posite
Angles ~·renty four feet and ~·renty-Two, In height
Twent y four and a h~lf feet as by the plan annexed
Appears, the Thickness of the Wall s 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 l~sketts the sa~e is beautifullv
scituated in the fork of Fourth Creek a Branch of·~
the Yadkin River. And that they also found under
Command of Caot Hugh \-Jaddel Forty six Effective men
Officers and Soldiers as by tr.e List to the said
Reoort Annexed Appears the sam~ being sworn to by
the said Capt in their Pr esence the said Officers
and Soldiers Aopearing well and in good Spirits.
Signed the 21st day of December 1756 .
FRANCIS BJtOw'N . 47 RICHARD c;..~-JELL .
(Con jectural Plan of Fort Dobbs: Comments)
In April of 1967, Mr. Stanley South prepared a report entitl.ed, "Fort .
Dobbs on the Carolina Frontier 1755 - 1764." The present report is not. in-tended
to be, nor should it be interpreted as a counterblast against Mr.
South ' s reoort. However, this writer does find himself in serious dis-agreement
on several points . This will be evident in the material that
follows .
The oresent ~Titer has concerned himself ~nth three basic questions:
When was Fort Dobbs built? Where was it built? vJhat did the structure
l.ook like?
By close scrutiny of Dobbs's reports, which are cited in the first
section of this r eport, it appears evident that t he traditional date of
1755- 1756 can be narrowed d~~ . We find that the actual construction
took place in the summer of 1756 .
As to location, this writer is satisfied beyond a reasonabl e doubt
that the traditional site of Fort Dobbs near Fourth Creek approximates
the actual site. Mr. South has performed a commendable task in establishing
the present day location of the John Edward Tracts granted in 1752.
Now we arrive at the third question, which is also the major question
as far as historical restoration is concerned- -~hat did the f ort look like?
It is hoped that archaeological investigation conducted on the site will
provide further information that will be constructive in laying the ground-work
fo~ the anticipated restoration. However, one is discouraged by the
fact that earlier in this century road machinery was used to level the
area of the traditional site so that it would be suited to the cultivation
of cotton.
The historian faces a serious task ~hen he tries to present a description
of hol>~ Fort Dobbs must have looked. His trouble may be traced to two sources.
One source is an early, and erroneous , sketch of Fort Dobbs by ~trs . Minnie
Hamoton Eliason . This is easily dismissed ·,rhen the sketch is compared to
the dimensions cited in the report of B~o·nn and Caswell to the Assembly in
1757.
The second source is harder to dispeli, due in large part to the fact
that the idea of ~rhat a frontier fort should look lL~e r~s been firmly
planted in our minds by the cinema and television. This image consists
of ~rhat .,e may call the "Boonesborough tY?e" fort, which was a series of
log b1ockhouses connected by log walls or curtains. These structures were
unsophisticated affairs built by unlettered frontie rsmen as protection
against a savage advisary 1vho was untrained in the military arts. Fort
Harrison, constructed in 1777, is an examole of this type of fortification.
It has , unfortunately, been the tendency to pro ject this image of
frontier fort backward on former periods . For example, we are all aware
of the fact t hat there we r e those who insisted upon constructing a "Boones ­borough
tyue" fort at the Fort Raleigh site on Roanoke Island .
Thus, if ~re are going to make an effort to discover the truth about
Fort Dobbs, it will first be necessary to clear our minds of preconceived
notions of how the fort "should have looke:i," and instead, concentrate on
what information is available to us .
At the time of the French and Indian war, both British and French
military men were well aware of the char.ges in warfare that had been wrought
by the Marquis de Vauban, the inventor of the modern system of defense. Some
knowledge of Vauban ' s tactics was considered essential even a~~ng t he lower
officers i..""l. any eighteenth century arnw·. Vauban equipped his fortifications
with bastions so that all of the exterio ~ sides could be protected by a
I
flanking fire from an a1jacent part of the structure . Bastions should
never be confused with blockhouses. They ~vere U..u dissimilar structures as
far as the eighteenth century military man was concerned.
The provincial forces in British America were quick to adopt crude
facsimil.ies r.;>f Vauban ' s works . The materials used in their construction
varied widely according to location and availability, but the design was
most always similar. For example, Fort Stanwix '-tas a 11 Vauban type" fort
constructed from horizontal logs.
Therefore, during the French and IP.dian conflict a series of these
forts were thrown up along the frontier of British America . If Fort Dobbs
had oeaked roof blockhouses connected by a log curtain, it was, indeed, a
rare sight in its day, and unlike the majority of other fortifications
erected by the neighboring provinces of N e~ York, Pennsylvania, VirgL~a,
and South Carolina.
We must remember that Fort Dobbs v~s erected as a barrier against a
French invasion, or an invasion by Frenc ~ Indians commanded by French of­ficers
. A 11 Boonesborough t y pe 11 fortification would be less likely to with­stand
an attack by a foe even remotely famil iar with Vauban ' s defensive tac­tics
. The builders of Fort Dobbs could not have known that their erstwhile
Cherokee allies woQld be the fort's only assailants.
From the primary sources cited in the first section of this report we
are able to learn much a bout Fort Dobbs . \•le are told that it was a small
structure . &1,000 Proc. money was allocated for its construction. This
was not a small sum . By comparison, Fort Loudoun ~udoi} in the Overhil~
country in present Tennessee cost Virginia ~,000 . Dobbs complained that
the construction of Fort Dobbs was held up because of the lack of labor .
Yet, we know that the country was overrun ~~th refugees who were potential
unskilled laborers . Could it be that the construction of the fort demanded
a certain amount of skilled or semi- skilled labor? Certainly, any ~oup of
e frontiersmen could (and did) throw up a trBoonesborough type" fort, but
•
e
hardly at the cost of bl,OOO.
It is obvious that Fort Dobbs was designed by one of two men ; Arthur
Dobbs o r Hugh Waddell . Dobbs noted that there were no engineers in the
province, and that it was necessary for him to "rub up" on his aruzy- training
and act as his own engineer. Dobbs had adequate experience f or the job, but
a "Boonesborough type" fortification would have been alien t o him. He had been
trained in the construction of the " Vauban type" of fortification during his
tenure in the British Army . Also , he plan.1"1ed sever al of the "Vauban type11
forts for coastal defense at the same time that Fort Dobbs \oras being con-structed.
Although it is unlikely that the plans for the Province's sole f rontier
fortification ~~uld be left to a compan~ captain, this does remain within the
realm of a possibility . Hugh ~\'addell was an ambitious young man . He •..ras far
more sophisticated than his Revolutiol".ary counterpart on the North Carolina
frontier, Griffith Rutherford. Waddell ha1 seen action on the Virginia
frontier where "Vauban type" forts had bee!l erected by provincial troops .
Indeed, he was serving ~dth James Innes when that officer built Fort Cumber-land,
a "Vauban tyne" fortifica~ion . Therefore, it seems only logical that
if Waddell \o~s the oerson who drew up the plans for Fort Dobbs , then he would
have turned to that type of fortification with which he was most familiar .
It is hoped that the arguments advanced above are sufficient to ascertain
that Fort Dobbs was not a "Boonesborough tyne11 fortification •Nith blockhouses
attached by curtains, but that it was a "Vauban type" fortification constructed
of horizontal. logs 1-dth bastions,
A bastion is defined as "a l·rork proJecting outward from the main en-closure
of a fortification, consisting of ti·ro faces meeting in a salient
!..
f
...
angle, usually acute, commanding the foreground and outworks, and two flanks,
each able to defend by a flanking fire t he face of the adj acent bastion and
the adjacent curtain, or wall "'hich joins the flank of one bastion with the
adjacent flank of another.''
With this definition in mind, let us once again turn to the description
of Fort Dobbs recorded in December of 1?56 : 11
• • The Oblong Square fifty
three feet by forty, the O?posite Angles ~~enty four feet and Twenty- Two.
It is obvious that "the opposite Angles" mentioned in the Brm-m and
Caswell Reoort are the salient angles of t he structure . Thus, Fort Dobbs
was a tyoical small fort of the type erected on the British- American
frontier during the French and Indian War .
II
•
FOOl' NOTES
l. Desmond Clarke, Arthur Dobbs. Es q uire (Chapel Hill : The University of
North Carolina Press. 1957), 108 ff .
2 .
3.
Alfred ~.fuore Wadde l l, A Colonial Officer and His Times 1.7 4- 177 3
( Raleigh: Edwards a nd Broughton , 1890 , 28 .
See Robert \·1. Ramsey, Ca rolina Cradle : Settlelllent of the Nor t hwest
Carolina Fr ontier, 1747- 1762 ( Chapel Eill : The University of North
Carolina Pr'3ss, 1964).
4 . Ro wa n to Boa r d of Tr ad e , J une 28 , 1753, in Wil l iam L. Saunde rs (ed .),
The CoJonial Records of North Carolina ( Raleigh : The Stat e of Nort h
Carolina, 10 vo lumes, J.886- 1G90), V, ~4, hereinafter cited a s Colonial
Records .
5. Snangenberg Diary, December 20, 1752, Colonial Records , V, 13 .
6 . Rowan to Board of Tr ade, June 28, 1753, Colonial Records , V, 24 .
7. Dobbs to Board of Trade, January 4, 1755, Colonial Records, V, 320-321.
8 . Dobbs to Bt>ard of Trade, January 4, 1755, Colonial Records, V, 320 .
9. Ro·11an to Earl of Holdernesse, November 21 , 1753 , Colonial Records, V, 25 .
Sse also, Douglas Summers Brown , The Catawba Indians~ The Peoole of the
River (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1966), 191 .
1.0 . CoJ . John Clark to Rot'fan~ September 25, 1754, Colonial Records , V, J40 .
11. Adelaide L . Fries, et . a 1.. (eds .) • Records of the ~foravians in Nor th Ca rolina
( Raleigh : North Car olina Hi storical Co:n:nission LDepartment of Ar chives.
and Histor:!:7 , 11 volumes , 1920- 1968 ) , I , 109- 11.0, hereinafter c ited a s
¥~ravian Reco r ds .
12 . Dobbs to Lord Halifax, November 20 , 1754, Colonial !tecords , V, 159- 160.
13 . Hugh T. Lefle r and Albert F4y Newsome, Korth Carolina: The History of a
Southern State (Chaoel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press ,
1963) . 147 . . .
14. Dobbs to Board of Trade, November 9, 1754 , Colonial Reco r ds, V, 148 .
15 . Colonial Records, v, 223 .
16. Co1 _onia1 Records , v, 224 .
17 . Colonial Records, v, 227 .
18 . Colonial Records , v, 243 .
19. Dobbs to Board of Tr ade , January 1, 1755, Colonial Records , ,v , 313 .
e
20. R. A. Brock (edJ, Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie •••• (Richmond :
Virginia Historical Society, 2 volumes, 1883-1884), I, 487 - 488, therein­after
cited as Dinwiddie Papers.
21. Dobbs to Board of Trade, February 8, 1755 , Colonial Records, V, 333 .
22. Dinwiddie to Dobbs , Ju_~e 13, 1755, Dinwiddie Papers, II, 60-61.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
"Diary of Hugh McAden, 11 in ~Tilliam Henry Foote, Sketches of North Caro­lina
( New York: Robert Carter, 1846), 163, hereinafter cited as Sketches.
Elisha Frinks Rockwell , "Another Fort in the Indian 1iar of 1755 to 1763, 11
Historical Magazine, II, 3rd Series (July, 1873), 40-41 .
South Carolina Gazette (Charleston), September 25, 1755, hereinafter
cited as South Carolina Gazette.
Dinwiddie to Dcbbs, July 23, 1755, Dinwiddie Papers, II, 111- 112.
"Diar"IJ of Hugh McAden," July 1755, in Sketches, 162.
South Carolina Gazette , December 25, 1755. See also "Diary of Hugh McAden,"
October 15, 1755, Sketches, 168.
Bethabara Diary, July 23, 1755, MOravian Records , I, 135.
Moravian Records, I, 135.
Dobbs to Board of Trade, August 24, 1755, Colonial Records, V, .353- 364.
Dinwiddie to Dobbs, September 18, 1755 , Colonial Records, V, 426- 428 .
Dirn~iddie to Dobbs, Decemb er 13, 1755, Dinwiddie Papers, II, 289-290;
Dobbs to Secretary Pitt, January 5, 1756, Colonial Rec ords, V, 560.
Dobbs to Board of Trade, October 28, 1755, Colonial Records , V, 439- 440 .
35 . Assembly Journal, Colonial Records , V, 497 - 498.
36. Colonial Records, V, 498.
37. Dobbs to Board of Trade, October 28, 1755, Colonial Records, V, 440.
38 . Dobbs to Secretary Pitt, January 5, 1756, Colonial Records , V, 560 .
39 . Bethabara Diary, ~.arch 10- May 20, 1756, ?1oravian Records , I, 164-165 .
40. Dobbs to Board of Trade , l4arch 15, 1756, Colonial Records, V, 572.
41. Dobbs to Earl of Loudoun, July 10, 1756 , Colonial Records, V, 597.
42. Colonial Records, V, 597 .
~ 43 . Dinwiddie to Dobbs, July 22 , 1756, Dinwiddie Paoers , II, 458- 459 .
44 . Colonial Records, V, 710-711 .
•
•
45. Colonial Records , v, 717. It was decided to place this fort among
the Catawbas . It was not completed. For location see Douglas Summers
Brown, The Cata•'lba Indians (Columbia: University of South Carolina
Press, 1966), 237.
1~6 . Assembly Journal, ColoP..ial Records, V, 729 .
47. Assembly Journal, May 20, 1757, ColoP..ial Records , V, 849. The "annexed"
papers were not printed in the Colonial Records . As in other critical
instances, the printed copy was checked against a microfilm copy of the
original Journal located in the British Public Records Office in London.
Unfortunately, it appears that the "plan annexed11 was not sent to
England •'lith the original Journal .
I
!
••
FORT DOBBS REPORT
(Supplement I-: History 1757- 1764)
The completion of Fort Dobbs in 1756 reduced the apprehensions and in-security
of frontier settlers by offering a safe refuge in times of danger.
Both ~faddell and Dobbs apparently believed that the mere presence of the fort
deterred Indian hostility. Waddell was not relunctant to leave the -instal-lation
for lengthy period~ of time, trusting the care of the fort and provi­sions
to only a token garrison . In 1757, Captain Waddell and his company of
Provincial Rangers marched to the relief of Fort Loudon located about thirty
miles from present day Knoxville, and a year later he joined the expedition
1
against Fort Duquesne. During the latte~ campaign, the troops were absent
for nearly five months during which time Fort Dobbs was manned only by Jacob
Franks {sometimes spelled Francks) _. and one assistant whose name history has
failed to record .2
Spurred by the unrelenting French prcpag~nda and unfavorable treatment
by the British, especially in South CarolL~~, the Cherokees and Catawbas evinced
a growing hostility towards frontier settlers . A number of western North Care-linians
probably sought the protection of Fort Dobbs as the ne>~ of real and
rumored Indian atrocities spread during the ~~nter of 1758-1759. Loca~ tra-dition
has long maintaL~ed t hat a baby girl, Rachel Davidson, was born within
the fort ' s confines in 1758. The claim is also made that the men went out in
armed bands to work the fields while the women and children remained in the
forto While this was the procedure at sorr.e frontier forts , such as Fort Bedford
in Pennsylvania, there is no documentation that it was the case at F~rt Dobbso3
Apparently ~ae· diaturb~ce on the frontier was serious enough to cause Governor
Dobbs to be in frequent communication with the Assembly concerning the problem.
On May 10, 1759, the Assembly agreed to make proYisions for the "Payment of
vlorkmen to be employed to put the Arms in Store {at Fort Dobb~ in proper order
for Service.114
. I
'-
There are indications that 1759 was a ~ear of general military buildup
at Fort Dobbs . On November 2, a member of the 1-ioravian community entered in
his diary the ~ollowing statement:
Today we hear that the North Carolina Fort is to be well
prepared for defense against the Cherokees , and that our
neighbors have been notified by their Captains to hold
themselves L~ readiness, for in case of need every third
man must march • 5
Three weeks later Governor Dobbs made another recommendation to the Assembly.
He called for continued maintenance of the forts and advised "· •• keeping
on foot the two Companies now on pay to Defend the Forts on the Sea Coast
and back Settlements."6
The preparations at Fort Dobbs were well timed. On the night of Feb­ruary
27, 1760, an estimated band of sixty to seventy Cherokees attacked the
outpost. Waddell's troops were successful in driving the enemy back with min­imum
casualties to the company. One man, Robert Campbe~ was wounded ~d ·. · ~.:. : ·.l
scalped while retreating towards the fort from a scouting expedition. He
l ater died but a comrade, R. Gillespie, Sr., recovered from his injuries .
Waddell wrote Dobbs that the only other casualty was a young boy killed near
the fort. Apparently he was the son of a settler who was caught outside of
the walls by the surprise attack . An a nticipated second skirmish never materi-alized,
and \faddell concluded that 11 •• they did not like their Reception.n7
The attack on Fort Dobbs sent ~~ves of fear throughout the colony and
shocked the Assembly into further action. In April an unusually large appro ­priation
of 1.164,940 was granted 11 for raising, clothing & paying 540men ex-elusive
of officers to join the forces of our neighboring Provinces against
the French & Cherokees & for garrisoning Fort Dobbs and other purposes. 118
The records do not clarify the amounts allocated for each activity named in
the appropriation.
There is, however, little doubt that the operation at Fort Dobbs was
~ enlarged as a result of the decision by the Assembly. At the time of the
appropriation, Waddela was given four independent companies to assist the
'"',~ •• J Rangers in protecting the frontier. 9 Again the records do not reveal whether
the additional troops were to be stationed at Fort Dobbs or whether they were
to be in readiness to march at Waddell's collJDand. If trey were to be housed
at Fort Dobbs for any length of time, the facilities would have required ex-pansion.
Barracks for about 200 additional men (50 to a comp3.ny) could not
have been constructed within the existing dimensions of the forto If these
troops did stay at Fort Dobbs, some suitable structure must have been built
nearby but outside the fort's walls . Such exterior buildings were not invom-patible
with military strategy, particularly on the frontiero Fort Ligonier,
Fort Bedford, Mercer's Fort, and Fort Duquesne, all in Pennsylvania, were de-signed
with structures outside of the fort walls, and all date from the same
time period as Fort Dobbs . 10
There is an interesting description of Fort B~dford which may well be
applicable to Fort Dobbs:
The buildings within the fort were used chiefly for the
stora~e of food and military supplies . Near the fort
are Lwer~ a number of buildings used by the settlers,
or contractors who supplied the army. Around the fort
were fields
1
for cultivation and pastures for the horses
and cattle.
In the case of Fort Ligonier, most of the troops were housed not only outside
of the fort, but outside of the entire stockade! 12 Obviously, there were many
precedents for building a barracks beyond the fortified area .
In 1761, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina launched an inter-colonial
effort to end Cherokee hostilities. Victory was assured by the Indians'
13
defeat at Etchoe Pass on June 10~ Col. Waddell (promoted first to major then
~ to colonel in 1761) and his Rangers were expected to participate in the 1761
campaign, but it appears that he was neither in that victorious effort nor e in the ill- fated Hontgomery exp.edition a year earliero While Montgomery was
marching to disaster i:' 1760, Waddell was still at Fort Dobbs mustering out
some of his troops and receiving supplies for the resto 14 Much to the Colonel's
dismay, his waggonmaster of several years , John Long, died (causes not given)
in l-arch or early April. 15
In 1761 ~·laddell was ordered to join Col. Byrd of Virginia in a campaign
against the Upper Cherokee towns. Byrd, however, entered into a peace treaty
and discharged his troops before Wadd ell could make the rendevous . 16 Lt . Col.
James Grant of South Carolina com:na.nded the troops that forced the Cherokee
submission in 1761 , but his journal makes no mention of Col . Waddell.17 Since
Waddell had played a prominent role in the successful Forbes campaign against
Fort Duquesne in 1758 and was a recognized military leader, it seems most ~
probable .that he would have been inconspicuous in the Cherokee War of 1761 . 18
Although the records themselves are unclear, a reasonably safe assumption is
that Waddell returned to Fort Dobbs after Byrd ' s treaty and r emained there to
guard against possible Cherokee reprisals during Grant's destruction of their
western towns.
Documentary records do not reveal much of the activity at Fort Dobbs from
1760 to 1762 . The garrison was reduced from fifty to thirty men , but these
required substantial medical attentiono Dr. John Fergus, a well known physician
from Brunswick Town, administe~ed the troops in . 1760 , possibly attending to
Robert Campbell and R. Gillespie, Sro, among others. Two years later Dr • • Sam
Green filed a claim for "sundry medicines and attending soldiers in Col. Waddell's
commando 11 1q It is not known whether the doctors administered to injuries sus-tained
in the line of duty, fevers, or a less noble wBlady common to the mil-itary
profession (dysentery)o
The garrison at Fort Dobbs was in frequent contact \•lith the Mora vian
.-
' - ,
settlement about fifty miles a1.'lay . Apparently, the arms and military supplies
were stored in Bethabara du~ing the severe winter months and returned to the
fort in late spring or early summer. At least this was the case in the winter
of 1761 -1 762 .
20
\oTith the dangl!r of Indian hostilities removed, the Rangers at
Fort'Dobbs used some of the military stores to barter for more luxurious items .
In August of 1763 , for instance, a Moravian settler noted i~ the Bethabar a Diary:
A wagon, which brought 1,000 lbs. of lead from Fort Dobbs ~?
our store, returned with pottery in exchange for the lead .
By April of 1762 the Assembly decided that Fort Dobbs had served its purpose.
Settlement s, with no fear of Indian attacks, were extending beyond its means
of protection. Francis Corbin, a member of the House of Commons , moved that
Governor Dobbs be addressed to order the removal of all arms and ammunition at
Fort Dobbs to " · •• the Moravian Settlement or some other place of safety near
the said fort. n22 Col. Waddell, then about t•,;enty-seven years of age, retired
23
from active milita.ry service and moved with his new bride to the town of \•liJ..mL'I'locrton.
\<!ith the treaty of peace between England and France , Y.Taddell ' s successor at
Fort Dobbs, Capt. Andrew Baily (sometimes spelled Bayley or Baile) withdrew the
garrison, leaving the fort and its stores in the care of vTalter Lindsay.24
A few months later, the Public Claims Committee decided that maintenance of Fort
Dobbs was becoming an unnecessary public expense. They recommended to the
Assembly It • that the stores, etc . there be removed, to save any further
expense to the Public . 1125 On March J , 1764, the Assembly requested Governor
Dobbs to order the removal of stores to Salisbury, and to insure the removal ,
the House of Commons voted not to allow any claims (after March) to any person
for t~~ng care of the stores.
26
The supplies were removed and Fort Dobbs was
abandonedo Two years later Governor Tr,ron, who had replaced the aging Dobbs ,
reported to the Board of Trade:
• • • Fort Dobbs in Rowan County is likewise neglected
and in ruins, if this last fort had been Y.ept up it. could
not have been of further service against the Indians as
the inhabitants of this Province have since the last war
extended their settlements up~-tards of seventy miles to the
westward of the fort.27
Nature quickly reclaimed its own, but it may have had human assistance.
Local tradition contends that most of the logs of Fort Dobbs were carted off
to build local houses, including the "Stevenson schoolhouse" on the Adderholt
plantationo Residents of Iredell County (formed from Rowan in 1788) in 1920
recalled seeing the loopholes in the logs of the schoolhouse, ; supposedly the
ones through which the muskets at Fort Dobbs were fired 0~8 Documentation for
this story is lacking, but the impact of Fort Dobbs upon Rowan County, and later
Iredell County, residents continued long after the fort was in ruins.
Documentary records and local tradition combine to produce evidence
for an interpretation that should be given serious consideration. It is the
~ contention of this researcher that Fort Dobbs gave its. name to a community
that survived the existence of the structure, and that the existence of this
community has led to misinterpretation of the role of the fort after the French
and Indian War.
There are documents dating as late as 1774 that refer to Fort Dobbs Road
which was to be kept in good ~epair .29 Fort Dobbs is shown as an existing site
on the Collet ~hp (1770), the Mouzon ~~p (1775), and on a roAp of Revolutionary
War campai gns in 1781.3° An entry in the Horavian Records in 1775 refers to
Major /iialted Lindsay of Fort· Dobbs, and local tradition maintains that a
second child, Margaret Locke, was born at the fort in 1776.31 All of these
references date from times after Governor Tryon declared Fort Dobbs in a state
of ruins. The most logical explanation is that the community which grew up
aro~~d Fourth Creek Presbyterian Church (cac 1753) became known as the Fort
Dobb~ community because of the presen~e of the forto32 A geographical
•
•
designation was applied to the road built to service the fort and outlying
settlement, and the name became a reference point for travellers and cartog-raphers
. The child, Margaret Locke, was not born in the fort in 1776 but in
the community popularly known by the same name. Likewise, any Revolutionary
War activity claimed by local tradition to have involved Fort Dobbs probably
has confused the fort with the community. No post office was built nor did
the community ever receive official r epognition . It was merely a geographical
and descripti ve term. The Price-strother Map of 1808 doe~ not show Fort Dobbs.33 .
?I ........
Since the research for this map was cpmpleted as early as 1790, there is good
the
reason to believe thatAFort Dobbs designation was dropped when the town of
Statesville was chartered in 1789.
35
In conclusion, Fort Dobbs was built in 1756 and r eached the climax of its
short service in 1759 and 1760. It was abandoned in 1764 and quickly fell into.
ruins. A community that had grown up nearby became known as Fort Dobbs until
Statesville received official recognition from the General Assembly in 1789.
Fort Dobbs as a structure deserves special attention for two major reasons.
First, it was the first fort built by the colony for the protection of the
frontier. Secondly, it was associated with, a nd possibly built by, Hugh l'Iaddell.
This young officer was for nearly twenty years (1755-1773) the best known and
most capable military leader in North Carol ina. He was recognized by other
colonies as well, serving in Penns ylvania, Virginia, and present-day Teil.:.i.essee.
His home colony called him out o f retirement to serve during the Regulator
disturbance. An unfortunate f a-: t of North Carolina ~s published history is
the virtual neglect of Fort Dobbs and Hugh Waddell . Perhaps the desi.gnation of
the fort ' s location as a state historic site will remedy that oversight •
•
FOOTNOTF....S
1. Waddell, A~Colonial Officer and His T~es 1754-1773, 37, 39, 57- 59. See
also Rosamond Clark, "A Sketch of Fort Dobbs," North Carolina Booklet,
XX, No . 1 (April-July, 1920), 135, hereinafter cited as Clark, 11A Sketch
of Fort Dobbs .. "
2. Franks and his companion were paid b20.9.8 proclamation money for their
services from June 14 to November 10 . Colonial Records , V, 977; Clark,
"A Sketch of Fort Dobbs , " 135.
3. Clark, 11A Sketch of Fort Dobbs," 137; Alfred Proctor James and Charles
Morse Stotz, Drums in the Forest1 (Pittsburg: The Historical Society of
Western Pennsylvania, 1958), 71, hereinafter cited as James and Stotz,
Drums in the Forest.
4. Colonial Records, VI, 98.
5. Movarian Records , I, 213.
6.. November 23, 1759. Colonial Records·, VI, 133.
7 .. Waddell to Governor Dobbs, February 29, 1760. Colonial Records, VI, 229-230 ..
8. TNhfle the amount quoted was appropriated, the .records do not reveal how
much actually was wAde available to the troops for use in the campaign •
Colonial Records, VI, 512.
9. Colonial Records, V, liiio
10. James and Stotz, Drums ~the Forest, 71 -72, 130-140, 144-149. See also
William A. Hunter, Forts on the Penns lvania Frontier 1753- 1758. {Harrisburg:
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1960., 110- 11~1 . here­inafter
cited as Hunter, Pennsylvania Forts .
11. J~es and Stotz, Drums in the Forest, 71.
12. James and Stotz, Drums in the F,;ores-e, ill ustration 5, facing page 71.
13. Journal of Lt. Col. James Grant, Cherokee Campaign, 1761, British Colonial
Papers , London. See entry for June 10. Hereinafter cited as Grant Journal.
14. Colonial Records, VI, 512, XXII, 827; Treasurer's and Comptroller's Papers ,
Indian Affairs and Lands , Box # 1, Archives Section, Division of Archives
and History, Raleigh, hereinafter cited as Indian Affairs.
15. Indian Affairs .
16. W<:dde~l, A Colonial Officer and His '.Times 175!.-1773, 67.
;
, e
17. Grant Journal .
18. Waddell, A C lonial Officer and His !L~es 17 54- 1773 55 - 62 ; S. K. Stevens
(ed.), The Papers of Henry Bouquet Harrisburg: The Pennsylvania His­torical
and Museum Commission , 1951), II, 143 , 209, 256, 292, 573 , 630,
67 1, 673 , 676 , 681 , 683 , 685.
19. Colonial Records , XXII, 827, 835.
20. Moravi an Records , , I, 247. See entry for June 18, 1762 .
21. Moravian Records, I, 275. See entry for August 25 , 1763.
22 . The date was April 28. Colonial Reco r ds , VI , 829.
23. Clark , 11A Sketch of Fort Dobbs, 11 T37 . Waddell ma rried Mary Haynes, daughter
of Captain ltoger Haynes or Castle ric:~.yne::;. Wadae..u., A Colonial Officer arid
His Times 1754-1773, 192 .
24 . Colonial Records, XXII, 839; Clark, "A Sketch of Fort Dobbs , "' 137.
25 . Colonial Records , VI, 1198, XXII, 839.
26 . Coloni al Records , VI , 1198.
27 . Colonial Reco rds, Vii, 203; Governor William Tryon to Board of Trade ,
April 30 , 1766 , Tryon Letterbook, Archives Section, Division of Archives
and History, Raleigh .
28 . Clark, "A Sketch of For_t Dobbs , " 137; F. G. Harrill , 11Fort Dobbs~' (Two - page
extract dated 191 O, : probably taken from American }ifonthly :¥..agazine ), Nor th
Ca rolina Collection, University of No rth Carolina , Chapel Hill.
29. County Records--Rowan , Roads, 175 7- 1809 , Archives Section, Division of
Archives and History, Raleigh.
30. See Maps , Appendix A.
31 • Clark, 11A Sketch of For t Dobbs , " 138.
32 . WilliamS . Powell, The North Carolina Gazetteer,(Chapel Hill: University
of North Carolina Pr ess, 19b8), 473.
33 . See l-1a.ps, Appendi-x A •
34 . Interview with George Stevenson, J r., October 15, 1974. Mr . Stevenson
has spent several years researching maps of North Car olina ana their
histories.
35. Powell, The North Carolina Gazetteer, 473 .
• I
FORT DOBBS REPORT
:supplement II: Appearance as Suggested
by Documentary Records
The most perplexing problem facing those who have conducted research on
·- .. '~ · Fort Dobbs is the inevitable question of ,,.l'lhat did the fort look like?11 No
contemporary draw~ngs have survived. There probably are as many opinions as
there have been researchers, but only a !ew ·have attempted pictorial repre-sentations.
The purpose of this supplement is to combine all available in-formation
about the appearance of the fort into a logical construction as
suggested by the documentary recordso
Almost sixty years ago, Minnie H~~ton Eliason captured the popular fancy
by presenting Fort Dobbs as a frontier blockhouse surrounded by a short pal-isaded
-.,rail. Her interpretation was based on a conception drawn by L. White
Jro, in 1914, and this became the accepted version of the fort's appearance
for many years} When compared to the desription given by Brown and Caswell,
however, the blockhouse interpretation should be dismissedo No blockhouse en­countered
in the course of this research was more than two stories high.2 Fort
Dobbs had three floorso More significantly, the description of ari oblong square
with opposite angles of"··· twenty four feet and twenty two ••• "WQuld be
almost impossible to apply to ·a blockhouse even with an overhanging ledge.
Research compiled by Stanley South in 19~7, and by Jerry Cashion a year
later, produced very similar structures. Both agreed that Fort Dobbs prob-ably
w~s a basic Vauban design, that is, a structure with pointed bastions a~
the corners to provide flanking fire on all sideso3 They disagreed, however,
• on the interpretation of the angles as given by Brown and Caswell in 1756.
Since the angles are directly connected to the size of the bastions, South and·
Cashion differed in their views of the fort's internal areao
This researcher found two problems that hinder the South and Cashion con­ceptions.
In both cases, the right angles forming the rectangle (oblong square)
•
require computation involving trigo~ometric knowledge . In essence, to arrive
at the precise point of conjucture dema nded an actual survey. It is doubtful
that Brown and Cas\~11 were prepared for that elaborate an inspection. But far
more sign.ificantly, the fort was built without the aid of engineers whose math-
4
matical expertise could have produced such an accurate Vauban fort . In a true
Vauban structure, the slant of the inner bastion wall wag in direct line with
the j~ture of the opposite bastion to the side wa11 . 5 This provided maximum
f l anking fir e for protection of the fort, and it was on this theory that South
and Cashion based their interpretations . Without engineers to design the bastions,
however, it seems unlikely that Fort Dobbs was a true Vauban forti fication.
Secondly, when the South plan is drawn to scale, and the excavated cellar
and well imposed on the diagram, the well falls outside of the fort! Allowing
for some slight discrepancy in scaling, the well in the Cashion conception coul~
lie inside the bastion, but it appears to fall on the wall line or exceedingly
6
close to ito These seem most illogical eve~ for a simple frontier structure,
and it creates a hesitancy on the part of this researcher to accept - the Cashion
and South designs .
The records suggest a plan similar to those of Cashion and South, but
simpler i n construction and larger in size . Since the angleswere measured in
feet , and not degrees, and since no compass directions appear in the Brown and
Caswell report , there is reason to assume the absence of surveying equipment .
In all probability, the fort walls were fifty- three by forty feet, which is not
7
the case in the South and Cashion conceptions. The walls were connected by four
bastions each having f our slanting sides, opposite sides being twenty- four and
8
twenty-two feet in length. Since the slants of the bastions were at angles to
the fort wall , Brown and Caswell referred to them as angles , but the commissioners
were not concerned with Vauban precision and thus measured them in feet instead
~ of degrees. Opposite angles, meaning opposite side~ had no trigonometric
connotations, but quite literally meant the sides facing each other across an
..
•
intervening space. Although larger that the other similar deigns, this possible
appearance does fit within the breastworks, and the excavations fall within tha
fert 's confines.
This researcher believes that the paliaaded wall of the fort stood twenty-four
and one- half feet above ground, and that the " • • .logs regularly dimin-ished
from sixteen inches to six • • • 11 referred to tapering as would be nee-essary
in a palisade. At heights of roughly eight feet two inches were walk-ways
or platforms, forming the three floors.
The wall apparently was riddled with loopholes so that nearly three hundred
muskets ( one hundred per floor) could be fi~ed simultaneously.9 Local tradi-tion
usually contains an element of truth, and this interpretation reconciles
that tradition with the little documentary evidence available. vfitb the remo·v.al
of t he blockhouse theory, some of the local ~radition about Fort Dobbs becomes
meaningful and, when not in conflict with established facts, should be used to
best advantage by the researcher .
The records also indicate that Fort Dobbs may have contained additional
buildings besides the adapted Vauban fort'ification, thereby giving a possible
double meaning to the name. Fort Dobbs may have been a complex of buildings· as
well as an individual structure. Settlers, retreating to the fort for protection,
sometimes stayed several weeks or more. Under such circumstances, some sort of
housing, however crude, was necessary. Other frontier forts provided such facil-ities,
but they were usually surface structures that had little or no subsoil
10
foundations. Furthermore, archaeological excavation inside the breastworks
has not yielded substantial evidence that soldiers were quartered there. In
I
11
fact, the available artifacts suggest a storehouse area. It seems, therefore,
that the Rangers must have had a :• barrack outside of the fortified structure
because the documents leave little doubt that a barrack was built for the troops .• 12
A ~arge depression almost due west of the b:-eastworks looks promising, but no
conclusions can be attempted until archaeology is completed.
While it is possible that Fort Dobbs contained a number of structures besides
the palisaded fort, no actual references to such buildings appear in the records.
The Brown and Caswell description mentions only a fort, and there are three pos-sible
explanations for this .
First, and most easily explained, is the possibility that additional build-ings
did not exist . This, of course, requires alternative answers to th~ ques-tions
of where the troops were housed and where the settlers stayed during
Indian uprisings . Such inquiries find no solutions in the documentary records.
Secondly, there is the possibility that additional structures were built
af:ter Brown and Caswell 1 s visit. \1Taddell had made a treaty with the Cherokees
in 17 56, and there was ho reason to believe that the British allies would soon
become British enemies. 13 Not too many structures ~ould be built and provided
for with ~1, 000.* By 1758, however , with the French evacuation of Fort Duquesne,
the British expected activity to increase on the southern frontier. French
inspiration combined with British rnismanagem~~t of affairs to create Indian
hostilities in 1758 which led to a strengthening of frontier garrisons . 14 It
seems entirely poss ible that Fort Dobbs was enlarged sometime between 1756 and
1761.
Finally, Brown and Caswell were concerned with inspecting the facilities
for the protection of the settlers, that is, the i nstallation for defense in
* The appropriation was measured in procla~tion money which was valued
far below the pound sterling.
case of attack. Since the palis aded fort was the maJor point of rasistance,
and the place of safety in times of danger , it seems logical that a report
would concentrate on this structure . There was no need to describe all buildings .
The records clearly state that a stockade surrounded Fort Dobbs, but this was
also omitted from the description~ thereby giving credence to the possible ex­istence
of more domestic structures.15
The documentary records suggest three ideas to this researcher about the
appearance of Fort Dobbs : (1) Fort Dobbs was constructed along Vauban lines
but imbued with frontier simplicity instead of sophisticated engineering ; (2) Fort
Dobbs was composed of the fortification and at least one other buil ding, possibly
more, which enlarges its traditional size and scope of operation; (3) A stockade
of unknown size and shape surrounded all or part of the fort grounds .
With r egard to the appearance of Fort Dobbs , it must be emphasized that
4lt the documentary evidence is insufficient for a defink~conclusion o The fort ' s
appear ance as suggested by this report is t he visual outgrowth that emerged
when the documentary evidence, local tradition , contemporary fort construction
methods ~ and good common sense were blended. As such it is a r easonable and
soli d: interpretation, BUT IT IS ONLY AN IN~PRETATION! Under no circumstances
should it be considered as definitive proof of Fort Doob ' s actual appearanceo
The interpretation presented in this supplement may well be an accurate depic-tion
of the fort ; it may not be, but until new sources of information are a~cov-ered,
t here virtually i s no hope for a more posi t ive description .
e
~
"'- .: "'
1.
2.
FOOTNOTES
Mrs. l{Lrrnie Hampton Eliason, Fort Dobbs (Statesville: Fort Dobbs Chapter,
Daughters of t~e American Revolution, 1915), illustration. See also
Appendix C- 1 •
James and Stotz, Drums in the Forest, 110, 175, 186, illustr~tions 30 and
31 facing page 188. See also contemporary definition of a blockhouse in
''Virginia Frontier Forts During the French a."'ld Indian \'Tar," Johns Hopkins
University Studies, vol~43 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,
1925), 99, hereinafter cited as "Virginia Forts."
3. See pages 22- 25 of this report for a discussion of Vauban's influence. See
also Cashion's and South's designs, Appendixes C-2 a.1d C-3.
4. Governor Dobbs to the Earl of Loudon, July 10, 1756, Colonial Records, V,
597. This was not a direct reference to Fort Dobbs, but it revealed
the lack of engineers in the Provin~e~
5. Hunter, Pennsylvania Forts, 541-542. See also Appendix B.
6. See Appendixes C-2 and C- 3.
7. By projecting the angles of conjuncture within the bastion area,. Cashion
reduced the visible walls to 30 and 20 feet. South's conception reduced
them still more, to 25 and 16 feet. See Appendixes C-2 and C-3.
8. See Appendix C- 4.
9. Brown and Caswell's report, 1756, mentions the extent of possible firepower.
Colonial Records, V, 849. See Harrill, "Fort Dobbs" and Clark, "A Sketch
of Fort Dobbs," 137, for tradition of loopholes.
10o See James and Stotz, Drums in the Forest, 71-72, 130-140, 144- 149; Hunter,
Pennsylvania Forts, 110-112; "Virginia Forts," 99, 141, 147.
11 . Stephen Israel, "Archaeological Research at Fort Dobbs A French and Indian
War Fort on the ~o~h Carolina Frontier 1755- 1764, Iredell County, North
Carolina" (1971 ){I \iopy in Research Unit, Historic Sites Section, Division
of Archives and History, Raleigh.
See letter from Governor Dobbs to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and
Plantations, February, 1760. Colonial Records, V~, 615, hereinafter cited
as Dobbs to Lords Commissioners, 1760.
See l etter from Governor Dobbs to Board of Trade, October 28, 1755. The
b1 , 000 was appropriated 11 • • • to build a Barrack and Fort /Emphasis mine/o o o ·"
Colonial Records, V, 440o
14. Colonial Records, VI, 512; Movarian Records, I, 213 .
15. Compare the description of Brown and Caswell with Dobbs reference to a
stockaded fort in the west. Colonial Records, V, 849; Dobbs .to Lords
Commissioners, 1760o
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I
l ·j
APPENDIXES
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.1. J.~ w•:~ ·~
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