Concern over the lack of law and order created by an influx of miners and speculators led Secretary of War William Wilkins in March 1844 to dispatch two companies of infantry to build and occupy a fort one mile east of Copper Harbor that bore his name. The one hundred five men of Companies A and B of the 5th Infantry arrived in May and completed construction of the fort in November. In 1846 the troops were withdrawn for service in the Mexican War, and the fort was regarrisoned from 1867 to 1870. Although it was militarily insignificant, the fort is an excellent example of a frontier military outpost.