The 49er Battalion's history can be traced to its creation at Davidson College, where it was know then as the "Carolina Foothills" ROTC Battalion. In 1917, the year the United States entered World War I, Captain J. W. Lea, a temporary military instructor from the The Citadel, was assigned to Davidson College with the mission of organizing, drilling, and training infantry tactics to a group of student volunteers. This organization took a more formal structure in October 1918 when the Student Army Training Corps (SATC) was officially inaugurated.

With the first world conflict coming to a close, the Davidson College Board of Trustees decided to permanently integrate Military Science into the institution's curriculum with the establishment of a Reserve Officer's Training Corps program. On 1 April 1919 LTC A.H. Mueller, the battalion's first professor of military science, officially opened the program, offering classes on military tactics to Davidson students.

In the 1920's the ROTC program grew rapidly, reaching more than four hundred cadets in the Basic Course alone. A strong showing of student support, combined with a series of national accolades, convinced the Board of Trustees to keep ROTC in the curriculum, despite growing sentiment among the faculty and alumni that the military principles taught in ROTC conflicted with the Christian ideals espoused by the school. In 1968 the Board of trustees made the mandatory Basic Course a voluntary elective-a change which cut the military science enrollment to a fraction of its previous size.

In 1996, The "Carolina Foothills" Battalion relocated to its current location at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, in order to more effectively reach the growing consortium collegiate market in the Piedmont region. In 2002, the "Carolina Foothills" ROTC Battalion formally changed its name to the "49er Battalion". The name change was one of several leadership initiatives taken to firmly establish the battalion's new home and enhance the working relationship with the university. The UNCC "49er Battalion" is host to satellite programs in 12 colleges and universities in a 100+ square mile area of the Piedmont. The 49er Battalion consists of the following schools: UNC Charlotte, Belmont Abbey College, Davidson College, Johnson & Wales University, Winthrop University, Gardner-Webb University, Queens University, Johnson C. Smith University, Wingate University, Pfeiffer University, Lenoir Rhyne and Central Piedmont Community College.