It was rebuilt in the 1780s after the renewal of hostilities between the United States and American Indians, but saw little action and was eventually abandoned once again.

The site where Fort Randolph was built emerged as a strategic location in the years before the American Revolution.

In the Treaty of Fort Stanwix of 1768, the British Crown acquired the title to present-day West Virginia from the Iroquois.

One of the first to do so was George Washington, a planter and politician from Virginia, who in 1770 made a long canoe trip down the Ohio River to examine the land around Point Pleasant.

The eventual result was Dunmore's War in 1774, fought primarily between American militiament from Virginia and Shawnees and Mingos from the Ohio Country, led by Chief Cornstalk.

[1] In 1776, the Virginia Assembly, alarmed at the defenseless state of their western border,[2] ordered a new fort built on the site.

In November, Cornstalk made a diplomatic visit to Fort Randolph in order to discuss the rumored expedition.