Fort Randolph ( West Virginia ) Fort Randolph was an American Revolutionary War fort which stood at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers , where the town of Point Pleasant , West Virginia , is now located . Built in 1776 on the site of an earlier fort from Dunmore ' s War , the fort is best remembered as the place where the famous Shawnee Chief Cornstalk was murdered in 1777 . The fort withstood attack by American Indians in 1778 but was abandoned the next year . 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 . Two centuries later , a replica of the fort was built nearby . Background . 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 acquired title to present - day West Virginia from the Iroquois . Thereafter , British colonists and land speculators began to explore the region . 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 . Many other British colonists and surveyors did the same over the next few years . The American Indians of the Ohio Country , who hunted on the land south of the Ohio River , had not been consulted in the 1768 treaty . The eventual result was Dunmore ' s War in 1774 , fought primarily between militia from Virginia and Shawnees and Mingo s from the Ohio Country , led by Chief Cornstalk . The Battle of Point Pleasant , the only major battle of the war , was fought on the future site of Fort Randolph . After the battle , a small fort called Fort Blair was built near the battlefield . With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1775 , however , Lord Dunmore , the Royal Governor of Virginia , ordered the abandonment of the fort , one of his last actions before being forced from office by the American revolutionaries . American Revolution . In 1776 , the Virginia Assembly , alarmed at the defenseless state of their western border , ordered a new fort built on the site . Virginia militiamen under Captain Matthew Arbuckle built Fort Randolph in May 1776 . It was named after Peyton Randolph , the first president of the Continental Congress , who had died the previous year . The fort , along with Fort Pitt and Fort Henry , was intended to prevent American Indian raids into western Virginia and Pennsylvania . The forts failed to deter raids , and so in 1777 , the Americans made preparations for an offensive expedition into the Ohio Country . In November , Cornstalk made a diplomatic visit to Fort Randolph in order to discuss the rumored expedition . Shawnees who followed Cornstalk wanted to stay out of the war , but Cornstalk warned the Americans that he would not be able to keep all of the tribe neutral . Although the proposed campaign had been cancelled because of a manpower shortage , Captain Arbuckle decided to detain Cornstalk and several other Shawnees as hostages in order to ensure that the Shawnees stayed neutral . When an American militiaman was killed outside the fort by Indians on November 10 , his enraged companions charged into the fort and murdered Cornstalk and the other three Shawnee prisoners . Virginia ' s governor Patrick Henry brought the killers to trial , but they were acquitted because no one would testify against them . On May 20 , 1778 , about 200 Wyandots and Mingos under Dunquat , the Wyandot " Half King " , surrounded Fort Randolph and began a week - long siege . Unable to compel the surrender of the fort , the Indians then moved up the Kanawha to attack Fort Donnelly , which also withstood attack . Apparently because resources were needed elsewhere , Fort Randolph was abandoned by the Americans in 1779 . American Indians burned the fort after it was abandoned . Twice rebuilt . The fort was rebuilt nearby in 1785 during the growth of violence which led to the Northwest Indian War . A replica of the fort was built in 1973 – 74 and dedicated on 10 October 1974 , the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Point Pleasant . The town of Point Pleasant had spread over where the fort had stood , and so the rebuilt fort was located at Krodel Park , about one mile from the original location .