When the American Revolutionary War started, the fort was described as "little better than a dilapidated block-house". It was rebuilt under the supervision of Colonel Elias Dayton of the 3rd New Jersey Regiment on the orders of General Philip Schuyler in the autumn of 1776. It was a wooden and earthen fortress which enclosed the stone church and other buildings located on the highest ground in the village, once known as "Stone Ridge". There also was a blockhouse constructed on the hill overlooking Fort Dayton.