Often called “the Forgotten War,” the War of 1812 is especially important to our area as it was the only war ever fought, in part, directly in our own backyard. Much of the action took place on Lake Ontario.

Because its borders were shared equally by both the Americans and the British, control of Lake Ontario was crucial for victory during the War of 1812. Headquarters for the British Navy was their naval base at Kingston, near the outlet of Lake Ontario into the St. Lawrence River. For the Americans, it was Sackets Harbor on the east end of Lake Ontario south of the St. Lawrence. There was a distance of only thirty-five miles by water between the two.

Transport of supplies by land, on either side of the lake, was extremely difficult. Roads were few and poor. Storehouses for these supplies were set up at such lakefront access points as Braddock’s Bay, Charlotte, Sodus Point and Pultneyville. The British fleet spent much of their time sailing up and down the southern shore of Lake Ontario in the hopes of raiding these storehouses which culminated in many battles and skirmishes including the Battle of Sodus Point and the Battle of Pultneyville.

While no battles took place in the town of Ontario, there is an Ontario connection to the Battle of Pultneyville.

The following account was given by Alvah Fuller, son of Noah Fuller and published on page 219 of the Military History of Wayne County, by Lewis H. Clark published in 1883:

“My father, Noah Fuller, was captain of an Independent Rifle Company, during the War of 1812, in Ontario, Wayne County, New York. He was taken prisoner while residing on his farm in Ontario six miles west of Pultneyville on the lake shore. It was a pleasant day in the summer (sic) of 1814 when the British war vessel, King George (sic), came sailing down the shore opposite my father’s farm, threw out her anchors and sent one of her gun boats with twelve red coats on shore. My mother and children took my father’s uniform, sword and rifle, went out the back door to the woods and hid them in a heap of brush, while my father and Captain Church, an old Revolutionary soldier, walked down to the beach to meet the red coats, who informed them that the captain wanted to see them on board the King George (sic). They ordered them to go with them, and when aboard, set sail and carried them down the lake to Pultneyville, where the United States Government had certain military stores, guarded by a few militia, who refused to let the British land until they had fired several cannon balls through the old two-story Whipples’ Public House, which made the glass and splinters fly. Under the rules of war, they could not hold Captains Fuller and Church as prisoners and they were set free and after a walk of four (sic) miles, brought them home quite late.” (Upon further research, it was found that the name of the British war vessel was the Royal George and not the King George, and the date of this incident was May 14, 1814, rather than summer.)