f steel. From his mother he inherited a wiry constitution, free from taint, love of rural scenes, of animals and a rapid manner or speech. In all my life I never heard from his lips an unclean or unchaste word; never an oath, and under great provocation as a rule kept himself master of the situation. An aged mother had but to express a wish and it was granted, whilst he stood sponsor for his sister and brothers, always ready to grant any reasonable desire. Fortunate indeed were the son and daughters who had the benefit of his advice and guidance, and it would be impossible in this short sketch even to enter the door in describing the good deeds done by him, and fortunate is the town or community that can number a citizen like Mr. Fuller, whose life work lies within its boundaries.
PRIVATE ORLANDO FULLER
Born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in March 1826, Orlando Fuller was a son of Sarah (Abbott) Fuller and Chauncey D. Fuller, the older brother of 1st Lieutenant George W. Fuller of F Company, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and James W. Fuller, Sr., and the uncle of 1st Lieutenant and Regimental Adjutant James W. Fuller, Jr. who also served with 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers.
Orlando and his brother, James (later James Sr.), spent their early years in the “Plains” of North Wilkes-Barre in Luzerne County before relocating with their parents and siblings to the Lehigh Valley sometime after construction began on the Lehigh Canal.
Civil War Military Service
On 25 August 1861, Orlando Fuller enrolled for military service at Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. He then mustered in for duty at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg on 30 August 1861 as a Private with Company F, 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.
His tour of duty took him to all of the same locations and service assignments as those experienced by 1st Lieutenant George W. Fuller (his younger brother and one of his superior officers in Company F), plus a few more. From Camp Curtin, the Fuller brothers were stationed together at Camp Kalorama in Washington, D.C. (Fall 1861), garrisoned Fort Taylor in Key West, Florida and served in the U.S. Department of the South’s Beaufort District in South Carolina (1862), participated in the capture of Saint John’s Bluff, Florida (1-3 October 1862) and the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina (21-23 October 1862), garrisoned Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, Florida (1863), and fought in Union General Nathaniel Banks’ Red River Campaign across Louisiana (as part of the only Pennsylvania regiment so engaged from March to May 1864).
Then, after his brother was discharged on a Surgeon’s Certificate on 22 June 1864, Private Orlando Fuller continued to fight on, serving with the 47th Pennsylvania at Snicker’s Gap under the command of General David Hunter (mid-July 1864) and then with the 47th under legendary General Philip H. Sheridan during the opening days of his tide-turning 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign.
On 18 September1864, Private Orlando Fuller mustered out from the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers at Berryville, Virginia upon expiration of his three-year term of service. He was also suffering from heart disease and aortic stenosis at this time. Less than two weeks later, his brother George was dead, having passed away at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, Florida on 29 September.
Despite his heart condition, Private Orlando Fuller opted to continue to serve his nation, re-enrolling and re-mustering in on 24 February 1865 at Reading in Berks County, Pennsylvania as a Private with Company D of the 28th Pennsylvania Volunteers, a regiment attached to the Union Army’s 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 20th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland until June 1865, and then to the 3rd Brigade, Bartlett’s Division, 22nd Army Corps, U.S. Department of Washington. Among its late stage engagements, the 28th Pennsylvania engaged in the Campaign of the Carolinas (until April 1865), the Union Army’s march to Richmond, Virginia and Washington, D.C. (29 April-20 May 1865), and the Grand Review of the Armies in Washington, D.C. (23-24 May 1865). Following the assas