 The Allentown Leader were wrong (1863-1864 instead of 1861-1862 when the 47th was stationed in Virginia). Furthermore, members of the 47th Pennsylvania generally were not treated for their illnesses in the homes of civilians, but in camp. When deemed seriously ill, they were confined to the post hospital associated with their respective duty stations. When wounds or illnesses were deemed beyond the capacity of these facilities, soldiers were moved on to the Union Army’s larger general hospital system where they could receive more advanced care.
In addition, several of the biographical sketches in the Lambert-Reinhard book also contain other factual errors. (The sketch for James W. Fuller, among its mistakes, lists the company he initially served with in the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers as Company I, rather than Company F.) Even more puzzling, while the Lambert-Reinhard book and Fuller’s military records indicate that J. W. Fuller, Jr. was 18 at the time of his enlistment (making his birth year 1843, a fact which seems to be confirmed by his gravestone), Fuller’s own passport application – completed in his own hand – stated that he was born in 1845 (meaning he was just 16 at the time of his enlistment).
The timing and subsequent short duration of his promotion, combined with the confusion surrounding his birth year, may signal that James W. Fuller, Jr. was actually under age at the time of his enlistment and may have been removed from harm’s way by his superiors once they discovered he was not the 18-year-old he had claimed to be at enlistment, or at the request of his father, James W. Fuller, Sr., who was a close friend of Pennsylvania’s Governor.
Regardless of the cause of his honorable discharge, James W. Fuller, Jr. most definitely did serve with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the early days of the Civil War. On October 11, his regiment marched in the Grand Review at Bailey’s Cross Roads after having been ordered with the 3rd Brigade to Camp Griffin. In mid-October, he may have served on picket duty in fulfillment of an order which directed Companies D, A, C, F and I (the 47th Pennsylvania’s right wing) to take over after the left wing companies (B, G, K, E, and H) were forced to return to camp by Confederate troops.
On 22 October 1861, his regiment took part in a spectacular Divisional Review, described by historian Lewis Schmidt as massing “about 10,000 infantry, 1000 cavalry, and twenty pieces of artillery all in one big open field.” And on 21 November, his regiment engaged in another morning divisional headquarters review – this one under the watchful eyes of Colonel Tilghman H. Good, the 47th’s commanding officer. 1st Lieutenant James W. Fuller, Jr. also likely participated in the regiment’s move from its Virginia camp back to Maryland, where it was quartered in barracks at Annapolis.
But unlike his fellow members of the 47th, he did not board the steamship Oriental on 27 January 1862 to head for Fort Taylor in Key West, Florida. Instead, his military records confirm that he resigned his commission on 9 January 1862. the 23 January 1911 edition of The Allentown Leader confirm that his service and departure were both honorable, as was his later support for the military:
During a long, active and useful career, James W. Fuller, second, was prouder of nothing more than of his association with the 47th Regiment, of whose Veteran Association he was president when he died [in 1910].
Return to Civilian Life
Following his resignation from the military, James Wheeler Fuller, Jr. returned home to Pennsylvania. From roughly 1862 to 1864, he sold Queen’s ware (Wedgwood cream ware) in Philadelphia. (His former superior, Major William H. Gausler, would also later engage in a similar enterprise following his own discharge from the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers in 1864.)
On 8 December 1864, James Wheeler Fuller, Jr. wed Kate Thomas, the daughter of Hopkin and Catherine Thomas, in the parsonage of Catasauqua’s Presbyterian Church. On 18 September 1865, they welcomed daughter Maud Miller Fuller (1865-1938) to the 