inning 7 July 1864, Private Orlando Fuller and his fellow 47th Pennsylvanians from Companies A, C, D, E, F, H, and I had a memorable encounter with President Abraham Lincoln before joining with Major-General David Hunter’s forces at Snicker’s Gap, Virginia, where they fought in the Battle of Cool Spring and also assisted in defending Washington, D.C. while helping to drive Confederate troops from Maryland.
Attached to the Middle Military Division, Army of the Shenandoah beginning in August, September saw the departure of several 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers who had served honorably, including the captains of Companies D, E and F and Private Orlando Fuller, the older brother of 1st Lieutenant George W. Fuller. All four mustered out at Berryville, Virginia on 18 September 1864 upon expiration of their respective three-year terms of service.
Less than two weeks later, 1st Lieutenant George W. Fuller was dead. Although he had been discharged on a Surgeon’s Certificate in June, he had been too ill to travel and had been left behind to convalesce. On 29 September 1864, he passed away at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, Florida. His remains were prepared for transport home to the Lehigh Valley, likely by Paul Balliet.
* Note: The first undertaker to serve the residents of Allentown and later superintendent of the Fairview Cemetery from 1871-1879, Paul Balliet became famous for retrieving and returning home to the Lehigh Valley the bodies of numerous soldiers who had been killed far from their native Pennsylvania soil, including soldiers who died during the Battle of Antietam and members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. (Historian Lewis Schmidt confirmed that Balliet readied for travel the remains of several who had served with the 47th Pennsylvania in 1862 and 1864, as well as a child of the regiment’s chaplain, William Rodrock.)
1st Lieutenant George W. Fuller was laid to rest at the Fairview Cemetery.
In recognition of his service to the nation, the Grand Army of the Republic chapter in Catasauqua was named the Lt. G. W. Fuller Post No. 378. Initially organized on 19 August 1867, the first officers of this G.A.R. post were all members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: Post Commander Edwin Gilbert (former captain of F Company), SVC Spencer Tetermer, JVC William H. Myers, and Adjutant Aaron McHose. Briefly disbanded in 1869, the post was reorganized on 13 April 1872, briefly disbanded in 1876, and reorganized again on 10 September 1883.
1ST LIEUTENANT AND REGIMENTAL ADJUTANT JAMES WHEELER FULLER, JR.
James Wheeler Fuller, Jr. was born in Catasauqua, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania on 16 March 1845, the second oldest son of James Wheeler Fuller, Sr. and nephew of James, Sr.’s older brothers, Orlando and George W. Fuller, who served with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, respectively, as a 1st Lieutenant and Private.
Descended from an English pioneer who sailed for the New World aboard the Mayflower in 1620, he became a pioneer in his own right as an internationally respected inventor and business executive.
* Note: Although several sources indicate that the year of birth for J. W. Fuller, Jr. was 1843, an 1894 U.S. passport application (completed in James W. Fuller, Jr.’s own hand) indicated that his year of birth was 1845.
In 1850, James W. Fuller, Jr. resided in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania with his parents and brothers: Orange M. Fuller (1841-1902) and William F. Fuller (1845-1852). Also living at the Fuller family home at this time were several boarders and Abbott Fuller and Ellen Caroline Tombler (1831-1914). Born in 1828, Abbott Fuller was the brother of James W. Fuller, Sr. and uncle of James W. Fuller, Jr. A native of Catasauqua in Lehigh County and daughter of Daniel Tombler (1796-1841) and Catharine (Hartzell) Tombler (1797-1852), Ellen Caroline Tombler was employed in 1850 as a servant in the Fuller family home and would, in a few short years, go on to marry the man who would later become the Fullers superior during the Civil War – Captain Edwin Gilbert of Company F, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers