er, Sr. had been a canal boat operator in Craneville during the 1840s and canal store manager before securing employment in the 1850s with the Lehigh Crane Iron Company and the Thomas Iron Company owned by David Thomas.)
Neither James W. Fuller, Jr., nor his older brother, Orange (born 9 April 1841), were shown on the 1860 census as being employed at this time. Three other siblings (Clarissa, born 31 January 1851; Abbott F., born in 1851; and Clinton Henry, born 24 July 1858) also resided at the Fuller family home. (Employed early as a stationer, Orange Fuller eventually went on to become a realtor; Abbott and Clinton Fuller later owned the Globe Metal Works, a scrap metal firm in Catasauqua, before becoming involved in the oil business.)
1st LIEUTENANT GEORGE W. FULLER
George W. Fuller was born in Northampton County, Pennsylvania on 1 September 1839. He was a son of Sarah (Abbott) Fuller and Chauncey D. Fuller, a brother of James W. Fuller, Sr. and fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Private Orlando Fuller, and an uncle of 1st Lieutenant and Regimental Adjutant James W. Fuller, Jr., also of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers.
According to Wint, George W. Fuller’s father had come “to the Lehigh Valley area from the ‘Plains’ above Wilkes-Barre soon after construction on the Lehigh Canal commenced,” worked for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and then later relocated to Catasauqua with his wife and children (including George Fuller). There, in Catasauqua, Chauncey Fuller’s eldest son, James Wheeler Fuller, Sr. (1821-1872), was “a large scale horse dealer with the federal government,” during the early years of the Civil War.
Civil War Military Service
George W. Fuller enrolled for military service at Catasauqua at the age of 21 on 21 August 1861, and mustered in on 30 August 1861 at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, where he was elected by his fellow Company F members to serve as a 1st Lieutenant under Captain Henry S. Harte. His brother, Orlando Fuller, also enrolled and mustered in at the same time with Company F of the 47th Pennsylvania, as did their nephew, James W. Fuller, Jr. Orlando became a 36-year-old Private while James, Jr. became a Sergeant. Although military records initially indicated that James was 18, he may in fact have been only a 16-year-old boy.
Following a brief training period in light infantry tactics at Camp Curtin, the Fullers and their fellow 47th Pennsylvanians were transported south by rail to Washington, D.C. Stationed roughly two miles from the White House, they pitched their tents at “Camp Kalorama” on the Kalorama Heights near Georgetown beginning 21 September. The next day, C Company Musician Henry D. Wharton penned the following update for his hometown newspaper, the Sunbury American:
After a tedious ride we have, at last, safely arrived at the City of ‘magnificent distances.’ We left Harrisburg on Friday last at 1 o’clock A.M. and reached this camp yesterday (Saturday) at 4 P.M., as tired and worn out a sett [sic] of mortals as can possibly exist. On arriving at Washington we were marched to the ‘Soldiers Retreat,’ a building purposely erected for the benefit of the soldier, where every comfort is extended to him and the wants of the ‘inner man’ supplied.
After partaking of refreshments we were ordered into line and marched, about three miles, to this camp. So tired were the men, that on marching out, some gave out, and had to leave the ranks, but J. Boulton Young, our ‘little Zouave,’ stood it bravely, and acted like a veteran. So small a drummer is scarcely seen in the army, and on the march through Washington he was twice the recipient of three cheers.
While at Camp Kalorama, the men of F Company also experienced the first of the many directives (Company Order No. 1) to be issued by Captain Harte – that F Company drill four times per day, each time for one hour.
On 24 September, the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry became part of the U.S. Army as its men were officially mustered into federal service. On 27 September, the 47th Pennsylvania was assigned to Briga