Photo In Uniform |
Service Details |
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Last Photo |
Personal Details
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Home State
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Year of Birth 1845 |
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This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Sgt Michael Fullarton (Program)
to remember
Fullerton, William R. C., PVT.
If you knew or served with this Soldier and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
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Contact Info
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Home Town Darke County |
Last Address Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia
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Date of Passing Mar 28, 1919 |
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Location of Interment Greenwood Cemetery - Wheeling, West Virginia |
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Last Known Activity:
7th WEST VIRGINIA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY REGIMENT.
Reputedly, the "Most Embattled of the West Virginia Regiments", the "Bloody Seventh" was organized at Portland, Cameron, Grafton, Wheeling, Morgantown and Greenland, West Virginia, from July 16 to December 3, 1861. Attached to the Railroad District, West Virginia, to January, 1862. 1st Brigade, Landers' Division, Army Potomac, to March, 1862. 1st Brigade, Shields' 2nd Division, Banks' 5th Army Corps and Dept. of the Shenandoah, to May, 1862. 1st Brigade, Shields' Division, Dept. of the Rappahannock, to June, 1862. Kimball's Independent Brigade, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to September, 1862. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army Potomac, to March, 1864. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps, to June, 1865.
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Other Comments:
The 7th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment lost during its service 9 Officers and 133 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 4 Officers and 154 Enlisted men by disease. Total 300.
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Reflections on PVT Fullerton's
US Army Service
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TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE, WHAT INFLUENCED HIS/HER DECISION TO JOIN THE ARMY?
William's Father, my 3rd Great Grandfather, John B. Fullerton came to the western counties of Virginia from the area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While I do not think that they were abolitionists, they did not own slaves and voted against secession in early 1861. The fact that William and John enlisted in the Union forces in August and July 1861 respectively indicates that they at least believed in preserving the Union and were willing to put their lives on the line to defend it.
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TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECTION OR PATH HE/SHE TOOK IN HIS/HER MILITARY SERVICE. WHERE DID THEY GO FOR BASIC TRAINING AND WHAT UNITS, BASES OR SQUADRONS WERE THEY ASSIGNED TO? WHAT WAS HIS/HER REASON FOR LEAVING?
On 07 August, 1861, sixteen year old, William R. C. Fullerton enlisted in Company B, 7th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Grafton, Taylor County, West Virginia. The company was mustered into service on 03 September, 1861 in Grafton, Taylor County, West Virginia.
After initial service in West Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, the 7th was re-assigned to the Army of the Potomac, joining that army at Harrison’s Landing VA, days before the final Seven Day’s battle at Malvern Hill.
William was with his regiment through all of the major battles in which the Army of the Potomac fought, from Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. In September 1863, the remnants of the regiment were consolidated into a battalion and re-armed with Henry repeating rifles.
On 03 January, 1864, after two years and five months of service (in which he was “Present” in all but 2 of 16 Muster Rolls); William was discharged and officially mustered-out. The next day, 04 January, 1864, he re-enlisted as a “Veteran Volunteer” for three more years or the war, continuing his service with Company B of the 7th West Virginia.
According to the enlistment document, he was 20 years old (18 actually), he was, “5’-10” tall (well over the average height of the time), Blue eyes with light hair and a fair complexion”. In the winter of 1864-65, William was present for the Siege of Petersburg VA, where the battalion acted as skirmishers between the siege lines.
At war’s end, the 7th West Virginia marched through Washington D.C. in the Grand Review on 24 June, 1865. The Regiment then was mustered out of service at Munson’s Hill, Virginia, on 01 July, 1865 and William returned home to Cameron, Marshall County, West Virginia.
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IF HE/SHE PARTICIPATED IN ANY MILITARY OPERATIONS, INCLUDING COMBAT, HUMANITARIAN AND PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS, TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE, PLEASE DESCRIBE THOSE YOU FEEL WERE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT TO HIM/HER AND, IF LIFE-CHANGING, IN WHAT WAY.
William participated in all of the notable battles fought in the east from 2nd Manasses (2nd Bull Run), Sharpsburg (Antietam), Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg through the Wilderness Battles and on to the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia. In a time when many of his contemporaries spent almost a third of their service sick in hospital he was robustly healthy with only a brief hospitalization after Antietam at the end of September, 1862. I have found no evidence that he was ever wounded in action, despite being, "present for duty", in all of the most bloody battles of the entire Civil War.
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DID THEY ENCOUNTER ANY SITUATION DURING THEIR MILITARY SERVICE WHERE THEY BELIEVED THERE WAS A POSSIBILITY HE/SHE MIGHT NOT SURVIVE. TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE, DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED AND WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME.
I would have to imagine that he wondered in every battle, as his comrades were falling around him, if he himself would survive the slaughter. He did manage to survive the war and was apparently never wounded. After the war, he returned to his home in Cameron, Marshall County, West Virginia where he married Miss Eliza Marshall in 1866 and they produced eleven children, eight of whom lived to maturity and produced offspring of their own. My own Grandfather lived with his Grandfather William for several years in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia and reported that he was a kindly old gentleman who was also a proud member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
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WHAT PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS DO YOU BELIEVE HE/SHE WAS MOST PROUD OF FROM HIS/HER MILITARY SERVICE?
The new State of West Virginia, issued a State Service Medal to all West Virginia veterans in 1866. Later, the federal government issued the Civil War Service Medal to all veterans.
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IF HE/SHE SURVIVED MILITARY SERVICE, WHAT PROFESSION(S) DID HE/SHE FOLLOW AFTER DISCHARGE?
After the war, he was a sometime farmer and sometime railroad worker.
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IF KNOWN, WHAT MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS WAS HE OR SHE A MEMBER OF, IF ANY? ARE YOU AWARE OF ANY SPECIFIC BENEFITS THEY DERIVED FROM THEIR MEMBERSHIPS?
I know that he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He participated in several veterans encampments and conventions.
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