Originally aired on January 05, 1996 - In part 71 of our Civil War series, Virginia Tech history professor James Robertson profiles Chaplain Arthur B. Fuller, a man whom Robertson says has a story that all Americans should hear and revere.
#71 – Chaplain Fuller
Arthur B. Fuller is not a familiar name in this part of the country, nor does the name stand out in the annals of the Civil War; but Reverend Fuller has a story that all Americans should hear and revere.
A son of prominent New England stock, Fuller was born in August, 1822, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a descendant of a long line of Harvard graduates; his father was a U. S. congressman. Fuller obtained an excellent education, first at Groton and next (of course) at Harvard. Then came a period when he was successively a teacher, a missionary on the on the western frontier, and headmaster of a boy’s academy. Successful completion of studies at the Cambridge Divinity School led to his ordination as a Unitarian minister.
Fuller embarked fervently on his chosen profession. “I wish for you a religious society,” he told a friend, “for I believe my motives in entering the ministry are in all sincerity and humility, to save souls.”
For fourteen years, Fuller held pastorates in Manchester, New Hampshire, Boston and Watertown, Massachusetts. His climb up the ladder of success was unimpeded. Organizational skills, fair-mindedness, logical sermons, and other shepherd-like qualities always endeared him to an entire community, not merely his congregation.
Civil war exploded over the land; and just as it beckoned to millions of American youths, it also summoned Reverend Arthur Fuller. In August, 1861, the minister received appointment as Chaplain of the 16th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. He said on accepting the new challenge: “I am willing to peril life for the welfare of our brave soldiery, and in our country’s cause. If God requires the sacrifice of me, it shall be offered on the altar of freedom, and in defence of all that is good in American institutions.”
The next fourteen months found Fuller dutifully with his regiment. His spiritual and benevolent labors won him the enduring admiration of every soldier who knew him. Although plain-looking, of average height and with dark hair and beard, Fuller had a gentle touch and kind word that no soldier ever forgot. Yet as the months passed and the 16th Massachusetts continued its arduous campaigning in Virginia, Fuller’s health slowly failed.
In the autumn of 1862, he struggled home to Massachusetts emaciated and void of strength. His stay in New England was short and only partially beneficial. By November, he was back in Virginia with his “boys”. His constitution could not take the strain.
Reluctantly, on December 7, Fuller sadly resigned from the army. He held a final religious service for the men a few days before they were to move against Confederate positions at Fredericksburg. The forty-year-old civilian minster then decided to remain with his friends a little longer before starting home.
On December 11, the Massachusetts soldiers were moving through downtown Fredericksburg when they came under unexpected and heavy enemy fire. Fuller saw the exposed position of the Union troops. Spurred by simple compassion, he grabbed a musket and dashed forward to help. Within minutes, Fuller was dead from a gunshot wound.
A broken-hearted regiment insured that the body was embalmed and shipped home to Massachusetts. The funeral service in Boston took place on Christmas Eve, 1862. Before a large audience, Massachusetts Governor John Andrew eulogized Fuller by observing: “His conduct was worthy of his State and of his blood. Nor was it too soon for a good man to die, falling as he did in splendid devotion to a sublime idea of duty.”
That is a magnanimous tribute. However, the most fitting testimonial to Chaplain Arthur Fuller came 1,900 years before his time when another Being said: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
