William Allen Fuller was born in Henry County, Georgia, April 15th, 1836.
He traces his paternal ancestry to Gabriel Fuller, who was born in Scotland, 1709, and settled in South Carolina in 1740. His grandfather, John Fuller, Washington in the Revolutionary war, and was in the battle of Camden under General Gates.
On his mother’s side Captain Fuller is descended from the Allen family of Virginia, and related to Ethen Allen of Revolutionary war fame. He left his father’s farm at the age of nineteen years and immediately entered the service of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, in which service he remained until many years after the war.
He was commissioned Captain in 1863 by Governor Joseph E. Brown in recognition of his services in defeating the objects of the Andrews Raid. After the war, he entered the mercantile business in Atlanta, and retired a few years ago Avith a comfortable fortune. His hospitable home on Washington street, in Atlanta, is a favorite rendezvous for veterans of both sides, especially the survivors of the Andrews Raid, with whom he delights in rehearsing the thrilling incidents of that memorable event. The “sunset of life” finds him enjoying to an exceptional degree the fruits of his labors, and he well deserves the high esteem in which he is held by the citizens of Atlanta.
From The historic “General” A thrilling episode of the Civil War (1904).