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influence upon the others.
I have seldom seen a person on the field so calm and mild in his demeanor,—evidently not acting from impulse or martial rage.
His position was directly in front of a grocery store.
He fell in five minutes after he took it, having fired once or twice.
He was killed instantly, and did not move after he fell.
I saw the flash of the rifle which did the deed.
I think the Chaplain fell from the ball which entered the hip. He might not have been aware of the wound from the ball entering his arm, as sometimes soldiers are not conscious of wounds in battle, or he may have been simultaneously hit by another rifle.
We were in a very exposed position.
Shortly before the Chaplain came up, one of General Burnside's aids accosted me, expressing surprise, and saying, “What are you doing here, Captain?”
I replied that I had orders.
He said that I must retire, if the Rebels pressed us too hard.
In about half and hour I had definite orders to retire, and accordingly fell back, leaving the Chaplain and another man dead, and also a wounded man, who was unwilling to be moved.
It is not usual, under such pressing circumstances, to attempt to remove the dead.
In about an hour afterward, my regiment advanced in line with the Twentieth Massachusetts.
They occupied the place where Chaplain Fuller fell; and they suffered very severely, it being much exposed.
The Chaplain's body we found had been robbed, and the wounded man bayoneted by the Rebel Vandals, while the ground was left to them.
I think, in addition to Chaplain Fuller's desire to aid at a critical juncture in the affairs of his country, by the influence of his example and his personal assistance, he may have been willing also to show that he had not resigned in the face of the enemy from any desire to shrink from danger.
An unusual recognition of the services and the gallant death of
Chaplain Fuller took place in Congress, some time afterwards.
His death had led to just that result of which he had been warned by an army officer before his death;—his family was left without a pension, as he was not technically in the service.
On his widow's petition to Congress, a special law providing her a pension very promptly passed both Houses without opposition.
Honorable Charles Sumner presented the petition in the Senate, remarking, that
From the 1st day of August, 1861, Arthur B. Fuller had been
