Fuller, William Allen, 1836-1905.

Captain William Allen Fuller (1836 April 15 - 1905 December 28) was born to William Alexander Fuller and Marthena Allen Fuller in Henry County, Georgia at Morrow Station. He attended Philadelphia Academy in Clayton County and worked in his father's cotton fields until the age of sixteen. In 1860, he married Lulu Asher (d. 1872) and they had four children: Baxter (Braxton) C. (1861-1890), Lenora (1864-1867), Evalina (1867-1879), and Jessie M. (1870-1871). In 1874, he married Susan C. Alford and they had six children but one died in infancy: William Alford., Nina K., Lelia B., Annie L., Nellie L. and Edwin F. (1889 June 15 -1889 June 30). Annie L. Fuller married Wilbur Kurtz June 14, 1911. Wilbur Kurtz and Annie Fuller met when Kurtz interviewed Captain Fuller regarding the "Great Locomotive Chase". William moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1855 and found employment with the Western and Atlantic Railroad. While employed by Western and Atlantic he was a freight and passenger conductor. On April 12, 1862, while acting as a passenger conductor, he became involved in the "Great Locomotive Chase", also known as Andrews Raid. Andrews Raid began in Big Shanty (Kennesaw, Georgia) when a group of Union soldiers attempted to steal a locomotive, the General, as part of a plan to destroy a key component of the Confederate transportation network and communication lines. Fuller, and two other Western & Atlantic Railroad employees, while eating breakfast at the Lacey Hotel in Big Shanty (Kennesaw, Georgia), Georgia heard the General pull out the station. Fuller and two other men pursued the General initially on foot, then by handcar. At Etowah, Georgia, they commandeered a locomotive, the Yonah, and at Adairsville, Georgia, they took command of a southbound locomotive, the Texas. They continued the chase of the General in reverse until the chase ended at milepost 116.3 (a location just south of Chattanooga) when the Union soldiers abandoned the General and scattered into the surrounding area. Fuller resigned from Western & Atlantic Railroad in 1870 and subsequently worked for the Macon & Western Railroad for two years. In 1876, he returned to Western & Atlantic where he worked until 1881. After retiring from the railroad he became a merchant in Atlanta. Fuller died on December 28, 1906 and is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia.