Harllee, William Curry, 1877-1944

William Curry Harllee (1877-1944) was a United States Marine Corps officer from South Carolina.

From the description of William Curry Harllee papers, 1685-1944 [manuscript]. WorldCat record id: 24599951

William Curry Harllee (1877-1944) was a United States Marine Corps officer from South Carolina. Harllee was born in Manatee, Fla., to John Waddell and Mary Ellen Curry Harllee. His parents died when he was young and he lived with relatives in South Carolina and was educated there. He also studied at Oak Ridge Military Institute, Oak Ridge, N.C.; the Citadel, Charleston, S.C.; and the University of North Carolina, before entering the United States Military Academy at West Point, Md. After two years at West Point, Harllee served as a private and non-commissioned officer in the 33rd United States Volunteer Infantry, Philippine Insurrection. In 1900 he was commissioned 2nd lieutenant, United States Marine Corps, and became a career officer, advancing to the rank of colonel at his retirement in 1935, and to brigadier general in 1942.

As a Marine Corps officer Harllee was especially interested in training and marksmanship. He obtained the qualification Expert Rifleman; was captain of the Marine Corps Rifel Teams, National Matches, 1908-1910; commanded rifle instruction camps at Sea Girt, N.J., 1908-1910; constructed and commanded Marine Corps Rifle Range, Winthrop, Md., 1910-1911; was assistant director of Gunnery Exercises and Engineering Performances (in charge of Small Arms Section), Navy Department, 1914-1920; in charge of rifle practice, United States Atlantic Fleet, Guantanamo, Cuba, 1915; and directed construction and operation of rifle ranges operated by the Navy Department for all services during World War I. He was director and vice president of the National Rifle Association, and a member of the National Board for Rifle Practice for several years. He was also the author of Navy Small Arms Firing Regulations, 1914, and of manuals of instruction.

At Quantico, Va., 1919-1920, Harllee established the Marine Corps Institute for educational and vocational training, moved it to the Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C., and served as director of the Marine Barracks, director of the Marine Corps Institute, and chief of Educational Section, Headquarters, United States Marine Corps, 1920-1921.

During these years Harllee also served in China, Cuba, Vera Cruz, Santo Domingo, and Haiti, at various naval stations in the United States, and on several naval vessels. After he left the Naval War College, Newport, R.I., in 1928, he commanded the Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Norfolk, Va.; was Fleet Marine Officer on the United States flagship Texas ; and from 1930 until his retirement in 1935 was commander of the Southern Reserve Area and Southern Recruiting Division, United States Marine Corps, with headquarters in New Orleans, La.

While in New Orleans, Harllee did the major preparation of Kinfolks a genealogical work in which he included both his own and his wife's ancestry.

Harllee married Ella Florence Fulmore, daughter of Zachary Taylor Fulmore of Austin, Tex., in 1903. They had two children, John, who graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., and became a naval officer, and Ella Fulmore, who attended school in Washington, D.C., and apparently lived there with her parents through 1944. Harllee bought a house in Washington where his wife maintained their home while he was on duty elsewhere. When he retired in 1935, he planned to live in Dillon, S.C., and did go there briefly. He ran for the United States Senate against James F. Byrnes in the South Carolina primary election in 1936 as an anti-New Deal Democrat, but was defeated. Following the campaign he was ill in the Naval Hospital in Washington, and lived in Washington thereafter until his death in 1944.

From the guide to the William Curry Harllee Papers, ., 1685-1944, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)