Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/480

Rh Fuller wisely directed both for the best interests of the cause.

The platform of the new order, welcoming to membership all loyal women who were willing to work for the veterans, was a broad one. The impressive ritualistic service and thorough methods of organizing indicated that the order had been formed upon u permanent basis. To win the approval of the Grand Army was the next step taken in the line of progress, for local corps could only be instituted by request of posts. General Horace Binney Sargent, Department Commander when the Woman's Relief Corps was formed, his successor, Captain John G. B. Adams, and Captain James F. Meech, Assistant Adjutant-general, gave hearty support to Mrs. Fuller and her associates. The use of Grand Army heatdquarters in Boston was tendered them for weekly meetings. Here they consulted with post commanders, explained the objects of Relief Corps work to numerous in- quirers, and outlined plans that i)roved of great value.

In 188I a committee was chosen by the women of the Relief Corps to co-operate with the trustees of the. Soldiers' Home in their plans for the bazaar. Mrs. Fuller was chairman, and by her personal appeals, official correspondence, and public addresses created great interest in the project, as shown by the fact that the Re- lief Cori)s tables netted four thousand one hun- dred and eighty-nine dollars and twenty-five cents. Mrs. Fuller was the first woman to give a public address in behalf of the Home, accept- ing an invitation extended by General Sargent to speak in Haverhill. When the Home was dedicated, Mrs. Fuller in an eloquent address presented, on behalf of friends, a Bible, burgee, and flag, which were procured at her suggestion. These gifts the trustees acknowledged by a vote of thanks, beautifully engrossed, now hanging on the walls of department headquarters.

Mrs. Fuller has served in official positions in the Ladies' Aid Association oi the Soldiers' Home ever since its formation, in 1SS2. At present she is one of the vice-presidents. A room in the Home has been dedicated in her honor by the Department W. R. C, and her portrait, the gift of John A. Hawes Relief Corps, No. 3, of East Boston, has been placed upon its walls. This corps also presented her portrait to Grand Army Hall. William Logan Rodman Post, No. 1, of New Bedford, likewise has thus honored her. Her portrait also hangs upon the walls of department headquarters in Bos- ton, a gift from her many friends throughout the State.

Upon retiring from the presidency at the annual convention in 1882, Mrs. Fuller was chosen secretary of the Department of Massachusetts. In her capacity as President and secretary she travelled thousands of miles, in- stituted nineteen corps in Massachusetts, five in Maine, and assisted Mrs. E. Florence Barker and Mrs. M. S. Goodale, associate officers, at the institution of eighteen others. The Department Encampment, G. A. R., of Massachusetts adopted a resolution January 27, 1881, recognizing the Woman's Relief Corps as "an invaluable ally in its mission of charity and loyalty" and "as a noble band of Christian women, who, while not of the Grand Army of the Republic, are auxiliary to it." ' The word "State" was dropped, and the word "Depart- ment" substituted, thus conforming to the title of the Grand Army.

Mrs. Fuller conducted a large correspond- ence, writing hundreds of letters and arousing an interest in the order outside of Massachu- setts. She believed in a national organization, and penned the first letter in its behalf. She secured the interest of prominent comrades in New Hampshire, and it was announced in general orders of Department Commnander George Bowers, of that State, that a conven- tion would be held at Laconia, October 21, 1880. Mrs. Fuller and Mrs. E. Florence Barker were invited to organize a State Department. The success of the work having been assured in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, a cor- respondence was conducted with the G. A. R. officials in Connecticut. As the result, in No- vember, 1882, Mrs. Fuller, in company with Mrs. Barker (her successor as Department President), organized several corps in that State. The Union Board, comprising the De- partments of Mas.sachu,setts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, was formeil with headquar- ters in Boston.

Mrs. Fuller, who realized from the first the