Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/481

358 necessity for a national order, was one of the three delegates chosen to represent the Depart- ment of Massachusetts at the convention in Denver, Col., in 1883. This convention, callcil by Commander-in-chief Paul Van Der Voort, resulted in the National Woman's Relief Cor]is, the early history of which is given in the sketch of Mrs. E. Florence Barker. Mrs. Fuller was a prominent participant in the convention, and was unanimously chosen National Sec- retary. A busy year ensued. Over two thousand communications were written and many hundred pages of instruction prepared by her, numerous otlier duties also receiving attention. From September 5, 1SS3, to Feb- ruary 23, 1884, she issued sup])lies for eighty- nine cor))s.

At the second National ('onvention, held at Minneapolis, July, 1884, she was elected Senior Vice-President. Dining that year she insti- tuted three corps in Rhode Island and visited Vermont on a tour of inspection, organizing a department in that State. At the third National Convention, held in Portland, Me., in June, 1885, she was elected National President, and, upon returning home tendered her resignation as Dei)artment secretary of Massachusetts. Meanwhile she had organized Corps No. 3 in East Boston, auxiliary to John A. Hawes Post, No. 159, and for nearly two years served as its president. In view of her retirement from the presidency of Corps No. 3, in order to enter upon her duties as the official heatl of the National Woman's Relief Corps, the post on July 24, 1885, adopted a series of resolutions expressing their warm appreciation of her loyalty and devotion to the principles of the order and of the valuable services she had rendered them, and assuring her that the sincere and heartfelt good wishes of the post would follow her day by day, as she continued to labor for the good of the order in the high position to which she had been called.

During her year as National President, Mrs. Fuller visited the Departments of New Hamp- shire, New York, Penn.sylvania, Ohio, and Illi- nois. She carried on a large correspondence and addressed many {)ublic gatherings. She issued a series of eight general orders, one of which, a memorial tribute to General Grant, was widely read, and considered a document of historic interest.

It was dated " He;i(l<(uarters Woman's Re- lief Corps, Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, Boston, July 23, 1885," and was in part as follows: —

"On this bright suamier morning the bells are tolling the reciuiem of our country's noble dead.

" Ex-President Ulyi^ses S. Cirant has closetl his eyes and laid him ilown to rest. The long, weary months of pairi and suffering are over, and our brave, lion-liearted Commander and comrade is no more. . . . "As an auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, who to-day mourn the loss of their conn-ade, it is fitting Jiat we, the members of the Woman's Relief ('orps, should unite with them in our expre.ssio is of sorrow and mourn- ing.

"Therefore, in recognition of the faithful services of this patriot, sildier, and friend, and as a tribute of our respectt and love for the 'Hero of A]ipomattox' and (:ur grateful remembrance of his licroic deeds, the charters of all corps throughout our order will be draped in emblems of mourning for sixty days, and at the first regular meeting after the receipt of this order all corjis shall set apart one hour for special services commemorative of his life and glorious deeds as a soldier. ..

"Dei)artment and corps presidents are charged with a jjrompt distribution of this order.

At the fourth annual convention in San Francisco in July, 188, Mrs. Fuller was elected a member of the National Executive Board, and at St. Louis a year later was unanimously cliosen a life member of the board. In LS89 she was elected secretary of the Conmiittee of Arrangements for the Eighth National Convention, to be held in Boston in 1890. As secretary of the National Pension Connnittee for