The Last Roll: Hon. Abram Fulkerson

Confederate Veteran
Volume 11, No. 3, Page 124-5
March 1903

Col. Abram Fulkerson, a lawyer, statesman, warrior, and distinguished citizen of Bristol, died in December from the effects of a stroke of paralysis, from which he only partially rallied.

Col. Fulkerson was in his sixty eighth year. Barring wounds sustained while rendering distinguished service to the Confederacy, he was a strong, vigorous man, bodily and mentally. The passing of Col. Fulkerson removes one of the most noted figures in his section. By birth he was a patriot, and possessed a degree of chivalry and courage which gave him prominence in the great war. After the war he soon gained prominence in the legal profession, after which he was rewarded with positions of trust and honor in the State and nation.

There was much of romance in the life of Col. Fulkerson. His accomplishments were actuated by a courage and manly spirit that deserve the consideration of the generation coming on. He met every problem in life calmly and courageously, and was never known to falter in the discharge of a duty. Even after he had been stricken down with paralysis he retained the same calm and manly spirit, and faced death in the same manner that had characterized him on the field of battle.

In 1862 he was granted a furlough that he might go to Clarksville and claim the estimable young woman who had promised to become his bride. He was married just in time to escape the Federals, who were pouring in on Clarksville. Bringing his bride home, he returned immediately to his post of duty, where he remained until taken prisoner, in spite of the serious wounds which he sustained while facing the enemy in the white heat of battle. This same spirit of determination manifested itself throughout the splendid career of this man of big heart and brain, whom Bristol was always proud to claim as a citizen.

Col. Fulkerson was born May 13, 1834, of Scotch Irish parents, near Bristol, Va., and named for his father, who was a captain in the war of 1812, and his mother was Margaret Vance, a relative of the late Senator Z. B. Vance, of North Carolina. His brother, Samuel B. Fulkerson, was colonel of the Thirty Seventh Virginia Regiment of Infantry, and his brother Isaac served through the war as a captain in the Eighth Texas Cavalry. When Col. Fulkerson was yet a babe, his father moved to Grainger County, Tenn. When he was thirteen years of age his three older brothers, Samuel, Isaac, and Frank, volunteered for service in the Mexican war, and left him in charge of his father's farm, a mere lad.

He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1857, and while there was a student under Prof. T, J. (Stonewall) Jackson. He then taught school at Palmyra, Va., and at Rogersville, Tenn. He was at the latter place when the civil war began. Before hostilities commenced he raised a company in Hawkins County, and took it to Knoxville and joined the Nineteenth Tennessee, C. S. A., of which he was elected major. His was the first volunteer company organized in East Tennessee. With the Nineteenth he engaged in the battles of Wild Cat and Shiloh. In the last named battle his horse was shot under him, and he was severely wounded in the thigh. After recovering from his wound, he assisted in organizing the Sixty Third Tennessee Regiment, and was made its first lieutenant colonel.

On February 12, 1864, President Jefferson Davis appointed him colonel of this regiment. He led it in the terrific fight at Chickamauga, where he was again severely wounded in the left arm. After this his regiment was attached to Longstreet's Corps, which made the campaign of East Tennessee, and was then transferred to Virginia. There he took part in the battles of Drewry's Bluff, the affairs at Walthall's Junction, Swift Creek, Bermuda Hundred, and Petersburg. During the fight at Petersburg he was wounded and captured, June 17, 1864. He was imprisoned at Fort Delaware, was one of the famous "six hundred" officers sent to Morris Island and kept under the fire of the Confederate guns at Charleston for six weeks. He was then sent to Fort Pulaski and put on "starvation rations" in retaliation for alleged mistreatment of the Federal prisoners at Andersonville. He was returned to Fort Delaware in March, 1865, and discharged from prison July 25, 1865, more than three months after the surrender.

In 1866 he began the practice of law as a member of the firm of York & Fulkerson, and, by his ability, courage, and strict integrity, he rose to the front rank. He practiced his profession continuously and most successfully until he was paralyzed, while sitting in his office, March 6, 1900. He was the senior member of the firm of Fulkerson, Page & Hurt at the time of his death.

Col. Fulkerson served ten years in the Virginia Legislature, three terms in the House and one in the Senate, and he was a member of the forty seventh Congress of the United States, having been elected in November, 1880, to represent the Ninth District of Virginia. He was one of the five members of the Legislature who organized the Readjuster party, which swept over the State like a tidal wave in 1878 and created a political revolution.

His wife was Selina Johnson, of Clarksville, Tenn. S. V. Fulkerson, son and law partner, served as a Captain in the Fourth Tennessee Regiment during the Spanish American war, was in Cuba four months as a part of the Army of occupation. He is now a member of the staff of Gov. Montague, of Virginia, with the rank of Colonel, and a member of the U. S. C. V. Col. Fulkerson was the youngest of nine children, of whom only two are now living, Mrs. B. F. Hurt, of Abingdon, Va., and Mrs. Harriet Armstrong, of Rogersville, Tenn.

Col. Fulkerson assisted in organizing the S. V. Fulkerson Camp of Confederate Veterans in Bristol, named for his brother. Col. Fulkerson was the first Commander of the Camp.

At the funeral the honorary pallbearers, chosen from the Camp of Confederate Veterans, were Maj. H. C.. Wood, Mayor W. L. Rice, Col. Charles R. Vance, Messrs. N, D. Bachman, John W. Emmert, and John B. Keller.

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