His father was a minister of the Baptist faith and also a graduate of Bristol College in England, and was responsible for much of Fuller's primary education.

In 1858, Fuller's business was destroyed by a fire, and he moved to Toledo, Ohio, where he again began operating a book publishing firm.

[1] When the American Civil War began in 1861, Fuller chose to follow his home state and the Union cause.

[1] He and his command then participated in Pope's efforts at New Madrid on March 14, and then the Battle of Island Number Ten from February 28 to April 8, 1862.

Left with no choice but to attack the Federal forces in his front and rear, Forrest had his men charge and repel Fuller's command, and then quickly reverse and move past and through the rest of the Union soldiers.

Fuller and the other Federal units managed to capture six pieces of artillery, about 300 prisoners and 350 horses, but Forrest's scattered men were able to escape and recrossed the Tennessee River four days later.

[5] Fuller was brevetted to the rank of major general[6] in the Union Army on March 13, and after the end of the war he resigned that fall.

He was the senior partner of the firm Fuller, Childs & Company in Toledo, a business dealing in the wholesale of boots and shoes.