William Stephen Fussell (December 20, 1837–November 5, 1862)

By Tyler Campbell

Early Life

William Stephen Fussell was born on December 20, 1837, to Arnold Benjamin and Mary Fussell in Telfair, Georgia. Both of his parents were born in North Carolina. Arnold worked as a farmer. By 1850, the family had moved south to Alachua County, Florida, located in the upper part of the peninsula.1 Florida had only recently become a state on March 3, 1845, and Alachua County had a population of 2,524 people.2

Military Service

Eighth Census Population for Sumpterville, Florida - Sumter County, 1860

As seen here on his service record, Fussell first entered the service in 1856 where he fought in the Third Seminole War in Florida. He served in Bullock’s Company, Florida Mounted Volunteers.3 The Third Seminole War, which began in 1855, was the continuation of conflict between US settlers and the US Army traveling south through the peninsula of Florida and encroaching on the Seminole Indians’ territory. No large, organized battles took place in the war but there were many guerilla-style conflicts and fights between the two forces, ultimately resulting in the Seminole Indians’ agreement to transplant to Oklahoma on May 7, 1858, thereby opening southern parts of Florida to American settlement.4 After his service in the Third Seminole War, which ended in 1857, Fussell settled in Sumter County, Florida, where he worked as a farmer, as seen here on the 1860 Census.5 While living in Sumter county, prior to the American Civil War, Fussell married Elizabeth Ann Matchett on February 15, 1859.6

Compiled Service Record for William S. Fussell

On January 10, 1861, Florida seceded from the Union and shortly thereafter joined the Confederacy.7 Fussell enlisted in the Confederate army on May 7, 1862. He enlisted in Company F of the 7th Florida infantry regiment at Camp Lee, Florida.8 The regiment organized in April of 1862 in Gainesville, Florida. The regiment pulled in Floridians from the Tampa area and other regions along Florida’s Gulf Coast.9 It was initially commanded by Madison S. Perry, who had served as Florida’s governor during the state’s secession.10 After organizing and serving a brief time in the defense of St. Marks, South of Tallahassee, Fussell and his regiment were sent along with the 1st and 5th Florida Infantry to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Fussell traveled with the regiment but became ill and on November 5, 1862, died from illness in Knoxville, Tennessee.11 Through the efforts of the Ladies Memorial Association, Private William Stephen Fussell and 1,600 other Confederate dead were reinterred in Bethel Cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee.12 Fussell’s wife Elizabeth lived as a widow in Sumter County, Florida with their son William for the rest of her life. She passed away on November 17, 1917.13 William Stephen Fussell is memorialized in Florida National Cemetery, plot number MI: 24.

Endnotes

1 “1850 United States Federal Census,” database, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 12, 2017), Entry for William S. Fussell, Alachua County, Florida, USA.

2 T. D. Allman, Finding Florida: The True History of the Sunshine State (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2013), 117; Steven Manson, Jonathan Schroeder, David Van Riper, and Steven Ruggles. IPUMS National Historical Geographic Information System: Version 12.0 Database. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. 2017. http://doi.org/10.18128/D050.V12.0

3 “Compiled Service Records, Florida Indian Wars, 1835-31858,” database, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 12, 2017), Entry for William S. Fussell, Third Seminole War.

4 Robert M Malick, “Third Seminole War,” in The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607 – 1890: A Political Social and Military History, Vol. 1, Spencer C. Tucker, ed. (Santa Barbara, California: Abc – Clio, 2011), 719-721.

5 “1860 United States Federal Census,” database, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 12, 2017), Entry for William S. Fussell, Sumter County, Florida, USA.

6 “County Marriages, 1823-1982,” database, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 12, 2017), Entry for William S. Fussell, Sumter, Florida, USA.

7 William Watson Davis, The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida (New York: Columbia University Press, 1913), 69-96.

8 “U.S., Civil War Soldiers Records and Profiles, 1861 – 1865,” database, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 12, 2017), Entry for William S. Fussell, Company F, Florida 7th Infantry, CSA.

9 David H. Hartman and David Coles, Biographical Rosters of Florida’s Confederate and Union Soldiers, 1861 – 1865 (Wilmington, North Carolina: Broadfoot Piblishing Company, 1995), 681.

10 Lewis Nicholas Wynne and Robert A. Taylor, Florida in the Civil War (Charleston: Arcadia Press, 2002), 17.

11 Hartman and Coles, Biographical Rosters, 737.

12 “Bethel Cemetery,” Mabry-Hazen House, accessed August 31, 2017, http://www.mabryhazen.com/bethel-cemetery/.

13 “1880 United States Federal Census,” database, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 12, 2017), Entry for Elizabeth Fussell, Webster, Sumter County, Florida, USA; “1900 United States Federal Census,” database, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 12, 2017), Entry for Elizabeth Fussell, Massacre, Sumter County, Florida, USA.

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