DEATH OF WM. W. DONALDSON

This young man was a member of Capt. [PARRILL’S] company, 53d Regiment. When we first saw him, he was in the hospital of that Regiment, and already delirious, though he had been sick but two or three days. Dr. L. FULTON * at once set about procuring him a furlough, which he succeeded in doing after considerable trouble. Young DONALDSON was taken on board the Superior, in a dying condition, in fact, and there received the very best attention it was possible to bestow upon him from the best medical men on board. But his disease was the worst type of typhoid fever in its last stages. He was all through the great battle of Shiloh, and fought like a true patriot and hero. He was taken sick immediately after the battle. His life was sacrificed upon the alter of his country, and though his loss is that of an only son to his afflicted parents, they have the consolation of thousands of parents who mourn as they do, that his life was given in the best cause in which one can die in this bright land of liberty. He was loved by all who knew him, and will be mourned by all.

– Published in The Athens Messenger, Athens, Ohio, Thursday, April 24, 1862


* NOTE: Lorenzo Fulton was a captain in Company G of the 53rd Ohio Infantry, whose brother was Dr. Joseph Warren Fulton, who as at that time was the Surgeon of the 53rd Ohio Infantry. Dr. Fulton’s Brother, Robert A. Fulton, served as Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment and Dr. Fulton’s nephew, Joseph W. Fulton was 1st Lieutenant in Company B, and later Captain in Company G. Given so many members of this family served in this regiment it is no wonder why the article misidentified Dr. Fulton. – See: A History of Scioto County, Ohio, Vol. 1, Parts 1 & 2 (Published in 1903), p. 985-6 & The Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System