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This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
Size | 2.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 2,500 items) |
Abstract | William Curry Harllee (1877-1944) was a United States Marine Corps officer from South Carolina. The collection contains papers of and collected by Harllee including letters and documents, 1685-1899 (in part copies) of his ancestors, particularly the Harllee family of Mars Bluff, S.C., and Little Rock, S.C., including a few letters from a South Carolinian in Kansas, 1853; letters from Andrew Turpin Harllee describing public events in Washington, D.C., in 1860; and letters from a soldier in the 8th South Carolina Regiment, Confederate States of America, in Virginia. From 1903 to 1918, the papers concern W. C. Harllee's military career, particularly his interest in marksmanship, the National Rifle Association, and his duties in small arms training for the Navy and Marine Corps during World War I. Papers from 1919 relate to his interest in genealogy and preparation of a book of his findings. The families in which he was interested were based in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Virginia. |
Creator | Harllee, William Curry, 1877-1944. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: SHC Staff
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007
Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, November 2009
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
William Curry Harllee (1877-1944) was a United States Marine Corps officer from South Carolina. Harllee was born in Manatee, Fla., to John Waddell and Mary Ellen Curry Harllee. His parents died when he was young and he lived with relatives in South Carolina and was educated there. He also studied at Oak Ridge Military Institute, Oak Ridge, N.C.; the Citadel, Charleston, S.C.; and the University of North Carolina, before entering the United States Military Academy at West Point, Md. After two years at West Point, Harllee served as a private and non-commissioned officer in the 33rd United States Volunteer Infantry, Philippine Insurrection. In 1900 he was commissioned 2nd lieutenant, United States Marine Corps, and became a career officer, advancing to the rank of colonel at his retirement in 1935, and to brigadier general in 1942.
As a Marine Corps officer Harllee was especially interested in training and marksmanship. He obtained the qualification Expert Rifleman; was captain of the Marine Corps Rifel Teams, National Matches, 1908-1910; commanded rifle instruction camps at Sea Girt, N.J., 1908-1910; constructed and commanded Marine Corps Rifle Range, Winthrop, Md., 1910-1911; was assistant director of Gunnery Exercises and Engineering Performances (in charge of Small Arms Section), Navy Department, 1914-1920; in charge of rifle practice, United States Atlantic Fleet, Guantanamo, Cuba, 1915; and directed construction and operation of rifle ranges operated by the Navy Department for all services during World War I. He was director and vice president of the National Rifle Association, and a member of the National Board for Rifle Practice for several years. He was also the author of Navy Small Arms Firing Regulations, 1914, and of manuals of instruction.
At Quantico, Va., 1919-1920, Harllee established the Marine Corps Institute for educational and vocational training, moved it to the Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C., and served as director of the Marine Barracks, director of the Marine Corps Institute, and chief of Educational Section, Headquarters, United States Marine Corps, 1920-1921.
During these years Harllee also served in China, Cuba, Vera Cruz, Santo Domingo, and Haiti, at various naval stations in the United States, and on several naval vessels. After he left the Naval War College, Newport, R.I., in 1928, he commanded the Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Norfolk, Va.; was Fleet Marine Officer on the United States flagship Texas; and from 1930 until his retirement in 1935 was commander of the Southern Reserve Area and Southern Recruiting Division, United States Marine Corps, with headquarters in New Orleans, La.
While in New Orleans, Harllee did the major preparation of Kinfolks a genealogical work in which he included both his own and his wife's ancestry.
Harllee married Ella Florence Fulmore, daughter of Zachary Taylor Fulmore of Austin, Tex., in 1903. They had two children, John, who graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., and became a naval officer, and Ella Fulmore, who attended school in Washington, D.C., and apparently lived there with her parents through 1944. Harllee bought a house in Washington where his wife maintained their home while he was on duty elsewhere. When he retired in 1935, he planned to live in Dillon, S.C., and did go there briefly. He ran for the United States Senate against James F. Byrnes in the South Carolina primary election in 1936 as an anti-New Deal Democrat, but was defeated. Following the campaign he was ill in the Naval Hospital in Washington, and lived in Washington thereafter until his death in 1944.
Back to TopThe collection contains papers of and collected by William Curry Harllee including letters and documents, 1685-1899 (in part copies) of his ancestors, particularly the Harllee family of Mars Bluff and Little Rock, S.C., including a few letters from a South Carolinian in Kansas, 1853; letters from Andrew Turpin Harllee describing public events in Washington, D.C., in 1860; and letters from a soldier in the 8th South Carolina Regiment, Confederate States of America, in Virginia. From 1903 to 1918, the papers concern W. C. Harllee's military career, particularly his interest in marksmanship, the National Rifle Association, and his duties in small arms training for the Navy and Marine Corps during World War I. Papers from 1919 relate to his interest in genealogy and preparation of a book of his findings. The families in which he was interested were based in North and South Carolina, Florida, and Virginia. There are also some letters, 1935-1936, that relate to Harllee's campaign for the Democratic senatorial primary in South Carolina and photostat and printed copies of a map of Marion County, S.C.
Back to TopFolder 1a |
Original finding aid |
Folder 1 |
1685-1743 |
Folder 2 |
1744-1823 |
Folder 3 |
1830-1859Correspondence includes discussion of the conflict between pro-slavery men and free Black soldiers in Kansas (1853). |
Folder 4 |
1860Correspondence in 1860 also discusses Southern secession, the Democratic Party, and the negative implications of Lincoln’s election. |
Folder 5 |
1861Correspondence includes discussion of enslaved people who served with their enslavers in Confederate Army camps in Virginia (1861-1862). |
Folder 6 |
1862Correspondence includes discussion of enslaved people who served with their enslavers in Confederate Army camps in Virginia (1861-1862). |
Folder 7 |
1863-1865 |
Folder 8 |
1870-1899 |
Folder 9 |
1903-1909 |
Folder 10 |
1910 |
Folder 11 |
1911-1912 |
Folder 12 |
1913-1917 |
Folder 13 |
1918-1919 |
Folder 14 |
1921-1927 |
Folder 15 |
1928-1929 |
Folder 16-22
Folder 16Folder 17Folder 18Folder 19Folder 20Folder 21Folder 22 |
1930 |
Folder 23-31
Folder 23Folder 24Folder 25Folder 26Folder 27Folder 28Folder 29Folder 30Folder 31 |
1931 |
Folder 32-43
Folder 32Folder 33Folder 34Folder 35Folder 36Folder 37Folder 38Folder 39Folder 40Folder 41Folder 42Folder 43 |
1932 |
Folder 44-59
Folder 44Folder 45Folder 46Folder 47Folder 48Folder 49Folder 50Folder 51Folder 52Folder 53Folder 54Folder 55Folder 56Folder 57Folder 58Folder 59 |
1933 |
Folder 60-69
Folder 60Folder 61Folder 62Folder 63Folder 64Folder 65Folder 66Folder 67Folder 68Folder 69 |
1934 |
Folder 70-73
Folder 70Folder 71Folder 72Folder 73 |
1935 |
Folder 74 |
1936-1937 |
Folder 75 |
1938 |
Folder 76 |
1939 |
Folder 77 |
1940 |
Folder 78 |
1941-1942 |
Folder 79 |
1943-1944 |
Folder 80 |
Undated |
Folder 81 |
Maps |