Born in Big Rapids, Michigan, Fuller was a member of the United States Naval Academy class of 1889. After serving two years of service as a naval cadet, a requirement at the time before commissioning, he was appointed a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps on July 1, 1891. He, with six other members of his class, attended the first course for new Marine officers at the School of Application, which was the prototype for today's Basic School.[1][2]
On 26 October 1892, he married Katherine Heaton Offley.[3] Together, they had two children.
From 1904 to 1906, he served at the Naval Station, Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. In June and July 1908, he was on detached duty with an expeditionary force organized for service in Panama, and from August of that year until January 1910, commanded a Marine Battalion at Camp Elliott, Panama Canal Zone. From March to June 1911, he commanded the 3rd Regiment of Marines at Camp Meyer, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.[1]
From 1911 to 1915, he commanded various posts and stations in the United States, and during this period also, he completed the Field Officers’ Course at the Army Service Schools, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the course at the Army War College, Washington, D.C. Following a tour of duty as Fleet Marine Officer of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, from January 1915 to June 1916, LtCol Fuller was assigned to the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, where he successfully completed the course.[1]
In August 1918, he was assigned to command the 2nd Brigade of Marines in the Dominican Republic, remaining there until October 1920. He also served on the Staff of the Military Governor of Santo Domingo as Secretary of State, Interior, Police, War and Navy, from December 1919, until his detachment departed from Santo Domingo.[1]
Intermittent home of Maj. Gen. Ben H. Fuller, in Hamilton, Virginia, 46 miles west of Washington, D.C.
From November 1920 to July 1922, he served on the staff of the Naval War College, Newport, and from July 1922 to January 1923, commanded the Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia. In January 1924, he assumed command of the 1st Brigade of Marines in the Republic of Haiti, with headquarters at Port-au-Prince, and served in this capacity until December 8, 1925.[1]
Following his return to the United States from Haiti, Brigadier General Fuller was assigned to Headquarters Marine Corps as President of the Marine Examining and Retiring Board, serving in that capacity until July 1928, when he was appointed Assistant to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. Following the death of the Commandant, Major General Wendell C. Neville on July 9, 1930, Brigadier General Fuller was promoted to major general and appointed Commandant of the Marine Corps. He served in that capacity until March 1, 1934, when he was retired from active service, having attained the statutory retirement age of sixty-four years.[1]
Major General Fuller's tenure was a period of general retrenchment and withdrawal of Marines from foreign countries. Beginning in 1933, these Marines composed the newly designated Fleet Marine Force, the principal operating force of the Marine Corps.[1]
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