Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/116

90 became high sheriff in 1750. At the age of twenty- five the son was a lieutenant in the border militia, and in 1755 he was a captain under Gen. Armstrong in the victorious Kittanning campaign, after which Armstrong and Potter were attached friends. In 1763-'4 he served in the militia as major and lieu- tenant-colonel. He sympathized ardently with the colonies in their contest with the mother country, in 1775 was made a colonel, and in the following year was a member of the Provincial convention, of which Benjamin Franklin was president. In April, 1777, he was made a brigadier-general of Pennsyl- vania troops, and he remained in almost continuous service tfntil the close of the war. In 1777, with the troops under his command in the counties of Philadelphia, Chester, and Delaware, he obtained important information for Washington, and pre- vented supplies reaching the enemy. On 11 Dec., while the army under Washington was on it< way to Valley Forge, after part of it had crossed the Schuylkill at Matson's ford, it was found that the etiniiv under Cornwallis were in force on the "i her side. " They were met," writes Washington, " by Gen. Potter/with part of the Pennsylvania militia, who behaved with great bravery, and gave them every possible opposition until he was obliged to retreat from their superior numbers." In the spring of 1778 Washington wrote from Valley Forge : If the state of Gen. Potter's affairs will admit of his returning to the army. I shall be exceedingly glad to see him, as his activity and vigilance have been much wanted during the winter." He was chosen a member of the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania in 1780, in 1781 became its vice-pres- ident, and in 1782 was a candidate for the presi- dency against John Dickinson, receiving thirty-two votes to Dickinson's forty-one. He became a mem- ber of the council of censors in 1784, and in 1785 one of the commissioners of rivers and streams, lie was a farmer, and he left at his death large and valuable landed estates.

POTTER, John Fox, lawyer, b. in Augusta, Me., 11 May, 1817; d. in East Troy, Wis., 18 May, 18U9. He was educated at Phillips Exeter acad- emy, and was admitted to the bar. Settling in Ka.-t Troy, Wis., he began the practice of his pro- fession, and during 1842-'6 he was judge of Wai- worth county. In 1856 he was a member of the legislature of Wisconsin, and he was then elected as a Republican to congress, serving from 7 Dec., 1857, till 4 March, 1863. In 1860, after Owen Lovejoy's speech in congress, concerning the assassination of his brother, Elijah P. Lovejoy (q. c.), Mr. Potter, at the close of an angry discussion with Roger A. Pryor, was challenged to a duel by the latter. Mr. Potter chose bowie-knives as the weapons, which were promptly objected to by the other side, and in consequence the matter was dropped. Consid- erable newspaper discussion followed. It is said that at the roll-call of congress at the time of the proposed meeting, when Potter's name was readied, the response came : " He is keeping a Pryor en- gagement." When Pryor's name was called, the aii-tter was: " He has gone to be made into Pot- ter's clay." In 1801 Mr. Potter was a delegate to the Peace congress, and on his defeat for re-election to congress he was tendered the governorship of Dakota. This offer he declined, and he received in 1863 the appointment of consul-general to Brit- ish North America at Montreal, which he held until 1866. He has since resided in Wisconsin.

POTTER, John S., actor, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., in ISO!); d. in Morris 111., 21 Feb., 1869. He was earlv apprenticed as a printer in the office of the Philadelphia "Gazette." but began to the theatres, and soon joined the Boothenian dra- matic elub. He made his first appearance at the Washington circus in 1827, and then went to Pitts- burg, where he played under the name of John Sharp. For several years he acted in various parts throughout the United States, but ultimately he became a manager, in which vocation he continued until his death. Mr. Potter built the first theatre in Natchez, Miss., and also those in Fort Gibson in 1836 ; in Grand Gulf in 1836 ; in Natchitoches in 1837 ; in Jackson, Miss., in 1837 ; in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1839 ; in Chicago, 111., in 1841 ; in Roches- ter, N. Y., in 1846 ; and in Cleveland, 0., in 1848. He sailed for California in 1855, and remained on the Pacific coast until 1865, building theatres in California. Oregon, and Vancouver's island.

POTTER, Joseph Haydn, soldier, b. in Con- cord, N. II., 12 Oct., 1822; d. in Columbus. Ohio, 1 Dec., 1892. He was graduated at the U. S. mili- tary academy in 1843 in Grant's class. In 1843-'5 he was engaged in garrison duty, and he then par- ticipated in the military occupation of Texas and the war with Mexico. He was engaged in the de- fence of Fort Brown, and was wounded in the battle of Monterey. Subsequently he was employed on recruiting service, was promoted 1st lieutenant in the 7th infantry on 30 Oct., 1847, and served on garrison duty until 1856, becoming captain on !/ Jan. of that year. He accompanied the Utah expedition in 1858-'60. and at the beginning of the civil war was on duty in Texas, where he was cap- tured by the Confederates at St. Augustine Springs on 27 July, 1861, but was exchanged on 2 Aug., 1862. The command of the 12th New Hampshire volunteers was given him, and he took part in the Maryland and Rappahannock campaigns with the Army of the Potomac, receiving his promotion of major in the regular army on 4 July, 1863. He t<>ok part in the battle of Fredericksburg, and at Chancellorsville was wounded and captured. His services in these two battles gained for him the brevets of lieutenant-colonel and colonel respect- ively. He was exchanged in October. 1863, and was' assistant provost-marshal-general of Ohio un- til September, 1864, when he was assigned a brigade in the 18th corps of the Army of the James, with command of the Bermuda Hundred front during the attack on Fort Harrison. He afterward was assigned to command of brigade in the 24th corps and continued at the front as chief of staff of the 24th corps from January, 1865, until the surrenderor Gen. Lee, receiving the brevet of brigadier-general in the U. S. army on 13 March, 1865, and promo- tion to brigadier-general of volunteers on 1 May, 1865. He was mustered out of the volunteer ser- vice on 15 Jan., 1866, and appointed lieutenant-colo- nel of the 30th infantry, 28 July same year. After holding various posts in the west he received his promotion as colonel on 11 Dec., 1873, and then continued with his regiment, with the exception of four years, from 1 July, 1877, to 1 July. 1881, when he was governor of the soldiers' home, Washington, D. C., until 1 April, 1886, when he was made briga- dier-general in the regular army. He then had command of the Department of Missouri until his retirement on 12 Oct., 1886.

'''POTTER. Nathaniel''', physician, b. in Carolina county. Md., in 1770; d. in Baltimore. Md.. '-2 Jan., 1843. " He was graduated at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in ~,'M, and settled in Baltimore, where he practised until hi- death. In 1S07 he was associated with Dr. John B. Davidge and others in founding the College of medicine of Maryland, which in 1812 berime the medical department of the University of Mary-