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Potter, Robert B. 1829-1887

Military officer; born in Schenectady, N. Y., July 16, 1829; son of Bishop Alonzo Potter; was a successful lawyer in New York City when the Civil War broke out. He entered the military service as major of the Shepard Rifles, and led the attack with Reno's Zouaves and the 9th New Jersey Regiment on Roanoke Island, Feb. 8, 1862. He was wounded at Newbern; behaved gallantly at the head of his regiment in battles in Virginia, and at Antietam carried the stone bridge on the National left, when he was again wounded. He was in the battle at Fredericksburg, and was made brigadier-general of volunteers in March, 1863. He commanded a division in the siege of Vicksburg, was active in the defence of Knoxville, and commanded a corps against Longstreet in Tennessee. In command of a division in the Army of the Potomac, he was distinguished throughout the Richmond campaign in 1864-65, and was shot through the body at Petersburg (April 2, 1865), but recovered. He was promoted major-general of volunteers in 1865, and was mustered out of the service in 1866. He died in Newport, R. I., Feb. 19, 1887.

Harper and Brothers Publishers. . New York. 1902.

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