===Military career===
===Military career===
At the start of the Civil War, Potter enlisted as a private in the New York militia, was promoted to lieutenant, and then commissioned as a [[Major (United States)|major]] on October 14, 1861. He was promoted to [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]] on November 1 of that year. He was wounded at the [[Battle of New Bern (1862)|Battle of New Bern]] on March 14, 1862, while serving under [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brig. Gen.]] [[Ambrose E. Burnside]]. Potter commanded the [[51st New York Volunteer Infantry]] in [[IX Corps (Union Army)|IX Corps]] at [[Second Battle of Bull Run|Second Bull Run]]. Promoted to the rank of [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] on September 10, he led the regiment at the [[Battle of Antietam]]. Potter was wounded while participating in Burnside’s attack on the Confederate right flank at [[Battle of Antietam|Antietam]].<ref>”The Union Army; A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal States, 1861–65 — Records of the Regiments in the Union Army — Cyclopedia of Battles — Memoirs of Commanders and Soldiers”, Federal Publishing Company (Madison, Wisconsin), 1908 (reprinted by Broadfoot Publishing, 1997).</ref> The wound was only “slight”; and Potter would continue as commander of the [[51st New York Volunteer Infantry|51st NY]] for the next six months. He led the [[51st New York Volunteer Infantry|regiment]] at the [[Battle of Fredericksburg]].
At the start of the Civil War, Potter enlisted as a private in the New York militia, was promoted to lieutenant, and then commissioned as a [[Major (United States)|major]] on October 14, 1861. He was promoted to [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]] on November 1 of that year. He was wounded at the [[Battle of New Bern (1862)|Battle of New Bern]] on March 14, 1862, while serving under [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brig. Gen.]] [[Ambrose E. Burnside]]. Potter commanded the [[51st New York Volunteer Infantry]] in [[IX Corps (Union Army)|IX Corps]] at [[Second Battle of Bull Run|Second Bull Run]]. Promoted to the rank of [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] on September 10, he led the regiment at the [[Battle of Antietam]]. Potter was wounded while participating in Burnside’s attack on the Confederate right flank at [[Battle of Antietam|Antietam]].<ref>”The Union Army; A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal States, 1861–65 — Records of the Regiments in the Union Army — Cyclopedia of Battles — Memoirs of Commanders and Soldiers”, Federal Publishing Company (Madison, Wisconsin), 1908 (reprinted by Broadfoot Publishing, 1997).</ref> The wound was only “slight”
of the [[51st New York Volunteer Infantry|51st NY]] for the next six months at the [[Battle of Fredericksburg]].
Potter was promoted to the rank of brigadier general on March 13, 1863. He led the 2nd Division, IX Corps, in the [[siege of Vicksburg]]. He next commanded IX Corps in the [[Knoxville Campaign]]. After serving on recruiting duty in New York state, he was assigned in 1864 to command of the 2nd Division of IX Corps under Burnside. Potter led the division in the [[Overland Campaign]] and at the [[siege of Petersburg]]. He was wounded in the final assault on Petersburg on April 2, 1865, Potter’s third wound of the war.<ref>Wipperman, Darin, “Burnside’s Boys: The Union’s Ninth Corps and the Civil War in the East,” Stackpole Press, 2023).</ref>
Potter was promoted to the rank of brigadier general on March 13, 1863. He led the 2nd Division, IX Corps, in the [[siege of Vicksburg]]. He next commanded IX Corps in the [[Knoxville Campaign]]. After serving on recruiting duty in New York state, he was assigned in 1864 to command of the 2nd Division of IX Corps under Burnside. Potter led the division in the [[Overland Campaign]] and at the [[siege of Petersburg]]. He was wounded in the final assault on Petersburg on April 2, 1865, Potter’s third wound of the war.<ref>Wipperman, Darin, “Burnside’s Boys: The Union’s Ninth Corps and the Civil War in the East,” Stackpole Press, 2023).</ref>
Union Army general (1829–1887)
Robert Brown Potter (July 16, 1829 – February 19, 1887) was an American lawyer and a Union Army general in the American Civil War.
Potter was born in Schenectady, New York on July 16, 1829. He was the third son of Alonzo Potter, the bishop of the Episcopal Church of Pennsylvania, and Sarah Maria (née Nott) Potter. His mother was the only daughter of Eliphalet Nott, President of Union College. After the death of his mother in 1839, his father remarried in 1840 to his mother’s cousin, Sarah Benedict, with whom his mother had placed the children in the event of her death. Sarah also predeceased Bishop Potter, and three months before his death in 1865, he remarried to Frances Seton, who lived in Flushing until she died in 1909.[1]
Potter had eight brothers and a sister, including Clarkson Nott Potter, a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives;
Howard Potter, an attorney and banker; Edward Tuckerman Potter, an architect who designed the Nott Memorial at Union College; Henry Codman Potter, who succeeded Horatio Potter as Bishop of New York in 1887; Eliphalet Nott Potter, an Episcopal priest and president of Hobart College; Maria Louisa Thompson, the wife of sculptor Launt Thompson; James Neilson Potter, a businessman; William Appleton Potter, an architect who designed the Church of the Presidents in Elberon, New Jersey, and Frank Hunter Potter, a journalist who was the choirmaster of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.[1][2]
Potter served as an attorney in New York City prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.[3]
At the start of the Civil War, Potter enlisted as a private in the New York militia, was promoted to lieutenant, and then commissioned as a major on October 14, 1861. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on November 1 of that year. He was wounded at the Battle of New Bern on March 14, 1862, while serving under Brig. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside. Potter commanded the 51st New York Volunteer Infantry in IX Corps at Second Bull Run. Promoted to the rank of colonel on September 10, he led the regiment at the Battle of Antietam. Potter was wounded while participating in Burnside’s attack on the Confederate right flank at Antietam.[4] The wound was later described as being only “slight”.
He continued in command of the 51st NY regiment for the next six months; notably at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Potter was promoted to the rank of brigadier general on March 13, 1863. He led the 2nd Division, IX Corps, in the siege of Vicksburg. He next commanded IX Corps in the Knoxville Campaign. After serving on recruiting duty in New York state, he was assigned in 1864 to command of the 2nd Division of IX Corps under Burnside. Potter led the division in the Overland Campaign and at the siege of Petersburg. He was wounded in the final assault on Petersburg on April 2, 1865, Potter’s third wound of the war.[5]
Upon his recovery, he was given command of the Rhode Island and Connecticut district of the Department of the East. On his wedding day was given his commission as full major general of volunteers.[6]
He was honorably mustered out of the volunteer service, January 15, 1866.[7]
After he retired from the military, he served for three years as receiver of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad. He moved to England in 1869, but returned to Rhode Island in 1873, where he died in 1887.[3]
On September 20, 1865, General Potter was married to Abigail Austin “Abby” Stevens (1836–1913). Abby was the daughter of prominent banker John Austin Stevens.[3]
Potter died in Newport, Rhode Island on February 19, 1887. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York City.[8]
- ^ a b Potter, Frank, The Alonzo Potter Family, The Rumford Press, 1923, (Concord, New Hampshire).
- ^ Philip B.K.Potter, Nephew of the Late Bishop Potter Succumbs in Brussels, The New York Times (New York, New York) Dec. 17, 1936.
- ^ a b c Potter, Charles Edward, Editor, Genealogies of the Potter Families and Their Descendants to the Present Generation with Historical and Biographical Sketches, Alfred Mudge and Sons (Boston, Massachusetts), 1888.
- ^ The Union Army; A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal States, 1861–65 — Records of the Regiments in the Union Army — Cyclopedia of Battles — Memoirs of Commanders and Soldiers, Federal Publishing Company (Madison, Wisconsin), 1908 (reprinted by Broadfoot Publishing, 1997).
- ^ Wipperman, Darin, “Burnside’s Boys: The Union’s Ninth Corps and the Civil War in the East,” Stackpole Press, 2023).
- ^ Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- ^ Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1964, ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.
- ^ “Gen. Robert B. Potter Dead.; Dying Indirectly from Wounds Received During the War”. The New York Times. 20 February 1887. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
