Birth: May 10, 1847, in Alfred, Allegany County, New York, U.S.A.
Death: November 20, 1930, Colusa County, California, U.S.A.
CIVIL WAR INFORMATION
Private, Company H, 160th New York Infantry under the command of Colonel's Charles C. Dwight and Henry P. Underhill; Lt. Colonel's John B. Van Patten and John B. Burreed and Major's William M. Sentell and Daniel L. Vaughan.
He was born in Alfred, Allegany County, New York to Samantha Sweet & Nathan Potter, a Revolutionary War Veteran. He enlisted in the Union Army on August 30, 1862 at Alfred, New York and he was mustered into his company on November 21, 1862 at New York City. He fought in the following battles; Fort Bisland (April 12 – 13, 1862), Bayou Vermillion (April -May 1863), Siege and Assault of Port Hudson (May 25-July 9, 1863), Koch's Plantation, Donaldsonville and Bayou Fourche (July 13 - 14, 1863), Sabine Pass (September 8, 1863), Western Louisiana Campaign (October 3 -November 30, 1863), Sabine Cross Roads (April 8, 1864, Pleasant Hill (April 9, 1864), Monett's Ferry (April 23, 1864), Mansura (May 16, 1864), Repulse of CSA General Jubal Early's Attack on Fort Stevens ( July 12 - 13, 1864 and Union General Phillip Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign (August 7 -November 28, 1864). At the Battle of Port Hudson, he was shot through the leg, receiving such a serious wound that he was laid up in the hospital for a while. During the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, he was taken prisoner on October 19, 1864 and was sent to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia and then transferred to Salisbury, North Carolina, where he was paroled on October 21, 1864. He was sent to Annapolis to secure a furlough, but was taken ill and he was mustered out in March 1865 at Elmira, New York.
After his discharge and regaining his health, he returned to his farm in Alfred, Allegany County, New York and in 1867, he started for California, taking the Nicaragua route to San Francisco. He went to Sacramento first, working there for two years and in 1869, he came to Colusa, buying a farm one mile' west of Colusa. He had 91 acres of alfalfa and nearby he had 120 acres of grain land. He also operated a grain ranch of 1,900 acres six miles north of Colusa, which 1,000 acres were in grain and the balance was for cattle. With the help of a William C. Roberts and L.L. Hicok, they put in a ditch and a pumping plant which later was incorporated as the Roberts Irrigating Ditch Company, which he was a director. The plant was operated by an electric motor of 100 horsepower, with a 12 inch and a 15 inch pump, having a capacity of 10,000 gallons per minute. He married a Miss Sarah J. Kennedy in Colusa and they had three children; Lavern E. Potter, Everett R. Potter and Delbert E. Potter. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Post # 110, Colusa. He passed away at the age 83 and is buried in the Colusa Community Cemetery, Colusa, Colusa County, California, U.S.A. Plot: Section K. Lot 71, Grave 7