the civil war he was appointed captain and com- missary of subsistence from New York, which com- mission he held from February to October, 1802. Subsequently he recruited a regiment of North Carolina troops, of which he was made colonel, and was engaged chiefly in the operations in North and South Carolina and east Tennessee, receiving the promotion of brigadier-general of volunteers on 29 Nov., 1862. He resigned on 24 July. 1805, and was brevetted major-general of volunteers on 18 March. 1805. After the war Gen. Potter resided in .Madison, N. J., and New York city.
POTTER, Elisha Reynolds, lawyer, b. in
South Kingston, E. I, 5 Nov.. 1704; d". there, 26
Sept., 1835. He began life as a blacksmith's ap-
prentice, and was also a soldier, but subsequently
he studied law, and practised with considerable
success. Prom 1793 till his death he was a member
of the Rhode Island assembly, except during the
years of his congressional service, and he was for
five years its speaker. In 1796 he was elected as a
Federalist to congress and served from 19 Dec.,
171)11. until his resignation in 1797. He was again
sent to congress and served from 22 May, 1809, till
2 .March, 1S15, acting- on important committees.
In 1818 he was a candidate for governor. It is said
of him that " few political men in Rhode Island
ever acquired or maintained a more commanding
influence." His son, Elisha Reynolds, lawyer, b.
in South Kingston, R. I., 20 June, 1811 ; d. there,
10 April, 1883, was graduated at Harvard in 1830,
and, after studying law, became a member of the
Rhode Island legislature. In 1835-'7 he was adju-
tant-general of the state. He was elected to con-
gress as a Whig, serving from 4 Dec., 1843, till 3
March, 1845. and was state commissioner of public
schools from May, 1849, till October, 1854. Subse-
quently he devoted himself to the practice of his
profession, was chosen a judge of the supreme
court, of the state. Judge Potter was an active
member of the Rhode Island historical society, and
published in its collections ' A Brief Account of the
Emissions of Paper Money made by the Colony of
Rhode Island " (1837), also various addresses. In
addition to his "Report on the Condition and Im-
provement of the Public Schools of Rhode Island "
(1852), " The Bible and Prayer in Public Schools "
(1854), and other " Reports and Documents upon
Public Schools and Education in the State of
Rhode Island," he was the author of "Early His-
tory of Narragansett, with an Appendix of Original
Documents" (Providence, 1.S15).
POTTER, Hazard Arnold, surgeon, b. in Pot-
ter township, Ontario (now Yates) co., N. Y., 21
Dec., 1810 ; d. in Geneva. N. Y.. 2 Dec., 1869. He
was graduated at the medical department of Bow-
doin in 1835, and began the practice of his profes-
sion in Rhode Island, but soon returned to his
native town. In 1835 he settled in Geneva, where
he performed successfully many critical surgical
operations, and in 1837 he called attention to the
presence of arterial blood in the veins of parts that
had been paralyzed in consequence of injury to the
spinal cord. He trephined the spine for depressed
fracture of the arches of the fifth and sixth verte-
bne in 1844. and subsequently he performed the
same operation four times, twice successfully. Later
he performed ligature of the carotid artery five
times, four times successfully, and removed the
upper jaw six times and the lower five times. Dr.
Potter was early convinced of the safety of opera-
tions within the abdominal cavity, and in 1843 per-
formed gastrotomy for the relief of intussusception
of the bowels with perfect success. He removed
fibrous tumors of the uterus from within the ab-
dominal cavity five times, in three cases success-
fully. He extirpated by ovariotomy twenty-two
ovarian tumors, fourteen of them successfully, and
in one of the successful cases both ovaries were re-
moved at the same time. In another case, also
successful, the operation was repeated upon the
same patient twice with an interval of seventeen
months. Dr. Potter served as regimental surgeon
of the 50th New York engineers in 1862.
POTTER. Henry, jurist, b. in Granville county,
N. ('.. in 17<M; d. in Fayetteville, N. Y.. 20 Dec.,
1857. lie was educated as a lawyer, and was ap-
pointed in 1801 U. S. judge of the fifth cin-uit. In
1802 he became U. S. judge of the district <>l North
Carolina, and he was on the bench for more than
half a century. He was a trustee of the Univrr-ii y
of North Carolina from 1799 till his death. Judge
Potter published " Duties of a Justice of the Peace "
(Raleigh, 1816), and was associated with John L.
Taylor and Bartlett Yancey in the compilation of
a revision of the " Law of the State of North Caro-
lina " (2 vols., 1821).
POTTER, Israel Ralph, patriot, b. in Crans-
ton, R. I.. 1 Aug.. 1744; d. there about 1820. lie
early left home and became a farmer in New Hamp-
shire, after which he was associated with a party of
surveyors as assistant chain-bearer. He next be-
came a sailor on a ship that was burned at sea. but
he was rescued by a Dutch vessel and continued
his roving career for nearly two years. In 1774 he
returned home, and after working on a farm for
several months enlisted in a regiment that was
raised by Col. John Patterson. The battle of Lex-
ington found him ploughing, and, after deliberately
finishing the work, he joined his regiment at
C'harlestown. He fought with bravery at the battle
of Bunker Hill, and, when his ammunition was ex-
hausted, seized a sword from a wounded office]' and
continued the contest until the close, when, having
received two musket-ball wounds, he found his way
to the hospital. On his recovery he volunteered
as a seaman on the " Washington, one of the
blockading fleet in front of Boston. Soon after-
ward his vessel was captured, and he was sent to
England. On the voyage he formed a scheme to
take the frigate, but was betrayed and put in irons.
When he arrived in England he was conveyed to
Spithead and put on board of a hulk, but he escaped,
and, in the garb of a beggar, found his way to Lon-
don, where he engaged in gardening and at one
time was employed in Kew gardens, where the
king held a conversation with him. After various
experiences he was sent on a mission by friends of
the colonies to Paris, where he met Benjamin
Franklin, by whom he was sent back with replies.
On reaching England he sought employment in
London, where he was married and gained a bare
livelihood until 1823, when, through the influence
of the American consul, he was able to return to
Boston. He visited his former home, but the mem-
ory of his name had long since faded away. His
application for a pension was refused, owing to his
absence from the country when the pension law
was passed ; and so, after dictating an account of
his experiences, he passed away. His memoirs,
published in Providence, in 1824, were sold by ped-
lers, and finally were entirely lost until a tattered
copy fell into the hands of Herman Melville and
was made the basis of his " Israel Potter : His Fifty
Years of Exile " (New York, 1855).
POTTER. James. Revolutionary soldier, b. in Tyrone, Ireland, in 1729 ; d. in Centre county. Pa., in November. 1789. He came to this country with his father. John Potter, in 1741, and the family settled in Cumberland county, Pa., of which the father
