Andrew Potter was born on April 3, 1832, in Pownal, Vermont, to Arnold Potter. He attended Arms Academy in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, before enrolling at Williams College in 1852. Among his classmates was future president James A. Garfield. He graduated in 1856 and spent the next few years studying law. He was admitted to the bar in 1859 and began practicing law in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

 

In 1862, he received a commission as captain in Company B of the 34^th Massachusetts Infantry. The regiment took part in the Shenandoah Valley campaign, the siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox campaign. He was promoted to major on September 24, 1864, to lieutenant colonel on October 14, 1864, and to colonel on May 1, 1865. According to one writer, the men who “served with him speak in high terms of his bravery, pronouncing him as brave a soldier as ever wore the blue. He was also considerate of his men and was recognized by them as their friend as well as their leader.” He was wounded at Piedmont, Virginia, on June 5, 1864, and again at Winchester, Virginia, on September 19, 1864. He mustered out on June 16, 1865.

 

He returned to Massachusetts after the war, and he married Sarah McDaniels on August 1, 1865. One writer described the ceremony as “unusually brilliant,” noting that the “bridal presents amounted to the neat total of twenty thousand dollars, while the bridal dress, adornments and feast were in keeping as to costly excellence.” The couple honeymooned at Saratoga, Niagara Falls, Montreal, and Quebec. They had at least five children: Thomas, born around 1867; Mary Ayres, born around 1869; James Tracey, born around 1870; Philip Sheridan, born around 1875; and Ralph Eugene, born around 1878.

 

Potter resumed his work as a lawyer, and the couple apparently divided their time between Adams, Massachusetts, and Bennington, Vermont. By 1870, he owned $6,000 of real estate and $2,700 of personal property, and he employed at least one white servant. They settled permanently in Adams around 1887. A local writer described him as “one of the well known residents of this city and county.” He reportedly ”took pride in the growth and prosperity of the city…and was always ready to further its interests.” He was a staunch Republican, and he served as North Adams’s first city solicitor. His health declined in the early 1900s, and he died of Bright’s disease in North Adams on May 30, 1903.

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