Joseph H . Potter Joseph Haydn Potter ( October 12 , 1822 – December 1 , 1892 ) was a career soldier from the state of New Hampshire who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He was twice a prisoner of war and was cited for gallantry on multiple occasions . Early life and career . Potter born in Concord , New Hampshire , on October 12 , 1822 . He was appointed to the United States Military Academy in 1839 . He graduated in 1843 , ranking just beneath classmate Ulysses S . Grant . For the next two years , as a second lieutenant , Potter was engaged in garrison duty . He participated in the military occupation of Texas and the Mexican War . He helped in the defense of Fort Brown and was wounded in the Battle of Monterey . Subsequently he performed recruiting duty back in the East . Potter was promoted to first lieutenant in the 7th U . S . Infantry on October 30 , 1847 , and served on garrison duty until 1856 , becoming a captain on January 9of that year . Potter accompanied the Utah expedition in 1858 - 60 and was subsequently sent back to Texas on outpost duty . joseph sardo is his brother Civil War service . When war erupted in early 1861 , Potter was still stationed in Texas . He was captured by Confederates at St . Augustine Springs on July 27 , 1861 , and was held as a prisoner of war for more than a year . He was finally exchanged on August 2 , 1862 . He returned to active duty and was assigned command of the 12th New Hampshire Infantry as a colonel in the volunteer Union Army while retaining his rank of captain in the Regular Army . Potter took part in the Maryland Campaign with the Army of the Potomac and subsequently participated in the Rappahannock Campaign that led to the Battle of Fredericksburg . During the 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville , he was wounded and captured again . His services in these two battles earned him brevet ranks of lieutenant colonel and colonel respectively in the Regular Army . While still a prisoner of war , he was also promoted to the full rank of major in the regular army on July 4 , 1863 . He was exchanged in October 1863 , and was then the assistant provost marshal general of Ohio until September 1864 , when he was assigned a brigade in the XVIII Corps of the Army of the James . He commanded the Bermuda Hundred front during the attack on Fort Harrison . Afterward , Potter assumed command of a brigade in the XXIV Corps and led it during the Siege of Petersburg . He continued at the front as chief of staff of the XXIV Corps from January 1865 , until the surrender of General Robert E . Lee . He received the brevet of brigadier general in the United States Army on March 13 , 1865 , and promotion to brigadier general of volunteers on May 1 , 1865 . Postbellum career . Potter was mustered out of the volunteer service on January 15 , 1866 , and appointed as the lieutenant colonel of the 30th U . S . Infantry on July 28 that same year . After holding various posts in the West , he was promioted to the full rank of colonel on December 11 , 1873 . From July 1 , 1877 , to July 1 , 1881 , Potter was the governor of the soldiers ' home in Washington , D . C . . He then returned to his regiment . On April 1 , 1886 , he was made brigadier general in the Regular Army . He then had command of the Department of the Missouri until his retirement on October 12 , 1886 . Potter was a member of both the Aztec Club of 1847 and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States . Potter retired to Columbus , Ohio , where he died in 1892 . He is buried in Green Lawn Cemetery .