Benjamin F . Potts Benjamin Franklin Potts ( January 29 , 1836 – June 17 , 1887 ) was a lawyer , politician , and soldier from the state of Ohio who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War , as well as a postbellum Governor of the Montana Territory from 1870 to 1883 . He commanded a brigade of infantry in the Western Theater in some of the war ' s most important campaigns and repeatedly received commendations for gallantry and tactical judgement in combat . Early life and career . Benjamin Potts was born on a farm in Fox Township , Carroll County , Ohio , to James and Jane ( Mapel ) Potts . He attended the common schools . When he was seventeen , he began working as a clerk in a dry goods store in nearby Wattsville . He attended Westminster College in 1854 – 55 , until he ran out of funding and returned to Ohio . He taught school and read law starting in September 1857 under Ephraim R . Eckley , later a U . S . Congressman . An active supporter of President James Buchanan , Potts was interested in local and national politics and joined the Democratic Party . In May 1859 , he passed his bar exam in Canton , Ohio , and established a successful practice in Carrollton . He was a member of the Ohio delegation to the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charleston , South Carolina , and supported the candidacy of Stephen A . Douglas . Civil War . With the outbreak of the Civil War , Potts was elected as a captain of the 32nd Ohio Infantry and mustered into the service on August 29 , 1861 . He served with the regiment in western Virginia and was present at Cheat Mountain and Greenbrier River . He was engaged in scouting with his company during a portion of the winter of 1861 – 62 ; and in the spring of 1862 he accompanied the regiment in the advance under Maj . Gen . Robert H . Milroy . Subsequently , he was engaged in the Battle of McDowell . He accompanied General John C . Frémont in his campaign up the Shenandoah Valley in pursuit of Stonewall Jackson , and was present at Cross Keys and Port Republic . In July 1862 , he was temporarily detached from his infantry company and assigned command of an artillery battery in Winchester , Virginia . During the Maryland Campaign , he and his men fell back to the presumed safety of Harpers Ferry , where they were part of the largest surrender of the U . S . Army until World War II , following the Battle of Harpers Ferry . Potts was paroled and sent to Camp Douglas until exchanged . In December 1862 , Potts was promoted to lieutenant colonel and commander of the demoralized and badly depleted 32nd Ohio . He reorganized the regiment , added substantially to its ranks , and refitted it for field duty . On Christmas Day , he was elevated to the colonelcy and then led the regiment in numerous campaigns of the Army of the Tennessee in the Western Theater , including the Siege of Vicksburg and the Atlanta Campaign . At Port Gibson he was complimented for gallantry by brigade commander Brig . Gen . John D . Stevenson ; and at Raymond , Jackson , and Champion Hill , he received the thanks of Maj . Gen . John A . Logan . During the fight at Champion Hill , Colonel Potts charged with his regiment and captured an eight - gun Confederate battery and half of an Alabama infantry brigade that was guarding it . In August Potts was assigned to the command of the 3rd Brigade , 3rd Division , XVII Corps , and he accompanied an expedition to Monroe , Louisiana . In November , Maj . Gen . James B . McPherson placed Potts in command of the 2nd Brigade . During Maj . Gen . William T . Sherman ' s Meridian expedition , Potts led the advance of the XVII Corps across Baker ' s Creek , routed the Rebels under William Wirt Adams , and drove them into Jackson . Later , Potts commanded the forces that destroyed the railroad from Meridian . In 1864 , Potts was assigned command of the 1st Brigade , 4th Division of the XVII Corps , and was distinguished during the Atlanta Campaign , especially in the Battle of Atlanta . Division commander Giles A . Smith wrote , " Colonel Potts did more , on the 22d of July , 1864 , to save the good name of the Army of the Tennessee , than any other one man . " That fall , he participated in the successful operations against Savannah , Georgia . In January 1865 , Potts was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers . He led his brigade during the Carolinas Campaign and in the Grand Review of the Armies in Washington , D . C . . In May following the end of hostilities . Potts received the brevet rank of major general in the omnibus promotions at the end of the Civil War . Postbellum career . Potts mustered out of the army in January 1866 and returned to Carroll County , Ohio , where he resumed his legal and political careers . He changed political parties and joined the Republicans . A moderate , he was elected to the Ohio State Senate in 1867 . Three years later , he accepted an appointment from a fellow Ohio politician and former general , President Ulysses S . Grant , as the governor of the Montana Territory , but only after first refusing it because the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in the Ohio Legislature depended upon his vote , which would be lost if he vacated his seat . Potts served until 1883 . As governor , he was heavily involved in Indian affairs , as well as working to get several new frontier towns chartered , including Missoula . The bipartisan political stability Potts brought to Montana played an important role in the gradual lessening of vigilante activities and lawlessness in the territory . He later served in the territorial legistature . Benjamin F . Potts died in 1887 in Helena , Montana , where he was buried initially in the Benton Avenue Cemetery . His remains were later moved to Forestvale Cemetery .