Joshua Potter was born in Virginia and then traveled with his family to Kentucky after the Revolutionary War. His father was given a land grant in Kentucky as reward for his service in the Revolution and traveled there by wagon train with the Kirby, Tarrant, Choice and Johnson families, all of whom intermarried with the Potters for several generations.Joshua was a witness to his father's second marriage to Ann McGee and was named in his father's will.
The War of 1812 proved to be a major event in the life of Joshua Potter whose personnel records at the National Archives show that he was in Captain John Jackson’s Company of Infantry, 1st regiment of West Tennessee militia, under Colonel William Metcalf, and Major General William Carroll. His term of service as a volunteer ran from November 13 1814 until May 13, 1815, and his assignment was to help save New Orleans from imminent British attack under the overall command of General, and later President, Andrew Jackson.
Metcalf’s regiment was sent from Tennessee to New Orleans via boat down the Mississippi river. Upon arrival, they were rushed to a narrow isthmus south of the city on the plains of Chalmette. General Jackson’s defenses were a hastily dug ditch and an equally hastily constructed dirt levee behind that. A large part of the armaments and ammunition, including the few cannon available, were provided by the Laffite brothers of pirate fame. There was an initial night battle on Dec. 23, 1814, followed by further preparations by both sides and two more squirmishes. In the interim, the Kentucky and Tennessee mountain men terrorized the British with guerilla tactics waged at night. Skilled in jumping from log to log in the swamp, they appeared and disappeared like ghosts, and greatly demoralized the British.
Joshua's unit was stationed on the eastern end of the embankment. As the British marched forth with great discipline, the frontiersmen formed up four rows, and after each front row fired its single shot long rifles, they would rush to the back as the second row moved forward, keeping up the most dense and continuous barrage which had yet been experienced in 19th century warfare. Before the British called a truce, there were 1,400 wounded British soldiers and 700 dead while American losses amounted to 13 dead and thirty-nine wounded. Ironically and unbeknownst to the participants, the American and British governments had already signed a truce two weeks earlier.
Joshua eventually moved west to Missouri where he homesteaded first in Clinton, and later in Chariton Counties where he was counted in the 1830 and 1840 census respectively.
Joshua was married twice. His first wife was a Morgan but we do not know her first name though it is often erroneously thought to be Nancy who was too young to have been the right one. We surmise from the U.S. census that Joshua had two sons and a daughter by her. Based on the census and marriage records, we believe they were:
John (1810 KY-1860 MO),
Elizabeth (1812-1840)
William (1816-1850).
He and his second wife Martha Johnson, had eight children. We are sure of the names of six of them.
Thomas J. Potter (1818 MO-1864 TX)
Mary "Polly" Potter Ginnings (1821 MO-1880 TX)
Jane Potter Poppelwell Watson (1826 KY - ?)
Elisha Potter (1827 MO - 1917 MO)
Rev. Andrew Jackson Potter (1830-1895)
Benjamin F. Potter (1840/41 MO -1878 TX)
We believe, based on family memories and the U.S. census that the other two were:
Nancy ? Potter
Daughter ? Potter (1835 MO - )
.
The War of 1812 proved to be a major event in the life of Joshua Potter whose personnel records at the National Archives show that he was in Captain John Jackson’s Company of Infantry, 1st regiment of West Tennessee militia, under Colonel William Metcalf, and Major General William Carroll. His term of service as a volunteer ran from November 13 1814 until May 13, 1815, and his assignment was to help save New Orleans from imminent British attack under the overall command of General, and later President, Andrew Jackson.
Metcalf’s regiment was sent from Tennessee to New Orleans via boat down the Mississippi river. Upon arrival, they were rushed to a narrow isthmus south of the city on the plains of Chalmette. General Jackson’s defenses were a hastily dug ditch and an equally hastily constructed dirt levee behind that. A large part of the armaments and ammunition, including the few cannon available, were provided by the Laffite brothers of pirate fame. There was an initial night battle on Dec. 23, 1814, followed by further preparations by both sides and two more squirmishes. In the interim, the Kentucky and Tennessee mountain men terrorized the British with guerilla tactics waged at night. Skilled in jumping from log to log in the swamp, they appeared and disappeared like ghosts, and greatly demoralized the British.
Joshua's unit was stationed on the eastern end of the embankment. As the British marched forth with great discipline, the frontiersmen formed up four rows, and after each front row fired its single shot long rifles, they would rush to the back as the second row moved forward, keeping up the most dense and continuous barrage which had yet been experienced in 19th century warfare. Before the British called a truce, there were 1,400 wounded British soldiers and 700 dead while American losses amounted to 13 dead and thirty-nine wounded. Ironically and unbeknownst to the participants, the American and British governments had already signed a truce two weeks earlier.
Joshua eventually moved west to Missouri where he homesteaded first in Clinton, and later in Chariton Counties where he was counted in the 1830 and 1840 census respectively.
Joshua was married twice. His first wife was a Morgan but we do not know her first name though it is often erroneously thought to be Nancy who was too young to have been the right one. We surmise from the U.S. census that Joshua had two sons and a daughter by her. Based on the census and marriage records, we believe they were:
John (1810 KY-1860 MO),
Elizabeth (1812-1840)
William (1816-1850).
He and his second wife Martha Johnson, had eight children. We are sure of the names of six of them.
Thomas J. Potter (1818 MO-1864 TX)
Mary "Polly" Potter Ginnings (1821 MO-1880 TX)
Jane Potter Poppelwell Watson (1826 KY - ?)
Elisha Potter (1827 MO - 1917 MO)
Rev. Andrew Jackson Potter (1830-1895)
Benjamin F. Potter (1840/41 MO -1878 TX)
We believe, based on family memories and the U.S. census that the other two were:
Nancy ? Potter
Daughter ? Potter (1835 MO - )
.
Joshua Potter was born in Virginia and then traveled with his family to Kentucky after the Revolutionary War. His father was given a land grant in Kentucky as reward for his service in the Revolution and traveled there by wagon train with the Kirby, Tarrant, Choice and Johnson families, all of whom intermarried with the Potters for several generations.Joshua was a witness to his father's second marriage to Ann McGee and was named in his father's will.
The War of 1812 proved to be a major event in the life of Joshua Potter whose personnel records at the National Archives show that he was in Captain John Jackson’s Company of Infantry, 1st regiment of West Tennessee militia, under Colonel William Metcalf, and Major General William Carroll. His term of service as a volunteer ran from November 13 1814 until May 13, 1815, and his assignment was to help save New Orleans from imminent British attack under the overall command of General, and later President, Andrew Jackson.
Metcalf’s regiment was sent from Tennessee to New Orleans via boat down the Mississippi river. Upon arrival, they were rushed to a narrow isthmus south of the city on the plains of Chalmette. General Jackson’s defenses were a hastily dug ditch and an equally hastily constructed dirt levee behind that. A large part of the armaments and ammunition, including the few cannon available, were provided by the Laffite brothers of pirate fame. There was an initial night battle on Dec. 23, 1814, followed by further preparations by both sides and two more squirmishes. In the interim, the Kentucky and Tennessee mountain men terrorized the British with guerilla tactics waged at night. Skilled in jumping from log to log in the swamp, they appeared and disappeared like ghosts, and greatly demoralized the British.
Joshua's unit was stationed on the eastern end of the embankment. As the British marched forth with great discipline, the frontiersmen formed up four rows, and after each front row fired its single shot long rifles, they would rush to the back as the second row moved forward, keeping up the most dense and continuous barrage which had yet been experienced in 19th century warfare. Before the British called a truce, there were 1,400 wounded British soldiers and 700 dead while American losses amounted to 13 dead and thirty-nine wounded. Ironically and unbeknownst to the participants, the American and British governments had already signed a truce two weeks earlier.
Joshua eventually moved west to Missouri where he homesteaded first in Clinton, and later in Chariton Counties where he was counted in the 1830 and 1840 census respectively.
Joshua was married twice. His first wife was a Morgan but we do not know her first name though it is often erroneously thought to be Nancy who was too young to have been the right one. We surmise from the U.S. census that Joshua had two sons and a daughter by her. Based on the census and marriage records, we believe they were:
John (1810 KY-1860 MO),
Elizabeth (1812-1840)
William (1816-1850).
He and his second wife Martha Johnson, had eight children. We are sure of the names of six of them.
Thomas J. Potter (1818 MO-1864 TX)
Mary "Polly" Potter Ginnings (1821 MO-1880 TX)
Jane Potter Poppelwell Watson (1826 KY - ?)
Elisha Potter (1827 MO - 1917 MO)
Rev. Andrew Jackson Potter (1830-1895)
Benjamin F. Potter (1840/41 MO -1878 TX)
We believe, based on family memories and the U.S. census that the other two were:
Nancy ? Potter
Daughter ? Potter (1835 MO - )
.
The War of 1812 proved to be a major event in the life of Joshua Potter whose personnel records at the National Archives show that he was in Captain John Jackson’s Company of Infantry, 1st regiment of West Tennessee militia, under Colonel William Metcalf, and Major General William Carroll. His term of service as a volunteer ran from November 13 1814 until May 13, 1815, and his assignment was to help save New Orleans from imminent British attack under the overall command of General, and later President, Andrew Jackson.
Metcalf’s regiment was sent from Tennessee to New Orleans via boat down the Mississippi river. Upon arrival, they were rushed to a narrow isthmus south of the city on the plains of Chalmette. General Jackson’s defenses were a hastily dug ditch and an equally hastily constructed dirt levee behind that. A large part of the armaments and ammunition, including the few cannon available, were provided by the Laffite brothers of pirate fame. There was an initial night battle on Dec. 23, 1814, followed by further preparations by both sides and two more squirmishes. In the interim, the Kentucky and Tennessee mountain men terrorized the British with guerilla tactics waged at night. Skilled in jumping from log to log in the swamp, they appeared and disappeared like ghosts, and greatly demoralized the British.
Joshua's unit was stationed on the eastern end of the embankment. As the British marched forth with great discipline, the frontiersmen formed up four rows, and after each front row fired its single shot long rifles, they would rush to the back as the second row moved forward, keeping up the most dense and continuous barrage which had yet been experienced in 19th century warfare. Before the British called a truce, there were 1,400 wounded British soldiers and 700 dead while American losses amounted to 13 dead and thirty-nine wounded. Ironically and unbeknownst to the participants, the American and British governments had already signed a truce two weeks earlier.
Joshua eventually moved west to Missouri where he homesteaded first in Clinton, and later in Chariton Counties where he was counted in the 1830 and 1840 census respectively.
Joshua was married twice. His first wife was a Morgan but we do not know her first name though it is often erroneously thought to be Nancy who was too young to have been the right one. We surmise from the U.S. census that Joshua had two sons and a daughter by her. Based on the census and marriage records, we believe they were:
John (1810 KY-1860 MO),
Elizabeth (1812-1840)
William (1816-1850).
He and his second wife Martha Johnson, had eight children. We are sure of the names of six of them.
Thomas J. Potter (1818 MO-1864 TX)
Mary "Polly" Potter Ginnings (1821 MO-1880 TX)
Jane Potter Poppelwell Watson (1826 KY - ?)
Elisha Potter (1827 MO - 1917 MO)
Rev. Andrew Jackson Potter (1830-1895)
Benjamin F. Potter (1840/41 MO -1878 TX)
We believe, based on family memories and the U.S. census that the other two were:
Nancy ? Potter
Daughter ? Potter (1835 MO - )
.
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