to expand, but that it should be banned in states where it currently existed. In 1861, Potter was one of the participants in the Peace Conference of 1861, which failed to avert the American Civil War. He was defeated in his race for reelection in 1862 by fellow Maine-born lawyer James S. Brown, a Democrat who had been Milwaukee prosecutor and mayor, and who would be defeated the following year by a Republican general. During the campaign, his son Alfred C. Potter had enlisted in the 28th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment in August 1862 as a sergeant, but would be mustered out the following April, and began receiving a pension in 1896. Later career After Potter's congressional term ended in early 1863, he declined appointment as governor of Dakota Territory, and his wife died in May 1863 in Washington, D.C., leaving Potter a widower with a ten year old son. The Lincoln administration then appointed Potter as Consul General of the United States in the British-controlled Province of Canada from 1863 to 1866. Thus Potter resided in what was then the Canadian capital of Montreal, Lower Canada. In 1866, Potter returned to East Troy, Wisconsin, where he resumed his legal practice. Death and legacy Potter died at his home on May 18, 1899. He was interred beside his wife in the family plot at Oak Ridge Cemetery in East Troy. The Wisconsin Historical Society received his knife. References External links 1817 births 1899 deaths 19th-century American diplomats Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Politicians from Augusta, Maine People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Wisconsin lawyers Wisconsin state court judges Wisconsin Whigs Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin 19th-century American politicians People from East Troy, Wisconsin 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers