Robert Potter: Founder of the Texas Navy

By Ernest G. Fischer

As bold, spirited, and volatile as the frontier age in which he lived, Robert Potter flashed across the history of Texas and North Carolina during the early 1800s, leaving an enduring record of inspired leadership and achievement. Along with Potter, many of the famous names of American history ride through these pages, including Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Aaron Burr, as well as a parade of noblemen, ladies, squaws, and harpies of the frontier.

Although he made his mark early as a North Carolina congressman, and later as a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, Potter is best remembered as the founder of the Texas Navy. He pursued a lifelong interest in the sea when he became a midshipman in the United States Navy at the age of fifteen. He was later named secretary of the Texas Navy, the first person to hold that office.

Endowed with a brilliant mind, but plagued by a mercurial temperament, Potter eagerly engaged his enemies in legislative and political debate as well as in physical confrontations. A born leader who stirred the passions of friend and foe alike, he was slain by a band of assassins at the age of forty-two.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1589804732
• ISBN13: 9781589804739
• Release Date: December 2006
• Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.0"