John Potts (born about 1776 in

Dillenburg Dillenburg, officially Oranienstadt Dillenburg, is a town in Hesse's Gießen (region), Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis. The town lies on the German-N ...

†

1809 Events January–March * January 5 – The Treaty of the Dardanelles, between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Ottoman Empire, is concluded. * January 10 – Peninsular War – French Marshal Jean ...

at the banks of the

Jefferson River The Jefferson River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the U.S. state of Montana. The Jefferson River and the Madison River form the official beginning of the Missouri at Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three For ...

) was a member of the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

. Subsequent to the Expedition, Potts frequently teamed up with

John Colter John Colter (c.1770–1775 – May 7, 1812 or November 22, 1813) was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806). Though party to one of the more famous expeditions in history, Colter is best remembered for explorations he made ...

, another former Expedition member, to explore Montana. In 1808, he and Potts were both injured fighting the Blackfoot tribe as they led a party of the Crow Tribe to Fort Raymond. In 1809, another altercation with the Blackfoot resulted in John Potts' death and Colter's capture. While going by canoe up the Jefferson River, Potts and Colter encountered several hundred Blackfoot who demanded they come ashore. Colter went ashore and was disarmed and stripped naked. When Potts then refused to come ashore he was hit by an arrow and wounded. Potts in his turn shot one of the Blackfoot and died riddled with arrows fired from the shore. His body was brought ashore and hacked to pieces. A rock on the Martian

Endeavour Crater Endeavour is an impact crater located in the Meridiani Planum extraterrestrial plain within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) region of the planet Mars. Endeavour is about in diameter. Using ''Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' data, phy ...

was named for Potts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potts, John American explorers 1776 births 1809 deaths