Poe's Life in Boston

STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS
U.S. ARMY ENLISTMENT DOCUMENT
Boston, May 26, 1827

Discouraged, unhappy, his resources depleted, Poe enlisted in Battery H of the 1st Artillery of the U.S. Army in Boston on May 26, 1827, using the alias Edgar A. Perry. His enlistment document describes him as a 5'8", fair skinned, 22-year old with brown hair and grey eyes. In reality, he was only 18. The volunteer was stationed at Fort Independence on Castle Island in Boston Harbor until his military unit was deployed to South Carolina on Nov. 8, 1827.

Poe's use of the pseudonym Perry may have been a tribute to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, who dispatched one of the most famous messages in military history after a decisive naval victory over the British in the War of 1812: "We have met the enemy, and they are ours." Poe proved to be a fine soldier, eventually being promoted to the rank of sergeant major and qualifying for a commission to attend West Point.

Courtesy of Harry Lee Poe