West Point's Spookiest (almost) Alumni
Edgar Allen Poe - poet, bird-enthusiast, alcoholic, veteran?
You may know him from his rapping and tapping at your chamber door, or you may just recognize his iconic deadpan expression and off-kilter mustache. Either way, Edgar Allen Poe is a household name both in the United States and abroad: the master of macabre launched to historical stardom through the likes of The Cask of Amontillado, Annabelle Lee, and, of course most famously, The Raven.
What many do not know, though, is that Poe has a longstanding history with the United States Army. Poe was nothing if not a man of whimsy. Therefore, it is not shocking that on May 26, 1827, Poe enlisted in the Army under the alias Edgar A. Perry. At only seventeen, Poe falsified virtually all of his administrative data. He eventually rose to the ranks of regimental Sergeant Major by January of 1829. After a yearlong effort to attend West Point, on July 1, 1830, Edgar Allen Poe attended his first day of classes at the military academy.[1]
It is not difficult to imagine Poe standing in central area, sweating in wool pants with hands cupped and knees locked—a scenario that would turn anyone to madness. Knowing this history, it is far less surprising that only 12 years later he published The Tell-Tale Heart. In fact, Poe began writing a new volume of poetry at West Point, following his 1827 publication of Tamerlane. These works grew out of his distaste and abhorrence for cadet life. During his first few months as a cadet, Poe turned to substance abuse to numb his pain, trading most of his possessions for brandy.[2] Consequently, he could often be found drunkenly waxing poetic for the entertainment of his fellow cadets.
On January 28, 1831, only six months after entering West Point, Poe was court-martialed for neglect of duty—he hated the constant parades and uniform changes. His dismissal was effective on March 6, 1831, but Poe couldn’t stand to wait the remaining five weeks.[3] He left almost immediately after his sentencing. Rather unceremoniously, Poe left West Point penniless with no possessions to his name. On his way out the door, he paid a visit to the Superintendent, COL Sylvanus Thayer, to show him his collection of poetry. Despite not being exactly one for the poetic arts, COL Thayer was impressed.[4]
Photo from Sothebys.com, Poems. New York: Elam Bliss, 1831
Ever an entrepreneur, under the guidance of COL Thayer, Poe offered subscriptions at 75 cents per month to his classmates. Using the funds from fellow cadets, in April of the same year, Poe published Poems through Elam Bliss publishing house in New York. The dedication page simply read, “To the U.S. Corps of Cadets this volume is respectfully dedicated.” Although this was the first poetry of its kind to be published in the United States, not all of his classmates appreciated his genius. Thomas W. Gibson wrote in 1867 that “The book was received [by the cadets] with a general expression of disgust. It was a puny volume, of about fifty pages, bound in boards and badly printed on coarse paper, and worse than all, it contained not one of the squibs and satires upon which his reputation at the Academy had been built up. . . . . For months afterward quotations from Poe formed the standing material for jests in the corps, and his reputation for genius went down to zero. I doubt if even the “Raven” of his after-years ever entirely effaced from the minds of his class the impression received from that volume”.[5]
When we think of celebrities who once wore an American military uniform, the list is quite long: Elvis Presley (Army), Morgan Freeman (Air Force), Clint Eastwood (Army), Chuck Norris (Air Force), Adam Driver (Marines) and my personal favorite, Betty White and her Golden Girls Co-Star, Bea Arthur (SSG Arthur, Tony Award Winner to you). Narrowing in, we cannot forget famous historical West Pointers like Henry O. Flipper, Ulysses S. Grant, George Custer, and of course, the larger than life, Edgar Allen Poe. It is a little-known fact that West Point specifically is haunted by historical characters of monolithic magnitude. The haunting is figurative, mostly.
[1] Howard, Michael L., “Seeds of a Soldier: The True Story of Edgar Allan Poe – The Sergeant Major.” Defense Technical Information Center. (Dec 2002, p. 4)
[2] Clifford, James H. “EDGAR ALLEN POE.” On Point 8, no. 3 (2002): 15–15. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44610172.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] T. W. Gibson, “Poe at West Point,” Harper's Monthly, XXXV, November 1867, p. 755).
You might also the career of West Point graduate Charles Totten of interest.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Thank you! I always think of Poe at UVA; somehow I had entirely missed that he was ever at West Point.
Reading some years ago that his wife was mistakenly buried alive when he was away from home has made me wonder if that contributed to his fascination with the macabre, or if it were just the sort of thing that would have happened to the wife of a guy who lived in that headspace already. The story goes that, in his sudden grief at learning she was dead and buried when he returned home, he dug her up—and then discovered fingernail marks inside her coffin. Grisly.