Bombed at West Point

Edgar Allan Poe

EDGAR ALLAN POE a Sergeant-major? It's true. Poe already had published his first volume of poetry, Tamarlane and Other Poems, when he joined the U.S. Army as a private in 1827. He rose to the rank of Sargeant-major before earning a discharge in 1829. The next year, in 1830, Poe secured an appointment to West Point. Poe did well enough in his studies at first, but after feuding with his adoptive father, John Allan, Poe apparently let his studies slide deliberately. After a court-martial in January of 1831, Poe was dismissed from the academy and from the army.