Come and watch Little Women (2019) presented by the Poe Museum and Good For Her Films on November 22nd at 5:45pm. Purchase tickets here.
Edgar Allan Poe and Louisa May Alcott have left an equally enduring impact on the American literary canon, however, on the surface their anthologies could not be more different. Poe, the “Master of the Macabre,” focused on the horrid nature of 19th century life while Alcott took inspiration from the warmth of her own life paralleled against the Civil War. However, when we dig deeper, perhaps the lives of these two writers intersected in more ways than one.
Both Poe and Alcott spent their early childhoods in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe was born in a boarding house on 62 Charles Street. Shortly after Alcott was born, her family moved to Boston, just blocks from where Poe spent the first years of his life. While both had roots in Massachusetts, their upbringings could not be more different. Poe was orphaned at the age of three after his father abandoned him, and his mother passed away from tuberculosis. Poe was taken in by a foster family, the Allans, and raised amongst the Southern aristocracy in Richmond. Alcott, however, grew up in Massachusetts with her father Amos, mother Abigail, and three sisters. The Alcotts struggled with poverty throughout Louisa’s childhood, prompting her to seek several jobs to support her family. One of these jobs was acting. Although Poe himself never acted, he always found pride in himself as the son of actors, or “players of the stage.” While their upbringings differed, both used their early childhoods as a source of inspiration for their literature.
The Alcotts embedded themselves in the transcendentalist movement. In Concord, Massachusetts, the family neighbored notable transcendentalist writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau. Alcott was close to both Emerson and Thoreau. Her first collection of poems, Flower Fables, were poems she first told Emerson’s daughter, Ellen. Alcott’s transcendentalist upbringing influenced many of her views as an adult. She was a staunch abolitionist and was close to other abolitionists including Fredrick Douglass, William Llyod Garrison, and John Brown.
Poe, on the other hand, famously despised the Transcendentalist movement. He critiqued the works of Emerson and even Louisa’s father, Amos Alcott:
Let him mend his pen, get a bottle of visible ink, come out from the Old Manse, cut Mr. Alcott, hang (if possible) the editor of “The Dial”, and throw out of the window to the pigs all his odd numbers of “The North American Review.”1
AMONG all the pioneers of American literature, whether prose or poetical, there is not one whose productions have not been much overrated by his countrymen. But this fact is more especially obvious in respect to such of these pioneers as are no longer living, — nor is it a fact of so deeply transcendental a nature as only to be accounted for by the Emersons and Alcotts.2
Poe, unlike Alcott, was a pro-Southern anti-abolitionist. Alcott served as a nurse during the Civil War and expressed disdain at the possibility of caring for a Confederate soldier. During Poe’s time at the Southern Literary Messenger, Poe reviewed several pro-slavery publications and criticized abolitionists such as James Russell Lowell.3
Alcott and Poe, while not too similar in their personal lives, found similarities amongst their literature. Both Poe and Alcott read gothic literature at a young age which influenced their literature. Poe studied Milton, Walpole, and Radcliffe; Alcott the Bronte sisters — and perhaps even Poe himself. Alcott’s first novel, The Inheritance, was heavily influenced by Jane Eyre. Both of their literary careers began with published poetry written during their childhood. For Poe, it was Tamerlane published when he was 18; for Alcott, it was Flower Fables at age 22. Even as their careers developed, both wrote in the mystery or thriller genre. Poe invented the detective story in 1841 with The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Alcott, under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard wrote another one of the earliest known thriller stories, Behind a Mask. While Poe and Alcott never met, they were certainly involved in the same 19th century literary sphere. Both attended Anne Lynch’s literary salon (Alcott attended after Poe’s death) where authors such as Osgood, Emerson, Melville, and Hawthorne appeared. Though their lives and ideologies often stood in stark contrast, Poe and Alcott shared a devotion to exploring the depths of human experience, each leaving a lasting mark on American literary canon.
1 Edgar Allan Poe, “Tale-Writing — Nathaniel Hawthorne” [Text-01], Godey’s Lady’s Book, November 1847, pp. 252-256 https://www.eapoe.org/works/criticsm/glb47hn0.htm
2 Edgar Allan Poe (ed. J. A. Harrison), “A Few Words About Brainard,” The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Vol. XI: Literary Criticism – part 04 (1902), 11:15-24 https://www.eapoe.org/works/harrison/jah11c04.htm#pg0015. Poe also mentions Alcott in Edgar Allan Poe (ed. J. A. Harrison), “Our Amateur Poets, No. III. — William Ellery Channing,” The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Vol. XI: Literary Criticism – part 04 (1902) and Edgar Allan Poe (ed. J. A. Harrison), “About Critics and Criticism,” The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Vol. XIII: Literary Criticism – part 06 (1902), 13:193-202.
3 Edgar Allan Poe (ed. J. A. Harrison), “Review of A Fable for the Critics,” The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Vol. XIII: Literary Criticism – part 06 (1902), 13:171-172.
This Veteran’s Day we celebrate Poe’s service in the United States Army. Learn about Poe’s brief military career and how it reflected his tumultuous relationship with his foster father.
Edgar Allan Poe’s connection with the military began with his grandfather David Poe, Sr. (1742-1816). Poe was the Assistant Deputy Quartermaster General for Baltimore during the American Revolution. In 1780, he used $40,000 of his own funds to purchase supplies for the Continental Army. At age 71, he fought in the War of 1812.[1] Although he had achieved the rank of major, he referred to as “General Poe” by those who knew him. Poe wrote in his autobiography in regard to his grandfather “Family one of the oldest and most respectable in Baltimore. Gen. David Poe, my paternal grandfather, was a quarter-master general, in the Maryland line, during the revolution, and the intimate friend of Lafayette, who, during his visit to the U.S., called personally upon the Gen’s widow, and tendered her in warmest acknowledgements for the services rendered him by her husband. His father, John Poe married, in England, Jane, a daughter of Admiral James McBride, noted in British naval history”[2]
Poe’s connection to his grandfather’s military legacy remained with him throughout his life. In October 1824, his grandfather’s service may have influenced young Poe to join his local colour guard. At the age of 15, young Edgar Allan Poe participated in the junior militiaman’s honor of the Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette. One of the stops on their tour of Richmond was outside the Ege family home, now known as the Old Stone House. Meeting the Lafayette would have been an impactful and personal moment for Poe, recognizing the importance of Lafeyette’s return to the new nation as well as the personal connection the General had to his grandfather. As William F. Hecker in “Private Perry and Mister Poe” described “the young poet was swept up in a nationwide celebration of the virtues of American revolutionary idealism.”[3]
A year later, Poe attended the University of Virginia from February to December of 1826. He registered 136th of the 177 students of UVA’s second class. Within the first month of his studies, Poe requested additional aid from Allan for tuition and books, which Allan refuses to pay. This left Poe financially strained, turning to gambling to pay of his debts. The relationship between foster son and foster father, too, strained at this time. Poe desperately sought paternal love and acceptance by Allan yet actively rebelled against him and the society in which Allan raised him in. By December 1826, Allan begrudgingly paid off Poe debts before Poe left the university.
Poe returned home to Richmond before Christmastide of that year. A few months later, after of a quarrel between himself and Allan, Poe left the family home. Setting off to Boston, Poe was determined to distance himself and the life he knew
“My determination is … to leave your house and indeavor to find some place in this wide world, where I will be treated — not as you have treated me. … A collegiate Education … was what I most ardently desired … I have heard you say (when you little thought I was listening and therefore must have said it in earnest) that you had no affection for me”[5]
Boston, Massachusetts
Havell, R. (ca. 1841) View of the city of Boston from Dorchester heights, ca. 1841
Poe’s disdain for Allan quickly faded when he realized he needed money and supplies for his voyage. A day after he wrote his scathing letter, Poe wrote to Allan again.
“I beseech you as you wish not your prediction concerning me to be fulfilled — to send me without delay my trunk containing my clothes, and to lend if you will not give me as much money as will defray the expence of my passage to Boston (.$12,) and a little to support me there untill I shall be enabled to engage in some business…I have not one cent in the world to provide any food”[6]
Poe arrived in Boston in May of 1827. Shortly thereafter, he enlisted in the U.S. Army under the alias of Edgar A. Perry. He gave his age as 22, his birthplace of Boston, his occupation of clerk, and personal description: grey eyes, brown hair, fair complexion, and 5 ft. 8 in. in height[7].
While Poe’s exact reasoning for enlistment is unknown, it was likely spurred on by an attempt to burn bridges to his merchant-class upbringing. Post-revolutionary soldiers were viewed unfavorably by the American public. This was perhaps Poe’s attempt to experience life as a “common man.”
Fort Moultrie, South Carolina
A few months later in November 1827, Poe transferred to Fort Moultrie, South Carolina. Poe’s time spent in South Carolina was a later influence for his literature, particularly the setting for his 1843 short story, “The Gold Bug.”
Vizitelly, A., Artist. Fort Moultrie, Charleston Harbor. Charleston United States Charleston Harbor Fort Moultrie South Carolina, 1861. Photograph.
Poe stood out from most of his fellow servicemen. Most joined the army as a last resort and over half of the servicemen were European immigrants. However, Poe equally shared in their suffering. Hecker writes “In addition to earning the general disgust of respectable society, enlisted soldiers were subject to discipline, danger, hardship, likely illness, poor food and clothing, limited shelter, and inadequate pay. These conditions generally drew only the most desperate elements of society, and recruiters struggled to keep the army supplied with suitable soldiers.”[8] Poe now entered himself in a completely different sphere than the one under Allan’s control in Richmond. Heckler continued “As an artilleryman, Poe would have spent much of his early career learning cannon drill and maintaining the coastal forts at which he was stationed…logged for firewood year-round, maintained and built roads around the fortifications, gardened to supplement their poor rations, and maintained the earth- and stoneworks themselves to ensure a proper defense of the coastal fortifications.(21) In addition to these mundane duties, the artillerymen were required to understand how to employ their cannon Foot drill, guard mounts, and small-arms marksmanship rounded out the list of activities that enlisted soldiers of Poe’s time faced daily”[9] When Poe was promoted to battery clerk in June 1827, he transitioned to more clerical office work than the grueling manual labor of his comrades.[10]
Fort Monroe, Virginia
Fortress Monroe, Old Point Comfort & Hygeia Hotel, Virginia in 1861 and 1862. NPS/Courtesy of Fort Monroe National Monument
In December 1828, Poe was transferred again, this time to Fort Monroe, Virginia. In that same month he wrote to Allan, asking to obtain his permission to leave the army. Whatever aim had persuaded Poe to enlist in the army was quickly fading.
Dear Sir,
In that note what chiefly gave me concern was hearing of your indisposition — I can readily see & forgive the suggestion which prompted you to write “he had better remain as he is until the termination of his enlistment.” It was perhaps under the impression that a military life was one after my own heart, and that it might be possible (although contrary to the Regulations of our Army) to obtain a commission for one who had not received his education at West Point, & who, from his age, was excluded that Academy; but I could not help thinking that you beleived medegraded & disgraced, and that any thing were preferable to my returning home & entailing on yourself a portion ofmy infamy:…at the present I have no such intention, and nothing, short of your absolute commands, should deter mefrom my purpose.
I have been in the American army as long as suits my ends or my inclination, and it is now time that I should leave it— To this effect I made known my circumstances to Lieut Howard who promised me my discharge solely upon a re-conciliation with yourself — In vain I told him that your wishes for me (as your letters assured me) were, and hadalways been those of a father & that you were ready to forgive even the worst offences — He insisted upon my writingyou & that if a re-conciliation could be effected he would grant me my wish. This was advised in the goodness of hisheart & with a view of serving me in a double sense — He has always been kind to me, and, in many respects, remindsme forcibly of yourself. The period of an Enlistment is five years — the prime of my life would be wasted — I shall be driven to more decidedmeasures if you refuse to assist me.You need not fear for my future prosperity — I am altered from what you knew me, &am no longer a boy tossing about on the world without aim or consistency — I feel that within me which will make me fulfilyour highest wishes & only beg you to suspend your judgement until you hear of me again.
You will perceive that I speak confidently — but when did ever Ambition exist or Talent prosper without priorconviction of success? I have thrown myself on the world, like the Norman conqueror on the shores of Britain &, by myavowed assurance of victory, have destroyed the fleet which could alone cover my retreat — I must either conquer or die —succeed or be disgraced.
A letter addressed to Lieut: J. Howard assuring him of your reconciliation with myself (which you have never yet refused) &desiring my discharge would be all that is necessary — He is already acquainted with you from report & the high charactergiven of you by Mr Lay. Write me once more if you do really forgive me [and] let me know how my Ma preserves her health,and the concerns of the family since my departure. Pecuniary assistance I do not desire — unless of your own free &unbiassed choice — I can struggle with any difficulty. My dearest love to Ma — it is only when absent that we can tell thevalue of such a friend — I hope she will not let my wayward disposition wear away the love she used to have for me.
Yours respectfully & affectionately
Edgar A. Poe
P.S. We are now under orders to sail for Old Point Comfort, and will arrive there before your answer can be received —Your address then will be to Lieut: J. Howard, Fortress Monroe — the same for myself.[11]
Without receiving a reply from Allan, Poe wrote home again, urging Allan to consider his request. He also mentioned the reputation of his grandfather’s legacy amongst his superior officers.
Dear Sir;
I wrote you shortly before leaving Fort Moultrie & am much hurt at receiving no answer. Perhaps my letter has not reached you & under that supposition I will recapitulate its contents… this being all that I asked at your hands, I wa shurt at your declining to answer my letter. Since arriving at Fort Moultrie Lieut Howard has given me an introduction to Col: James House of the 1rst Arty to whom I was before personally known only as a soldier of his regiment. He spoke kindly to me. told me that he was personally acquainted with my Grandfather Genl Poe, with yourself & family, & reassured me of my immediate discharge upon your consent. It must have been a matter of regret to me, that when those who were strangers took such deep interest in my welfare, <that> you who called me your son should refuse me even the common civility of answering a letter. If it is your wish to forget that I have been your son I am too proud to remind you of it again — I only beg you to remember that you yourself cherished the cause of my leaving your family — Ambition. If it has not taken the channel you wished it, it is not the less certain of its object. Richmond & the U. States were too narrow a sphere & the world shall be my theatre —
….There never was any period of my life when my bosom swelled with a deeper satisfaction, of myself & (except in the injury which I may have done to your feelings) — of my conduct — My father do not throw me aside as degraded[.] I will be an honor to your name.
By January 1829, Poe had been promoted to Regiment Sargent Major, an impressive feat in just two years. In February, he wrote to Allan once more, this time seeking to utilize Allan’s social status, a status that Poe had once disassociated himself from, to obtain letters of recommendation to West Point Military Academy.
“I made the request to obtain a cadets’ appointment partly because I know that — if my age should prove no obstacle as I have since ascertained it will not) the appointment could easily be obtained either by your personal acquaintance with Mr Wirt — or by the recommendation of General Scott, or even of the officers residing at Fortress Monroe & partly because in making the request you would at once see to what direction my “future views & expectations” were inclined. You can have no idea of the immense advantages which my present station in the army would give me in the appointment of a cadet — it would be an unprecedented case in the American army, & having already passed thro the practical part even of the higher partion [[sic]] of the Artillery arm, my cadetship would only be considered as a necessary form which I am positive I could run thro’ in 6 months.”[13]
Only a few days after Poe sent this letter he received a letter from Allan informing him that, Frances, Poe’s foster mother, has passed away. Poe returned to Richmond but was a day late for Frances’ funeral. Frances’ death acted as a temporary reconciliation between the two men. Allan granted Poe’s request for discharge. On April 15th, 1829 having paid a substitute $75 to take his place, Poe had discharged from the Army.[14] The following month Poe’s poem “Alone” is published, likely inspired by Frances’ passing.
West Point, New York
Smith, J. R. (ca. 1820) Encampment at West Point. West Point New York, ca. 1820. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library ofCongress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016652776/.
Because of Allan’s wealth and social status, Poe was able to secure letters of recommendation for his admittance to West Point by several notable political figures. Most famous of these figures was General Winfield Scott. Scott (1786 – 1866) also known as “Old Fuss and Feathers” was an American military commander and political candidate. He served as a general in the United States Army from 1814 to 1861, taking part in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, and the early stages of the American Civil War. Scott was a friend of John Allan and a relative of Allan’s second wife Louisa G. Allan. Scott took an interest in the young Poe, helping him secure an appointment to West Point and loaned him money. Poe later satirized Scott in his 1843 story “The Man That Was Used Up.”
Other letters from Allan’s associates included Major John Campell, Andrew Stevenson (Speaker of the House of Representatives), Colonel James P. Preston, as well as many of Poe’s officers in the army, wrote letters to Secretary of War, Major John Henry Eaton, on Poe’s behalf.
“The history of the youth Edgar Allan Poe is a very interesting one as detailed to me [John Campbell] by gentlemen in whose veracity I have entire confidence and I unite with great pleasure with Mr. Stevenson & Col Worth in recommending him for a place in the Military Academy at West Point. My friend Mr. Allan of this city [Richmond] by whom this orphan & friendless youth was raised and educated is a gentleman in whose word you may place every confidence and can state to you more in detail the character of the youth & the circumstances which claim for him the patronage of the government.” John Campell (May 1829)
I [Andrew Stevenson] beg leave to introduce to you Mr. Edgar Poe who wishes to be admitted into the Military Academy, & to stand the examination in June! He has been two years in the service of the U. States & carries with him the strongest testimonials, from the highest authority. He will be an acquisition to the service & I most earnestly recommend him to yr especial notice & approbation. Andrew Stevenson (May 1829) (National Archives; Cameron [1973], p. 160)
“Edgar Poe, late Serg’t Major in the 1st. Arty served under my command in H. Company 1st Regt of Artillery from June 1827 to Jan’y – 1829, during which time his conduct was unexceptionable — he at once performed the duties of company clerk and assistant in the Subsistent Department, both of which duties were promptly and faithfully done. his habits are good, and intirely free from drinking. J. Howard, Lieut. 1st Artillery (April, 1829) (National Archives; Cameron [1973], p. 158).”
“Some of the friends of young Mr Edgar Poe have solicited me to address a letter to you in his favor believing that it may be useful to him in his application to the Government for military service. I know Mr Poe and am acquainted with the fact of his having been born under circumstances of great adversity. I also know from his own productions and others undoubted proofs that he is a young gentleman of genius and talents. I believe he is destined to be distinguished, since he has already gained reputation for talents & attainments at the University of Virginia. I think him possessed of feelings & character peculiarly entitling him to public patronage. I am entirely satisfied that the salutary system of military discipline will soon develope his honorable feelings, and elevated spirit, and prove him worthy of confidence. I would not write in his recommendation if I did not believe that he would remunerate the Government at some future day, by his services and talents, for whatever may be done for him. James P. Preston (May, 1829) (National Archives; Cameron [1973], pp. 166-67).
Even John Allan, Poe’s foster father, wrote a letter to Secretary of War supporting Poe’s military career. While Poe sought to obtain these recommendations, Allan urged his foster son to remind officers of his connection to the legacy of his grandfather.[15]
“The youth who presents this, is the same alluded to by Lt. Howard Capt. Griswold Colo. Worth our representative & the speaker the Hon’ble Andrew Stevenson and my Friend Majr. Jno. Campbell. He left me in consequence of some Gambling at the university at Charlottesville, because (I presume) I refused to sanction a rule that the shopkeepers & others had adopted there, making Debts of [page 92:] Honour, of all indiscretions — I have much pleasure in asserting that He stood his examination at the close of the year with great credit to himself. His History is short He is the Grandson of Quarter Master Genl Poe of Maryland; whose widow as I understand still receives a pension for the Services or disabilities of Her Husband — Frankly Sir, do I declare that He is no relation to me whatever; that I have many [in] whom I have taken an active Interest to promote thiers [theirs]; with no other feeling than that; every Man is my care, if he be in distress; for myself I ask nothing but I do request your kindness to aid this youth in the promotion of his future prospects — and it will offer me great pleasure to reciprocate any kindness you can skew him — pardon my Frankness; — but I address a Soldier (National Archives; Cameron [1973], pp. 164-65).
In late May of 1829, Poe departed Richmond heading north towards New York. Allan and Poe’s relationship while seeming to be on the rise quicky crumbled. In October 1829 Poe wrote to his “Pa” “if I knew how to regain your affection God knows I would do any thing I could —”[16] He arrived at West Point Military Academy on June 20, 1830.
On June 28th, Poe wrote to Allan “Of 130 Cadets appointed every year only 30 or 35 ever graduate — the rest being dismissed for bad conduct or deficiency the Regulations are rigid in the extreme …. I am in camp at present — my tent mates are Read [Reid?] & [John Eaton] Henderson (nephew of Major Eaton) & [William Telfair] Stockton of Phil“[17]
In July and August, Poe encamped at Camp Eaton. In August the cadets move from camp to barracks. Poe rooms with Thomas W. Gibson (Indiana), Timothy Pickering Jones (Tennessee), and perhaps John Eaton Henderson (Tennessee), in Room 28 in the South Barracks. In September, classes began. Poe enrolled in French and Math, ranking 17th out of 87 in Math and 3rd in French. [18]
Institutes of Natural Philosophy, Theoretical and Practical by William Enfield (1830), Poe Museum Collection 2014.2.9. These pages were torn from Institutes of Natural Philosophy, Theoretical and Practical by William Enfield, a textbook used at the United States Military Academy at West Point during Poe’s enrollment. The selections feature diagrams of the solar system and other information that played a role in both Poe’s science fiction tales and his cosmological essay Eureka.
On November 6th, 1830 Poe wrote to Allan “I was greatly in hopes you would have come on to W. Point while you were in N. York, and was very much disappointed when I heard you had gone on home without letting me hear from you. I have a very excellent standing in my class …. the study requisite is incessant, and the discipline exceedingly rigid. I have seen Genl [Winfield] Scott … he was very polite and attentive”[19]
Most of the information we have about Poe’s experience at West Point is through those who knew him. Allan B. Magruder, a classmate from Virginia who left the Academy in 1831, recollected his time spent with Poe:
“He [Poe] was very shy and reserved in his intercourse with his fellow-cadets — his associates being confined almost exclusively to Virginians …. He was an accomplished French scholar, and had a wonderful aptitude for mathematics, so that he had no difficulty in preparing his recitations in his class and in obtaining the highest marks in these departments. He was a devourer of books, but his great fault was his neglect of and apparent contempt for military duties. His wayward and capricious temper made him at times utterly oblivious or indifferent to the ordinary routine of roll-call, drills, and guard duties. These habits subjected him often to arrest and punishment, and effectually prevented his learning or discharging the duties of a soldier.[20]
Timothy P. Jones recalled:
“Poe and I were classmates, roommates, and tentmates. From the first time we met he took a fancy to me, and owing to his older years and extraordinary literary merits, I thought he was the greatest fellow on earth… At first he studied hard and his ambition seemed to be to lead the class in all studies …. it was only a few weeks after the beginning of his career at West Point that he seemed to lose interest in his studies and to be disheartened and discouraged ….He would often write some of the most forcible and vicious doggerel, have me copy it with my left hand in order that it might be disguised, and post it around the building. Locke was ordinarily one of the victims of his stinging pen. He would often play the roughest jokes on those he disliked. I have never seen a man whose hatred was so intense as that of Poe (New York Sun, 10 May 1903; 29 May 1904; Woodberry, 1:369-72).
Below is one of the poems of mockery that Poe produced at this time.
John Locke was a notable name;
Joe Locke is a greater; in short,
The former was well known to fame,
But the latter’s well known “to report.”
Thomas W. Gibson, Poe’s roommate also recorded:
“Poe at that time, though only about twenty years of age, had the appearance of being much older. He had a worn, weary, discontented look, not easily forgotten by those who were intimate with him. Poe was easily fretted by any jest at his expense, and was not a little annoyed by a story that some of the class got up, to the effect that he had procured a cadet’s appointment for his son, and the boy having died, the father had substituted himself in his place. Another report current in the corps was that he was a grandson of Benedict Arnold. Some good-natured friend told him of it; and Poe did not contradict it, but seemed rather pleased than otherwise at the mistake…I don’t think he was ever intoxicated while at the Academy, but he had already acquired the more dangerous habit of constant drinking”[21]
By January of 1831, Allan and Poe’s relationship had worsened. Poe wrote to Allan at this time expressing an apparent change of mind toward his military ambitions.
“I came home, you will remember, the night after the burial [of Frances Allan on 2 March 1829] — If she had not have died while I was away there would have been nothing for me to regret — Your love I never valued — but she I believed loved me as her own child. You sent me to W. Point like a beggar. The same difficulties are threatening me as before at Charlottesville — and I must resign …. When I parted from you — at the steamboat, I knew that I should never see you again. From the time of writing this I shall neglect my studies and duties at the institution — if I do not receive your answer in 10 days — I will leave the point without — for otherwise I should subject myself to dismission.”[22]
A month later Poe writes again “Please send me a little money — quickly — and forget what I said about you —”[23]
Much like Poe’s attempt to leave the army, he needed Allan’s consent to leave West Point. When Poe did not receive it, he sought to get himself court martialed and dismissed. He accrued 44 different counts of gross neglect of duty and absence from his academical duties.” By March of 1831 Poe was dismissed from the academy.
(Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, 1821-1920, RG393; National Archives Identifier 301660)
Several of Poe’s classmates recounted Poe dismissal, including Timothy P. Jones who was also dismissed from the academy.
“On the morning of the 6th [19th] of March [February], when Poe was ready to leave West Point, we were in our room together, and he told me I was one of the few true friends he had ever known, and as we talked the tears rolled down his cheeks …. He told me much of his past life, one part of which he said he had confided to no other living soul. This was that while it was generally believed that he had gone to Greece in 1827 to offer his services to assist in putting down the Turkish oppressors, he had done no such thing, that about as near Europe as he ever got was Fort Independence, Boston Harbor, where he enlisted, and was assigned to Battery H, First Artillery, which was afterward transferred to Fortress Monroe, Va. Poe told me that for nearly two years he let his kindred and friends believe that he was fighting with the Greeks, but all the while he was wearing the uniform of Uncle Sam’s soldiers, and leading a sober and moral life.”(New York Sun, 29 May 1904, copied from the Richmond Dispatch; Woodberry, 1:372).”
Cadet George Washington Cullum (Pennsylvania) recalled:
“As Poe was of the succeeding class to mine at West Point, I remember him very well as a cadet. He was a slovenly, heedless boy, very eccentric, inclined to dissipation, and, of course, preferred making verses to solving equations. While at the Academy he published a small volume of poems, dedicated to Bulwer in a long, rambling letter. These verses were the source of great merriment with us boys, who considered the author cracked, and the verses ridiculous doggerel.” (Stoddard [1872], p. 561 n.).[24]
The “doggerel” Cullum referred to was “Poems”, Poe’s third collection of poetry published in April, 1831. 131 out of 232 cadets helped aid in the financial burden of publishing these poems, expecting more of the ridiculous school boy mockery they had experienced. Instead they found melancholy poetry which Poe would soon be known for. The Poe Museum owns a first edition of “Poems” owned by Poe’s West Point classmate John Pendleton Hardin. Inside the cover Hardin inscribed “This book is a damn cheat. / All that fills 124 pages could have been compiled in 35.”
Poems of Edgar A. Poe, 1831, Poe Museum Collection 447.b
Thomas W. Gibson later remarked on the publication’s success among the cadets
“The book was received 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 at once 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.”[25]
After leaving West Point, Poe moved to Baltimore where he published his first short stories, launching his literary career as the “Master of the Macabre.” Poe and Allan’s relationship remained strained until Allan’s death in 1834. Poe summarized his experience in the military in an autobiographical letter in 1841 “The army does not suit a poor man.”[26]
Poe Museum Concludes Transformative Redesign of Exhibits with Dedication of the Susan Jaffe Tane Room
Richmond, Virginia October 22, 2025 – An intimate ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Poe Museum on October 11th marked the conclusion of a multi-year redesign of the museum’s exhibits and gift shop in collaboration with Gropen Inc., a build and design shop based in Charlottesville.
Increased visitation to the museum, along with a growing collection of Edgar Allan Poe works, belongings, and memorabilia, were the catalysts for the redesign of the 103-year-old institution. Many of the recent additions to the museum’s collection (including Edgar Allan Poe’s pocket watch) were donated by eminent Poe collector and former museum board member, Susan Jaffe Tane. On October 11th, Ms. Tane attended the dedication of the Susan Jaffe Tane Room, named in recognition of her impact.
Along with the newly-named exhibit room, the redesign includes new displays and interpretations of artifacts, unique design elements and signage, interactive elements for younger visitors, and a brand new exhibit in a previously unopened room of the historic Old Stone House, interpreting Poe’s childhood in Richmond.
“This project has already proved to be transformative for the museum,” says Maeve Jones, Executive Director. “We are thrilled to be able to display more of our collection than ever before, and to interpret the life and legacy of the “master of the macabre” for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.”
“The Poe Museum continues its stewardship of Poe’s legacy and related artifacts with record-breaking attendance and now this incredible redesign. The Museum is alive with new experiences, artifacts, programs, and more – it’s a truly wonderful time to be a fan and to be a part of this institution’s evolution.” said Dean Browell, President of the Board of Directors.
The Poe Museum is a privately funded 501c3 nonprofit museum in Richmond, Virginia. The museum houses and interprets the world’s largest public collection of Edgar Allan Poe belongings, works, and memorabilia in support of its mission: illuminating Poe for everyone, evermore. Find more at poemuseum.org.
The Poe Museum is open Tuesdays-Saturdays from 10am-5pm, and Sundays from 11am-5pm. Admission is $12 per adult. For more information, visit poemuseum.org
The Poe Museum celebrated National Poetry Month this spring by hosting its annual student poetry contest. Middle and high school students across the U.S. were encouraged to write poems based around nature and the environment around them. While we received many thoughtful and engaging poems, we ultimately selected one middle school and one high school winner. Thank you to everyone who submitted their works! Check back soon for more information on our next student writing contest this fall.
This Black History Month, the Poe Museum seeks to provide resources on the life and literature of Black Americans in the 19th century. The lives of Black Americans directly shaped Poe’s upbringing in Richmond and influenced his writing. Their stories are an essential aspect of a holistic understanding of Poe’s life. Click on the links below to find out more information.
Slavery in the Allan Home
Growing up in Richmond in the early 19th century, Poe was acutely aware of the presence of slavery within his home and city. While Poe never enslaved anyone himself, he was raised in a household which profited off the institution of slavery. Poe grew up in a household where Judith, Scipio, and others enslaved by John Allan lived and labored. He visited the plantation, inherited by his foster father, where over a hundred men, women, and children were inherited, bought, and sold. In an 1827 letter, Poe described the power dynamics within the Allan household stating “You suffer me to be subjected to the whims & caprice, not only of your white family, but the complete authority of the blacks”[1]
Slaves Waiting for Sale, Richmond, Virginia, Heinz Family Collection, Eyre Crowe (1861)
For more information on the recorded lives of enslaved individuals we recommend checking out North American Slave Narratives.
19th century Black Richmonders
Poe was likely aware of several notable Black Richmonders throughout his 17 years living in Richmond, Virginia, including Gilbert Hunt. Hunt and Poe were connected to America’s deadliest tragedy in the early 19th century: The Richmond Theater Fire. Poe’s mother, Eliza Poe, a renowned singer and actress would have performed at the Richmond theater the night of the fire had tuberculosis not taken her life three weeks earlier. On December 26th, 1811, after the first act of the second play of that evening, a lit chandelier caught a stage curtain on fire, resulting in a mass fire that took the lives of over 70 individuals, a majority of whom were women. Gilbert Hunt, an enslaved blacksmith, heard the fire bells ring and rushed to the scene to aid the victims. Alongside Dr. James McCaw and a borrowed ladder, Hunt saved over a dozen women from the fire. His recollection of the fire was recorded in Gilbert Hunt, the City Blacksmith by Philip Barrett in 1859. After the fire, Hunt continued to labor as a blacksmith and, in 1823, saved even more Richmonders from a fire at the state penitentiary. By 1829, he had purchased his freedom and briefly immigrated to Liberia, a colony formed by the American Colonization Society. He also served as a deacon of the First African Baptist Church and helped form the Union Burial Ground Society.
Gilbert Hunt, Smith & Vannerson (1860). Credit to The Virginia Historical Society.
During the last year of Poe’s life in 1849, he may have read the story of Henry Box Brown. Brown, born into slavery in Louisa County, labored in a tobacco factory in Richmond managed by his enslaver’s son. Throughout his time in Richmond, Brown married and had three children. He attended the First African Baptist Church around the same time Gilbert Hunt was a deacon there. In 1848, Brown’s wife Nancy was sold and separated from Brown, which led him to seek freedom by any means necessary. After he plotted with a few other Richmond men and the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Brown made the daring decision to ship himself north in a confined wooden box measuring 3ft by 2ft by 2.5 ft. On March 23rd, 1849, Brown was sealed shut and endured a harrowing 26-hour journey—part of which was spent upside down. Brown continued to champion for abolition for the remainder of his life, writing songs and lecturing around the North including many of the cities Poe was familiar with—Philadelphia and Providence. There is no doubt that Poe would have read of his endeavors in the local and national papers. After moving to England, Brown’s focus turned from abolition to mesmerism—a form a spiritualism Poe notoriously detested.
After Poe’s death, several other notable men and women continued to influence Richmond’s landscape, especially its literary sphere. Daniel Webster Davis was a poet and teacher in Richmond, Virginia. He founded the Virginia Teachers’ Reading Circle, the first organization in Virginia dedicated to African American educators. He also worked as an editor of The Young Men’s Friend and Social Drifts. Davis is arguably best known for his collections of poems, Idle Moments, Containing Emancipation and Other Poems (1895) and ‘Weh Down Souf and Other Poems (1897). To learn more about Davis’s advocacy for voting rights, notable positions, and other written publications click here. John Mitchell Jr. was born in Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War. He attended school alongside Davis at the Richmond Colored Normal School. After a brief career in teaching, Mitchell went on to become an editor of the Richmond Planet. Throughout his time at the Richmond Planet (eventually located at the Swan Tavern where Edgar Allan Poe spent his final days in Richmond), Mitchell significantly increased readership. Through Mitchell’s leadership, the Richmond Planet became a source of print advocacy of anti-lynching and anti-Jim Crow laws. “Mr. Jno. Mitchell, Jr., has done more in the way of newspaper work in exposition and denunciation of lynching through the Planet than any other newspaper editor.” To learn more about Mitchell’s involvement in Richmond’s politics, banking career, and more click the link here.
Race in Poe’s Literature
While Poe lived all throughout the East Coast, his southern upbringing played a crucial role in his literature, particularly influencing his portrayal of race. Scholars of the past century have debated the extent to which Poe’s personal view of race and slavery are embedded in his literature, from his caricatures of black characters to covert portrayals of racism in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “Hop Frog.”
“The Gold-Bug” (1843)
Poe included several Black characters in his literature including Toby in “The Journal of Julius Rodman,” Pompey in “A Predicament” and “How to Write a Blackwood Article” as well as Pompey in “The Man That Was Used Up.” Most famous of Poe’s Black characters is Jupiter in “The Gold-Bug.” Jupiter was formerly enslaved but later manumitted by his enslaver, William Legrand. Jupiter decides to stay with Legrand, due to Legrand’s “instill[ing] his obstinacy into Jupiter,” however it could be argued that Jupiter, in an act of agency over himself, made the decision to stay. Jupiter is depicted as unintelligent, often using racist caricatures of speech. The character of Jupiter may have been inspired by enslaved laborers and free Black individuals Poe interacted with in Richmond. Poe would likely have interacted with Richmond’s free Black population (constituting 10% of the city’s population in 1820). Many of the descriptions of Poe’s Black characters are akin to that of runway advertisements which were advertised in local newspapers.
“And Pompey, my negro! — sweet Pompey! how shall I ever forget thee? I had taken Pompey’s arm. He was three feet in height (I like to be particular) and about seventy, or perhaps eighty, years of age. He had bow-legs and was corpulent. His mouth should not be called small, nor his ears short. His teeth, however, were like pearl, and his large full eyes were deliciously white. Nature had endowed him with no neck, and had placed his ankles (as usual with that race) in the middle of the upper portion of the feet. He was clad with a striking simplicity. His sole garments were a stock of nine inches in height, and a nearly-new drab overcoat which had formerly been in the service of the tall, stately, and illustrious Dr. Moneypenny. It was a good overcoat. It was well cut. It was well made. The coat was nearly new. Pompey held it up out of the dirt with both hands.”
Poe also reviewed several pro-slavery pieces for the Southern Literary Messenger throughout his time working there. Poe praised northern depictions of slavery by Northerners including Joseph Holt Ingram’s The South-west. By a Yankee and Mrs. Anne MacVicar Grant’s Memoirs of an American Lady. In his review of Memoirs of an American Lady, Poe states “Some remarks on slavery, at page 41, will apply with singular accuracy to the present state of things in Virginia.”[2] And goes on to quote a passage within the book “I have no where met with instances of friendship more tender and generous than that which here subsisted between the slaves and their masters and mistresses.” He also praised the works pro-slavery authors such as John L. Carey and Thomas R. Dew. While these reviews were published to reflect the values the Southern Literary Messenger, to some extent they too showcase Poe’s views on race. Throughout his short stories and criticism, Poe showcases a clear interest in power dynamics. From reflecting slave revolts in “Hop Frog” to racial authority over characters like Jupiter —it is clear the hierarchical race structure of the 19th century played a pivotal role in the influence of Poe’s literature.
[1] Edgar Allan Poe to John Allan — March 19, 1827, Poe, Allan, Ellis Papers, 1803-1881. MSC0033/0001-0001.0001. The Valentine, Richmond, Virginia.
[2] Edgar Allan Poe, Critical Notices, Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II, no. 7, July 1836.
The Poe Museum is excited to announce additions to its Board of Directors during a pivotal time for the 100+ year old institution. As the Museum embarks on a complete redesign of exhibits within its historic buildings, the following leaders will lend their perspective and skills: Garrett Dalton (Dominion Energy), George Herring (International Baccalaureate educator), Ginna Lambert (Lighthouse XR), Jeff Minnich (Jeff Minnich Garden Designs), Stephan Loewentheil (The 19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop), Andrew Selman (Sands Anderson), and Tracy Templeton (Capital One).
Maeve Jones, Executive Director of the Poe Museum, writes: “These additions to our board bring with them a breadth and depth of expertise in collecting, education, technology, garden design, human resources, and law. We are honored to welcome them to our team as the Poe Museum positions itself for continued growth in the coming years.”
The newest leaders join returning Directors: Dean Browell (Feedback), Board President; Brian Dismore (Capital One), Board Vice President; Andrew Waters (Dominion Energy), Treasurer; Arabeth Balasko (Cincinnati Museum Center), Executive Committee Officer; Margaret Dodson (YWCA Richmond); Peter Fawn (The Bank of N.T. Butterfield and Son Limited); Richard Kopley (Poe Studies Association); Norman Leahy (Washington Post); Craig Martin (The Good Road); Scott Peeples (College of Charleston); Adam Worcester (Triple Crossing Beer), Executive Committee Officer.
“The Poe Museum and its shop are more popular than ever, breaking records in attendance, donations, educational programs, events, retail sales, and more since we celebrated our 100th anniversary in 2022. At our Centennial Celebration we hinted big changes were coming for the next 100 years and the forthcoming redesign will further propel The Poe Museum into finest, largest public collection of Poe artifacts, belongings, memorabilia, and works in the world. This leadership team can’t wait for you to see what’s next to make this worldwide institution a world-class one, right here Richmond, VA.” said Dean Browell, President of the Board of Directors.
The Poe Museum is a privately funded 501c3 nonprofit museum in Richmond, Virginia. The museum houses and interprets the world’s largest public collection of Edgar Allan Poe belongings, works, and memorabilia in support of its mission: illuminating Poe for everyone, evermore.
Maria Poe Clemm, born March 17th, 1790 in Baltimore, Maryland, was the sister of David Poe Jr. and the aunt of Edgar Allan Poe. At the age of 27, she married merchant William Clemm Jr., as his second wife. Maria became a step-mother to Clemm’s five children and the two later had three children of her own. The youngest, Virginia, married Maria’s nephew, and her cousin, Edgar Allan Poe at the age of 13.
While technically both Poe’s mother-in-law and aunt, Poe viewed Maria as a motherly figure in his life, especially as both his biological and foster mother’s had passed. She considered Poe to be her son, practically adopting him and saying that he was “indeed a son to me & has always been so” (Harrison, XVII, 380).
After moving to Richmond to work at the Southern Literary Messenger, Poe had got word that Neilson Poe, a cousin of the poet, had offered to take in the two women. Poe saw this as a threat to his family and titled Neilson as an enemy. Poe later brought Maria and Virginia to Richmond and took them into his care before and after Poe and Virginia married. The family still struggled financially, even while Poe worked at the Southern Literary Messenger.
Maria appreciated Poe’s effort in trying to keep the family together, despite the appeal of Neilson Poe’s offer and the lack of funds Poe was bringing in as the main source of income for her and her daughter. She is quoted to have said, “it takes nearly all he can make to answer that demand, but poor fellow he is willing to do all in his power for us”.
After Virginia’s death of tuberculosis, Edgar and Maria developed an almost symbiotic bond with one another, depending on each other for love and comfort. He dedicated his poem, “To My Mother” to her, stating that after Virginia died, Maria filled the void in his heart left behind by her passing. To Poe, there was no title as devoted and loving as “mother”, and she was the mother to both him and his beloved wife. In the poem, he proclaims that because she was the mother of Virginia, she was more dear to him than his birth mother was.
Because I feel that, in the Heavens above, The angels, whispering to one another, Can find, among their burning terms of love, None so devotional as that of “Mother,” Therefore by that dear name I long have called you— You who are more than mother unto me, And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you In setting my Virginia’s spirit free. My mother—my own mother, who died early, Was but the mother of myself; but you Are mother to the one I loved so dearly, And thus are dearer than the mother I knew By that infinity with which my wife Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.
“To My Mother” by Edgar Allan Poe (1849)
Poe died mysteriously and without a definitive cause as to why October 7th, 1849. A day after his funeral, she wrote to her relative Neilson Poe to confirm if Edgar was indeed dead.
“I have heard this moment of the death of my dear son Edgar—I cannot believe it, and have written to you, to try and ascertain the fact and particulars—he has been at the South for the last three months, and was on his way home—the paper states he died in Baltimore yesterday—If it is true God have mercy on me, for he was the last I had to cling to and love, will you write the instant you receive this and relieve this dreadful uncertainty—My mind is prepared to hear all—conceal nothing from me.”
Maria Poe Clemm to Neilson Poe, Fordham, New York. October 9, 1849.
Two days later, Maria received his confirmation and left her family’s cottage in Fordham to live with the Lewises’ in Brooklyn. She stayed there for roughly two weeks until moving in with Nancy “Annie” Locke Richmond, a former love interest of Poe.
Maria lived with the Richmonds for roughly a year and a half. At the beginning of her stay, she was physically sick and mourning the loss of her son. Eventually, with the kindness and the inclusiveness of the Richmonds, she became mentally and physically stable. Annie’s husband, Charles, insisted on taking her horseback riding often, and she even accompanied Annie and her young daughter on a ski trip. She received much condolences and support from Poe’s literary friends, including Charles Dickens and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, but also witnessed and exclaimed at Poe’s rival Rufus Griswold’s defamation of Poe, who wrote in his obituary that . She wrote to Griswold and other authors that Poe was a great man, poet, and author, trying her best to keep Poe’s name good and just.
After the cold Massachusetts air set in, the sixty-one year old fled the harsh and cold conditions and lived from house to house, generosity to generosity, for roughly twelve years. In her first years of lonesome, she visited the Richmonds again, along with Poe’s old loves to seek generosity from them, including Marie Louise Shew and Sarah Helen Whitman. Whitman occasionally sent Maria money, but nothing more for fear of overstepping her own personal boundary.
Ten years after Poe’s death, Maria managed to find work and room in Alexandria, Virginia. She lived with lawyer Reuben Johnson in exchange for teaching his three children. While living here, she got severely sick, and the doctor ordered her not to use her eyes in any way. It was here on 70th birthday that she wrote, “Oh how sad and lonely I am, and with what rapture, I will hail the time when I will go to meet all my loved ones” (Maria Clemm to Sarah Helen Whitman, Alexandria, March 17, 1860).
At this time, Maria received an invitation to stay in Putnam, Ohio from the Robins family in exchange for information about Poe for Sallie E. Robins biography about him. The stay lasted two years, and it did not go as Maria had hoped. The family planned on staying in Europe for a couple years, inviting Maria along. The trip never happened, however, as Sallie was declared insane and was forced into an asylum before the trip, leaving Maria without a stable place to stay. She exclaimed that this stay was as bad as the last one, quoting, “How I wish I could get a home in some pleasant family” (Caroline Ticknor, Poe’s Helen, New York, 1916).
As the Civil War raged on, especially in Virginia, she sought refuge in Baltimore where her relative Neilson Poe lived. Originally wanting to stay at the Widows home to live out the rest of her life, she begrudgingly stayed at the Church Home after she could not afford the $150 entrance fee to the Widows home. She kept in touch with Neilson and his family, handing over control of her funeral to him. In some stroke of coincidence or perhaps planning, the Church House was actually the place where Poe died, as it had once been the Washington Medical College which treated Poe in his final days. Here, she spent her final days telling stories and details about her son-in-law and praising him till her last interview, citing him as “elegantly formed, exceedingly graceful” (Delman-Heyward Files, Maryland Historical Society).
Her final request was to be buried next to Poe, and so she was. She died February 16th, 1871, at eighty-one years old. Those who attended her funeral were admirers of Poe and her friends. She wrote to Annie prior to her death, exclaiming that she cannot wait to be with her loved ones again, telling her that the dead are with her still, and have been since they departed the living, and she will join them soon.
Celebrate Women’s History Month by learning of the revolutionary women who founded the Poe Museum and illuminated Poe’s history forevermore.
Mary Gavin Traylor (1890 – 1946)
It is safe to say that the Poe Museum would not exist today if Mary Gavin Traylor had not steered it through the Great Depression as the museum’s board secretary, librarian, curator, tour guide, host, fundraiser, and caretaker from 1928 until 1946. As if that were not impressive enough, she did all of this part-time while maintaining her job writing for the Richmond News Leader and managing its photo archives.
The daughter of Poe collector Robert Gavin Traylor, Mary Gavin Traylor started her journalistic career as a French correspondent in Paris before returning to Richmond to care for her mother while taking over the society column at the local newspaper. The newspaper’s editor, Douglas Southall Freeman, happened to be the president of the Poe Museum and allowed her to work half a day at the paper and the rest of the time at the museum.
Traylor joined the museum’s staff in 1928. When the Great Depression hit, the museum cut back its staff and closed all but one of its buildings to save on the expense of heating them all. Despite these tough times, when she was only allotted one log per day to heat the Old Stone House, Traylor continued to solicit contributions and to make major acquisitions including the candelabra under which Poe wrote “The Bells” and James Carling’s illustrations for “The Raven.” When she had the opportunity to purchase an important daguerreotype of Poe, the board told her that raising the funds would be impossible, but Freeman allowed her to give it a try. Against all odds, she was able to accumulate twenty donations in order to acquire the Poe Museum’s copy of the Ultima Thule daguerreotype, which our guests can see today in the Elizabeth Arnold Poe Memorial Building.
Once the museum survived the Depression, World War II arrived, and the museum’s most important treasures had to be shipped to an undisclosed location for safekeeping. But Traylor kept the museum open. At one point, she even curated an exhibit of portraits painted on ice cream spoons. When peace arrived, she helped negotiate the donation of several Poe manuscripts from the grandchildren of Poe’s literary executor Rufus Griswold. Thanks to Traylor’s efforts to build the Poe Museum’s collection, we will never have to resort to displaying ice cream spoon portraits again.
Annie Boyd Jones (d. 1939)
Visitors in the Poe Museum’s early days often recalled meeting the institution’s co-founder Annie Boyd Jones in the Enchanted Garden, where she inevitably quoted the lines from Poe’s poem that formed the basis of the garden’s design.
Thou wast that all to me, love, For which my soul did pine – A green isle in the sea, love, A fountain and a shrine, All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers, And all the flowers were mine…
To One in Paradise, Edgar Allan Poe (1843)
The flamboyant and outgoing Jones was a poet, artist, and patron of the arts who counted among her many artistic friends Mount Rushmore’s sculptor Gutzon Borglum. After her husband rented Richmond’s Old Stone House with the intention of using it as a colonial history museum, she talked him into remaking it into a shrine to Edgar Allan Poe, instead. When Poe collector and researcher James H. Whitty informed her that he had the building materials left over from the demolished office of the Southern Literary Messenger (the very building in which Poe began his career in journalism), she convinced him to let her construct a garden and pergola out of the bricks and to make eleven bookcases from the lumber. In the early days, these bookcases housed the Poe Museum’s collection of rare Poe volumes.
When the museum opened, it consisted only of the Old Stone House and garden, but Jones soon purchased the buildings that we now call the North Building and the Visitor’s Center. After failing to save Poe’s childhood home on Fourteenth Street from destruction, she took the building materials down to her Poe Shrine and had the Elizabeth Arnold Poe Memorial Building constructed from them. In doing so, she established the Poe Museum’s footprint for the next century.
Additionally, Jones paid for repairs to the Old Stone House (using materials salvaged from Poe’s homes and place of work) and acquired items for the collection—including Poe’s trunk, which remains a museum highlight. Within a year, the museum was ready for a grand opening on April 26, 1922. In photos taken that day, Jones can be spotted in her huge feather hat, fur coat, and twenty-four karat gold mail handbag. A smile beams across her face. A friend described her as “full of fire and life…” and said she served the best illegal alcohol at her parties. (This was during Prohibition, after all.)
When, over a century later, our guests step into the museum’s Enchanted Garden, they are entering what Jones envisioned as a place enveloped with “an atmosphere that breathes the very spirit of the poet’s life…”
Antoinette Suiter(1924 – 2023)
Not a day goes by when we do not overhear a guest whisper to a friend, “Come here. Take a look at this.” After a few minutes of silence, one of them observes, “He had really small feet.”
That is how countless people respond to their first sight of Edgar Allan Poe’s socks on display in the Poe Museum’s North Building alongside Poe’s waistcoat. These last surviving pieces of Poe’s clothing are a very tangible reminder of the person who once wore them and about the closest one gets to seeing Poe in the flesh. It is not the kind of thing one can experience on a computer or phone.
That is why, on school group tours, our guides use them as teaching aids, asking the students, “What does this waistcoat tell us about Poe? What kind of person do you think would wear something like this? Why would someone wear this?”
Poe’s socks and waistcoat are just two of the artifacts his cousin Elizabeth Herring’s great-great granddaughter Antoinette Suiter donated to the Poe Museum during her many years as supporter and trustee of this institution. While even the casual visitor will see a few of these artifacts on display, they might not appreciate the Poe family lore and advice Suiter has shared with us. These stories, told as only Poe’s closest living relative could have told them, have provided us a closer view of her “Cousin Eddy,” “Cousin Virginia,” and “Aunt Muddie” than we could have found anywhere else.
When not supporting the Poe Museum, Suiter devoted her skills and infectious enthusiasm to the Boy Scouts, the Colonial Dames, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Tar River Orchestra and Chorus, the North Carolina Ballet, and Stonewall Manor in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. She had a rare gift for spreading her optimism and love of life wherever she went.
Born in 1924, just two years after the Poe Museum opened, Mrs. Suiter passed away on her ninety-ninth birthday. While we may no longer see her strolling the museum’s halls, sharing stories of her Cousin Eddy, we—and everyone else who visits—will benefit from the portraits, documents, and other artifacts she entrusted to the museum.
Click here to see some of the artifacts Antoinette Suiter has donated to the Poe Museum.
The land surrounding the fall line of the James River, now known as Richmond, Virginia, has played a pivotal role in this nation’s history. As the ancestral home of thePowhatan Confederacy, the site of Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” speech, and an epicenter of the American Civil War, there is no doubting Richmond’s influence over the major events of U.S. history. Several notable American figures called Richmond their home including Chief Justice John Marshall, Maggie Walker, and perhaps most notably, Edgar Allan Poe.
Edgar Allan Poe, born Edgar Poe, was born to David and Eliza Poe on January 19th, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe’s childhood was an unstable one at best. David, Poe’s father, abandoned the family when Edgar was still a baby. When Poe was two years old, Eliza moved her family down to Richmond, Virginia in support of her acting career. By the end of that year Eliza contracted tuberculosis and passed away. At not even three years old, Edgar Poe was orphaned. Thankfully, Frances Valentine Allan, and her husband, John Allan took interest in the young boy and decided to take him into their home as their foster child. Edgar Poe was now Edgar Allan Poe.
The Allans were a well-off, childless couple. Frances was born into the Valentine family, a notable wealthy family of Richmond. John on the other hand, a Scots-man, emigrated to the United States as a teenager to work under his uncle William Galt. While his uncle never provided the liberal education John had envisioned, Allan gained valuable experience as a businessman. As an adult, Allan established his own business with Charles Ellis, aptly named the Ellis & Allan firm. The Richmond-based mercantile business provided Richmonders with various goods including food, clothing, tools, and at times, enslaved individuals.
Growing up in Richmond in the early 19th century, Poe was aware of the presence of slavery within his home and city. Poe grew up in a household where people enslaved by Allan lived and labored. He visited the plantation inherited by his foster father where over a hundred men, women, and children were inherited, bought, and sold. As a young adult in Baltimore, Poe sold Edwin, a man enslaved by his aunt, on her behalf (Matthew Pearl, however, has argued that the document Poe signed freed Edwin while working around Maryland’s strict manumission laws.).[1] When Poe returned to Richmond toward the end of his life, he saw Richmond transform into the second largest slave trading center in the U.S.[2]
While Poe himself never enslaved anyone, he was raised in a household which profited from the institution of race-based slavery. To have a complete understanding of Poe’s life and upbringing in Richmond an understanding of the lives of those individuals enslaved by his foster father is required. Poe and Allan’s lives, like many middle and upper-class individuals in Richmond, were supported through the institution of slavery to some degree. Not only does this ongoing research deepen the historic knowledge of Poe’s life, but it broadens the understanding of slavery in Richmond and the individual histories of the enslaved.
Research on these individuals was collected through tax records, wills, newspaper accounts, deeds, letters, census records, court documents and other valuable databases. While new information has been found, the records of these individuals are still limited. Most sources do not list names, and only supply the number of enslaved individuals within a household. In rarer cases, first names such as Judith, Henry, and Scipio appear. However, these cases provide no information about the forced responsibilities these people performed, their families, or their memories.
This research temporally covers references to individuals enslaved by John Allan from 1811, when Edgar Poe joined the Allan family, to 1834 when John Allan passed. Geographically, this research spans the City of Richmond, located in Henrico County at this time, and Goochland County, focusing on those enslaved in urban domestic households owned by Allan, his Richmond business ventures, and his rural plantation. The lives of those enslaved in urban centers like Richmond differed from those in rural plantations. By the time Poe was a teenager in Richmond, the population of the city consisted of 6,500 free white individuals, 4,300 enslaved individuals, and 1,200 free black individuals.[3] Enslaved individuals laboring in urban domestic households often performed multiple forced duties rather than one specific skill or labor. Additionally, enslaved individuals often slept near the labor they performed, both in outbuildings and within the main house, rather than having separate living quarters.
This paper will provide contextual information of the lives of other individuals enslaved in Richmond to infer what those living on Allan’s properties likely experienced. This paper will be continually updated as more information of the narratives of these individuals is discovered.
13th St. & Main and 14th St. and Tobacco Alley, Richmond City, VA
Edgar Allan Poe called several places home throughout his childhood and adulthood. When he was first taken in by the Allans, the family lived at 13th Street and Main, right above the Ellis & Allan firm. The small home housed not only Frances, John, and Edgar, but also Frances’ sister Nancy, and Judith, a woman enslaved by John Allan. Judith is first recorded in John Allan and Charles Ellis’ papers on January 1st, 1811, a year before Edgar was taken in by the family.
“Jan. 1st, 1811, a negro woman named Judith hired from Master Cheatham for the sum of £25 to be retained clothed as usual under a bond of £50.”[4]
Not much is currently known of Judith’s life, forced responsibilities, or family. She likely labored throughout the home, caring for young Poe, cooking meals in the outdoor kitchen, or smoking meats in the smokehouse.[5] Through the historical record we know she likely stayed with the Allan’s for quite some time. The 1820 census lists only one enslaved individual in the Allan household, a woman of at least 45 years of age.[6] Assuming this individual is in fact Judith, then it follows that she was first enslaved by Allan in her mid-30’s.
Edgar lived at 13th and Main until the age of 6. In 1815 the family moved to England for five years for Allan to expand his business. When those business ventures ultimately failed, the Allans returned home to Richmond and moved into the home of Allan’s business partner Charles Ellis at 2nd and Franklin Street for about six months before relocating to a house on 5th Street, between Marshall and Clay Streets, where they resided until May 1822. The family next moved to a house on the corner of 14th street and Tobacco Alley, where Poe lived from 13-16 years of age (1822-1825). This home was located one block away from the 15th street business district—Richmond’s slave trading district.
The Ellis and Allan Firm
Slave trading, in addition to the industries of flour and coal, was one of Richmond’s main sources of economic development in the early 19th century. While slave trading existed in Richmond prior to the 1830s, during the 1830s-1860s, Richmond became the largest slave trafficking center in Virginia, and the second largest in the country. Enslaved individuals, brought by boat up the James River, were traded in Richmond in hotels, auction houses, and jails which lined Shockoe Bottom from the river to Broad Street.[7] While some individuals were bought by Richmond enslavers, many were traded to deep south plantations. These experiences are best described by the individuals themselves.
“At Fredericksburgh we were transferred from the stage coach to a car, and before dark arrived in Richmond, the chief city of Virginia. At this city we were taken from the cars, and driven through the street to a slave pen, between the railroad depot and the river, kept by a Mr. Goodin. This pen is similar to Williams’ in Washington, except it is somewhat larger; and besides, there were two small houses standing at opposite corners within the yard. These houses are usually found within slave yards, being used as rooms for the examination of human chattels by purchasers before concluding a bargain.”[8]
Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave
The Ellis & Allan firm participated in slave trading in several different capacities. In October 1811, prior to Allan taking in Edgar, Allan participated in the auction of “a Negro man about 28 years of age, and a Negro woman about 26 years of age” as well as a tract of land on the behalf of James Pleasants to settle the debt of Phillip Pleasants.[9] In 1812, the firm, acted as a lender of “542 Acres and the following slaves Andrew Anthony Bob Betsy and child, Lucy and children Sally & Children” to William Dandridge.[10] In 1815, Ellis, acting on the request of Allan, sold Scipio, an enslaved man, for $600, and hired out an unknown number of other enslaved individuals for $50 per person.[11] Enslaved individuals, especially in urban settings, were often hired out to other enslavers or employers who would contractually lease them.
Slaves Awaiting Sale, Richmond, VA, by Eyre Crowe (1861) Heinz Family Collection.
Not only do these sources provide insight into the business’ involvement with slave trading, but they also illuminate the experiences of enslaved individuals in the 19th century. Enslaved individuals were often sold alongside purchasable items such as food, tools, clothes, or land etc. as they were considered goods—items to be bought, leased, sold, invested in, rather than humans with individual agency. While these sources are a glimpse into the economic ventures of slave trading by Ellis & Allan, research is still ongoing to discover the firm’s extent of involvement into the slave trade.
Moldavia, 5th and Main St., Richmond City, VA
1825 was a transformative year for Allan and his slaveholdings. William Galt, Allan’s uncle and one of the wealthiest men in Richmond, passed away, leaving Allan a hefty portion of his fortune. This inheritance propelled Allan’s wealth and status in Richmond. Shortly thereafter, Allan purchased a new home for his family at 5th and Main St. named Moldavia. Moldavia was a physical representation of Allan’s increased wealth, which included a large 2 1/2 story home, icehouse, green house, stables, and servant’s room.[12] Allan’s increased wealth also led to an increase in the number of people enslaved within his home.
Moldavia, 1890. The Poe Museum Collection, 56.
The 1830 Census lists 13 unnamed enslaved individuals in Moldavia in addition to the Allans[13]. Of these 13 individuals, 3 were children under 10 years old (two boys and one girl). These children were only a few years younger than Edgar. Enslaved children often had the forced responsibilities of tasks like carrying buckets of water or drying clothes.[14] It is uncertain whether the individuals enslaved by Allan were part of family units, and whether or not Allan maintained those units. In his uncle’s will, of whom Allan was an executor of, Galt requested that family units of those he enslaved be kept together.[15] Enslaved families were constantly under threat of being sold off and separated, especially during periods of economic hardship.”
Others listed at Moldavia in the 1830 census included 2 young adult men, 4 adult men, and 4 adult women. Again, the names and labors of these individuals are unknown, however, insurance plats and collection items from the Poe Museum’s collection can help piece together their narratives. Within the home, enslaved individuals likely served food, washed and ironed linens, cleaned and heated fireplaces, polished silver, and emptied chamber pots, in addition to other forced responsibilities. Today, many of the objects preserved from Moldavia, such as the Allans’ irons, salt cellars, decanters, and China, represent the forced labor of those who interacted with these objects daily.
Irons from Moldavia, The Poe Museum Collection2020.10.1.a-b.
Outside of the main house, enslaved labor continued in the gardens, basement, icehouse, and stables. An insurance plat in 1829 shows an attached brick wing of Moldavia labeled “Servants Room.” Some, if not all, of those enslaved at Moldavia may have slept here on wooden pallets with wool covers. Privacy for those enslaved at Moldavia would have been rare with little room to keep personal belongings.[16] No material culture belonging to those who labored at Moldavia is preserved today.
In addition to the 13 individuals who were enslaved at Moldavia, it appears Allan also hired a freed man Bellmour (sometimes spelled Belmour) Johnson. Johnson was formerly enslaved by William Galt until his death. Upon the death of Galt, Johnson was manumitted and given forty dollars as stipulated in Galt’s will.[17] Shortly thereafter, it appears Allan hired Johnson as a carriage driver and hustler. Moldavia’s census records indicated no freed males living at Moldavia, so it is likely Johnson lived elsewhere in the city, perhaps in one of the several free black communities in Richmond.[18] In 1831, Allan, amongst many other prominent Richmonders, petitioned for Johnson to remain in the state of Virginia with his unnamed wife and children. In 1806, “An ACT to amend the several laws concerning slaves” was passed by the Virginia General Assembly which stated that any person freed in Virginia must leave the state within 12 months.[19] This legislation was a direct response to several freed black uprisings, including Gabriel’s conspiracy. Allan petitioned on behalf of Johnson, remarking on his character.
“While he has lived with me as a Driver & Hustler his conduct has been excellent; on one occassion his readiness, courage & Sense saved my Family from the most eminent danger in crossing the Warm Spring Mountain, before it was a Turnpike. In a more recent instance my Horses took Fright (with Mrs Allan in the carriage) His great presence of mind again saved his Mistress; probably her life. If any consideration can weigh to allow an emancipated Slave to remain in the State wherein his wife & children Live might I hope that it may be extended to such men as Belmour Johnson”[20]
While it is unknown if Johnson’s petition was successful, it does highlight the difficulties freed men and women experienced after manumission—the threat of having to leave the state where your family and children live, finding housing, and making sufficient wages.
Poe only briefly lived in Moldavia before attending the University of Virginia in 1826. During that time, he would have been intimately acquainted with the functions of enslavement and forced labor in his foster father’s household. In an 1827 letter to Allan, Poe expressed his disdain for Allan’s lack of financial care and empathy. Poe concludes the letter by proclaiming to Allan “You suffer me to be subjected to the whims & caprice, not only of your white family, but the complete authority of the blacks — these grievances I could not submit to.”[21]
Byrd Creek Plantation, Goochland County
In addition to receiving enough inheritance to purchase Moldavia, Allan also inherited from Galt “…three landed estates, named the ‘Byrd,’ lying and being situate in the Counties of Goochland and Fluvanna, on the Byrd Creek, with the slaves, stocks and property of all kinds belonging thereto;”[22] The Byrd plantation, located 50 miles west of Richmond, was around 6,000 acres and reported to be worth $70,000 according to Poe.[23]
According to personal property tax records, Allan initially inherited 92 individuals above the age of 12 in 1826.[24] By 1834, the year of his death, he acquired 110 individuals above 16 years of age, and 10 individuals between 12 and 16 years of age.[25] Distinctions of those above and below 16 years of age were made in tax records because any enslaved individual 16 years of age and above was considered tithable, or a taxable adult, and therefore performing the mental and physical labor expected of enslaved adults.[26]
Personal Property Tax of John Allan, Goochland County, 1834.
One of these individuals at the Byrd plantation was named Henry. On November 8th, 1839, Henry, who was at that point enslaved by Allan’s second wife Louisa G. Allan, was brought to court over the murder of Isham Cheatham[27]. Witnesses claimed Henry murdered Isham Cheatham on October 26th, 1839, on the Byrd plantation. While Henry pleaded not guilty, the jury ultimately found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to hang on December 20th of that year.[28]
In addition to enslaving over a hundred individuals on his own plantation, Allan continued to sell men, women, and children in rural counties as the executor of Galt’s will. Allan advertised the sale of Galt’s enslaved individuals in the Constitutional Whig, stating “Also be sold at the same time and place, all of the negroes attached to said being about 60 in number, among them are four valuable coopers; the balance excellent field hands, including men, women, and children… JOHN ALLAN & WM. GALT} Executors of Wm. Galt dec.”[29]
After Allan’s death, the people he enslaved at Moldavia and The Byrd plantation were inherited by his second wife, Louisa G. Allan. It appears Mrs. Allan sold many individuals after her husband’s death, perhaps to support her and her legitimate children. The fate of these individuals and their descendants today is unknown.
While many facets and intricate details of Poe’s life are closely studied, the totality of his foster father’s slaveholdings in Virginia is yet to be fully understood. The goal of the Poe Museum’s ongoing research is to uncover and publish the historical narratives of Judith, Scipio, Henry, and the hundreds of unnamed individuals enslaved by John Allan to ensure their histories are remembered. This research was conducted by Emma Clark, Education Manager at the Poe Museum, Chris Semtner, Curator at the Poe Museum, and Anna Jones. If you would like to volunteer to aid in this research, please contact Chris Semtner and Emma Clark.
[3] McGraw, M. T. (1987). Richmond Free Blacks and African Colonization, 1816-1832. Journal of American Studies, 21(2), 207–224. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27554832
[4] Allan, John to Charles Ellis. January 1st, 1811. Ellis & Allan Company records, 1795-1889, Library of Congress.
[8] Northup, Solomon. (1853). Twelve Years A Slave. Narrative Of Solomon Northup, A Citizen Of New-York, Kidnapped In Washington City In 1841 And Rescued In 1853, From A Cotton Plantation Near The Red River in Louisiana (pp. 58).
[13] 1830 U.S. Census, Richmond, Henrico, Virginia, United States, Richmond Monroe Ward, Richmond (Independent City), Virginia, United States, pg. 369, M19, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH5N-QQS
[15] Last Will and Testament of William Galt, 1835. Found in Hervey Allen, “Appendix 03,” Israfel: The Life and Times of Edgar Allan Poe (1926), volume 2, pp. 857-873. https://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1921/hva262a3.htm
[16] Dean, Catherine E. (2010). Beds. In Martha B. Katz-Hyman, Kym Rice (Eds.), World of a Slave: Encyclopedia of the Material Life of Slaves in the United States (pp. 54-57). Takagi, Midori. (2000). Rearing Wolves to our Own Destruction: Slavery in Richmond Virginia, 1782–1865, (pp. 39-40).
[17] Last Will and Testament of William Galt, 1835. Found in Hervey Allen, “Appendix 03,” Israfel: The Life and Times of Edgar Allan Poe (1926), volume 2, pp. 857-873. https://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1921/hva262a3.htm
[18] McGraw, M. T. (1987). Richmond Free Blacks and African Colonization, 1816-1832. Journal of American Studies, 21(2), 207–224. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27554832
[21] Edgar Allan Poe to John Allan — March 19, 1827, Poe, Allan, Ellis Papers, 1803-1881. MSC0033. The Valentine, Richmond, Virginia.
[22] Last Will and Testament of William Galt, 1835. Found in Hervey Allen, “Appendix 03,” Israfel: The Life and Times of Edgar Allan Poe (1926), volume 2, pp. 857-873. https://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1921/hva262a3.htm
Far away — far away — Far away — as far at least Lies that valley as the day Down within the golden east — All things lovely — are not they Far away — far away?
It is called the valley Nis. And a Syriac tale there is Thereabout which Time hath said Shall not be interpreted. Something about Satan’s dart — Something about angel wings — Much about a broken heart — All about unhappy things: But “the valley Nis” at best Means “the valley of unrest.”
Once it smil’d a silent dell Where the people did not dwell, Having gone unto the wars — And the sly, mysterious stars, With a visage full of meaning, O’er the unguarded flowers were leaning: Or the sun ray dripp’d all red Thro’ the tulips overhead, Then grew paler as it fell On the quiet Asphodel.
Now the unhappy shall confess Nothing there is motionless: Helen, like thy human eye There th’ uneasy violets lie — There the reedy grass doth wave Over the old forgotten grave — One by one from the tree top There the eternal dews do drop — There the vague and dreamy trees Do roll like seas in northern breeze Around the stormy Hebrides — There the gorgeous clouds do fly, Rustling everlastingly, Through the terror-stricken sky, Rolling like a waterfall O’er th’ horizon’s fiery wall — There the moon doth shine by night With a most unsteady light — There the sun doth reel by day “Over the hills and far away.”
Thy soul shall find itself alone, Mid dark thoughts of the grey tombstone — Not one, of all the crowd to pry Into thine hour of secrecy — Be silent in thy solitude Which is not loneliness — for then The spirits of the dead who stood In life before thee are again In death around thee, and their will Shall then oershadow thee — be still.
The night tho’ clear shall frown — And the stars shall look not down From their high thrones in the Heaven, With light like Hope to mortals given, But their red orbs, without beam, To thy weariness shall seem As a burning & a fever Which would cling to thee forever But twill leave thee, as each star With the dew-drop flies afar —
Now are thoughts thou can’st not banish — Now are visions ne’er to vanish — No more, like dew-drop from the grass, From thy spirit shall they pass — The breeze — the breath of God — is still — And the mist upon the hill Shadowy — shadowy, yet unbroken Is a symbol & a token — How it hangs upon the trees! A mystery of mysteries!
Because I feel that, in the heavens above, The angels, whispering to one another, Can find, among their burning terms of love, None so devotional as that of ‘mother’ — Therefore by that sweet name I long have called you — You, who are more than mother unto me, And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you, In setting my Virginia’s spirit free. My mother — my own mother — who died early — Was but the mother of myself; but you Are mother to the one I loved so dearly, And thus are dearer than the mother I knew; By that infinity with which my wife Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.
