Enoch Poor

Enoch Poor (born June 21, 1736 in Andover , Province of Massachusetts Bay , colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain , † September 8, 1780 in Hackensack , New Jersey , USA ) was a shipbuilder and trader from Exeter (New Hampshire) who worked as a brigadier general in the Continental Army fought against the British in the American War of Independence .

Enoch Poor. Painting by Ulysses Dow Tenney , 1873, after an earlier portrait by Tadeusz Kościuszko .

Poor grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, his hometown. In 1745 his father took part in the British campaign that took Louisbourg during the King George's War . In 1755, the young Poor enrolled as a common soldier in one of the Massachusetts units that were set up to reinforce Jeffrey Amherst's expedition in order to retake it in the French and Indian War. His unit defeated the great uprising of the Acadians and drove them from their homeland (see Deportation of the Acadians ). After the war he returned to Andover, but only for a short time. Poor ran off with Martha Osgood and the newlyweds settled in Exeter.

Poor has supported the separatists since the protests against the Stamp Act of 1765 . He sat on various committees in the city during the period of the burgeoning rebellion. In 1775 he was elected twice to the provincial parliament. When the Battle of Lexington and Concorde caused Parliament to set up three militia regiments, Poor became Colonel of the Second New Hampshire Regiment.

While the other regiments under Colonels John Stark and James Reed were sent to Boston , the 2nd regiment was stationed in Portsmouth (New Hampshire) and Exeter. It was also sent to Boston after the Battle of Bunker Hill and arrived there on June 25th. In the summer of 1775 the unit became part of the Continental Army . Soon after, she was ordered to the Northern Department and participated in General Richard Montgomery's invasion of Canada .

After the defeat in Canada, Poor led the survivors of his regiment back to Fort Ticonderoga in the spring of 1776 . After re-equipment and replenishment, the unit was renamed the 8th Continental Regiment and joined George Washington's main army in December 1776 in the winter quarters near Morristown, New Jersey .

The Continental Congress named Poor Brigadier General on February 21, 1777. In the spring of 1777 his brigade, which consisted of three New Hampshire and two New York regiments, was sent back to Ticonderoga. He retired with the rest of Arthur St. Clair's forces after the Battle of Ticonderoga on July 5 . In the south they united with General Horatio Gates and Poor's brigade was reinforced with two militia units before the Battle of Saratoga .

In the first battle at Saratoga, the Battle of Freeman's Farm , Poor's Brigade was the first to come to the aid of Daniel Morgan's attack. Poor held the American left flank by moving forward into the woods and encircling the British position. They did a good job keeping General Simon Fraser's regular troops busy while Benedict Arnold carried out attacks on the main marching column.

In the second battle, the Battle of Bemis Heights , Poor's Brigade was part of General Benjamin Lincoln's division on the left (western) flank of the American front. They were closest to the head of the advancing British, so they were under fire from the Grenadier Battalion of the British center. The fire was ineffective, however, so Major John Dyke Acland led the grenadiers in a bayonet attack. Poor did not fire until they were very close and then opened fire with a volley of all of his 1,400 men. These were the first American shots during this battle. The attack was completely crushed and Acland was badly wounded. After this collapse of Burgoyne's center, the Americans captured the wounded British majors Acland and Williams and captured their artillery. Poor then turned left and assisted Ebenezer Learneds and Daniel Morgan's men.

Enoch Poor's Brigade spent the winter with the main army again, this time at Valley Forge . He led the last maneuvers at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778 . In 1779 he joined the Sullivan Expedition , where he commanded a brigade in the victory at the Battle of Newton .

Then Poor belonged to the division of the Marquis de La Fayette and provided mainly garrison services in New Jersey . Some sources claim that Poor was shot in a duel near Hackensack on September 6, 1780 and died of the wound two days later, although the military doctor reported that Poor had died of typhus . Poor was buried in the churchyard of the First Reformed Church in Hackensack. George Washington and Lafayette attended his funeral. When Washington wrote to Congress to brief Poor's death, it wrote: "He was an officer of great merit, a citizen and soldier who has earned every right to the esteem and respect of his country."