Edgar Allan Poe: His Life, Letters, and Opinions — John H. Ingram, 1880, volume I — reading text

him of it, and Poe did not contradict it, but seemed rather pleased than otherwise at the mistake. “Very early in his brief career at the Point he established a high reputation for genius, and poems and squibs of local interest were daily issued from Number 28, and went the round of the classes. One of the first things of the kind that he perpetrated was a diatribe in which all of the officers of the Academy, from Colonel Thayer down, were duly if not favourably noticed. I can recall but one stanza. It ran thus: — “John Locke was a very great name; Joe Locke was a greater; in short, The former was well known to Fame, The latter well known to Report.” “Joe Locke, it may be remarked by way of explanation, was one of the instructors of tactics, and ex officio Inspector of Barracks, and supervisor of the morals and deportment of cadets generally. In this capacity it was his duty to report to head-quarters every violation of the regulations falling under his observation: a duty in which be was in nowise remiss, as the occupants of Number 28 could severally testify. “The studies of the Academy Poe utterly ignored. I doubt if he ever studied a page of Lacroix, unless it was to glance hastily over it in the lecture-room while others of his section were reciting. . . . “The result of one of these foraging parties after supplies created for a time no little excitement in the South Barracks. People had been burned and hung in effigy from time immemorial, but it was reserved for Number 28 to witness the eating of a Professor in effigy. It was a dark, cold, drizzling night, in the last days of November, when this event came off. The brandy bottle had been empty for two days, and just at dusk Poe proposed that we should draw straws-the one who drew the shortest to go down to Old Benny’s and replenish our stock. The straws were drawn, and the lot fell on me. “Provided with four pounds of candles and Poe’s last blanket for traffic (silver and gold we had not, but such as we had we gave unto Benny), I started just as the bugle sounded to quarters. It was a rough road to travel, but I knew every foot of it by night or day, and reached my place of destination in safety, but drenched to the skin. Old Benny was not in the best of humours that evening. Candles and blankets and regulation shoes, and similar articles of traffic, had accumulated largely on his hands, and the market for them was dull in that neighbourhood. His chickensuppers and bottles of brandy had disappeared very rapidly of late, and he had received little or no money in return. “At last, however, I succeeded in exchanging the candles and blanket for a bottle of brandy and the hardest-featured, loudest-voiced old gander that it has ever been my lot to encounter. To chop the bird’s head off before venturing into barracks with him was a matter of pure necessity; and thus, in fact, old Benny rendered him before delivery. I reached the suburbs of the barracks about nine o’clock. The bottle had not as much brandy in it as when I left Old Benny’s; but I was very confident I had not spilled any. I had carried the gander first over one shoulder and then over the other, and the consequence was, that not only my shirt-front but my face and hands were as bloody as the entire contents of the old gander’s veins and arteries could well make them. “Poe was on the look-out, and met me some distance from the barracks, and my appearance at once inspired him with the idea of a grand hoax. Our plans were perfected in an instant. The gander was tied, neck and feet and wings together, and the bloody feathers bristling in every direction gave it a nondescript appearance that would have defied recognition as a gander by the most astute naturalist on the continent. Poe took charge of the bottle and preceded me to the room. ‘Old P——’ was puzzling his brains over the binomial theorem, and a visitor from the North Barracks was in the room awaiting the result of my expedition. “Poe had taken his seat, and pretended to be absorbed in the mysteries of ‘Lepons Francaises.’ Laying the gander down at the outside of the door, I walked or rather staggered into the room, pretending to be very drunk, and exhibiting in clothes and face a spectacle not often seen off the stage. “ ‘My God! what has happened?’ exclaimed Poe, with well-acted horror. “ ‘Old K ——! Old K ——!’ I repeated several times, and with gestures intended to be particularly savage. “ ‘Well, what of him?’ asked Poe. “He won’t stop me on the road any more!’ and I produced a large knife that we bad stained with the few drops of blood that remained in the old gander. ’ I have killed him!’ “ ‘Nonsense!’ said Poe. ‘You are only trying one of your tricks on us.’ “I didn’t suppose you would believe me,’ I replied, ’so I cut off his head and brought it into barracks. Here it is!’ And reaching out of the door I caught the gander by the legs, and giving it one fearful swing around my head, dashed it at the only candle in the room, and left them all in darkness, with what two of them believed to be the head of one of the Professors. The visitor leaped through the window and alighted in the slop-tub, and made fast time for his own room in the North Barracks-spreading, as he went, the report that I had killed Old K ——, and that his head was then in Number 28. The story gained ready credence, and for a time the excitement in barracks ran high. When we lit the candle again ‘Old P——’ was sitting in one corner a blank picture of horror, and it was some time before we could restore him to reason. “The gander was skinned-picking the feathers off was out of the question-and after taps we cut him up in small pieces and cooked him in a tin wash-basin, over an anthracite fire, without seasoning of any kind. It was perhaps the hardest supper on record, but we went through with it without flinching. We bad set out to eat old K—— in effigy, and we did it; whether he ever learned of the honours we paid him that night I never learned.” Comment on this melodramatic and journalistically wrought-out story is needless, unless it be to remark, that it presents a picture of life in the Military Academy of those days which, even if highly coloured, is, doubtless, to some extent representative. Mr. Gibson notes that “the impression left by Poe in his short career at West Point was highly favourable to him. If he made no fast friends, he left no enemies behind him. But up to that time he had given,” in the opinion of his fellow-cadet, “no indication of the genius which has since secured for him a world-wide fame. His acquaintance with English literature,” says Mr. Gibson, “was extensive and accurate, and his verbal memory wonderful. He would repeat both prose and poetry by the hour, and seldom or never repeated the same passage twice to the same audience.” Until the close of 1830, Poe would appear to have maintained, if not a very high, at all events, a respectable position in the institution. In November of that year the Inspector issued a warning to the cadets of the approaching semi-annual examination, and pointed out that “if dismissed, strong and satisfactory reasons will be required to obtain a restoration,” showing thereby that dismissal from the Academy was considered no unusual occurrence, nor an unpardonable offence. The young poet would appear to have passed through the old year without committing any crime sufficiently heinous to bring down upon his head the threatened terrors. On the 31st of December a Court-Martial was ordered to meet on the following 7th of January, and was subsequently adjourned until the 28th instant. Up to the 7th of January Poe would appear to have maintained his position in the Academy, but by that date events appear to have occurred to render him determined to leave the service. He wished to resign, but without the consent of parent or guardian his resignation could not be accepted, and Mr. Allan, it is declared, withheld the required permission.* The second marriage of Mr. Allan to the young and “beautiful Miss Patterson,” soon after the death of his first wife, and the birth of a son and heir, it is presumed, influenced the poet’s godfather in withholding his consent. A young wife, and the prospect of a young family, were undoubtedly sufficient inducements for a man of Mr. Allan’s temperament to make him endeavour to retain his godson in a place where his claims upon the home purse need be little or nothing, and whence he could at once proceed to a profession without calling upon his guardian for any pecuniary or other aid. As usual, Poe had his own views upon the subject, and, with his customary impetuosity, took the decision into his own hands. His plan of proceeding and its result — evidently foreseen and desired by him — will be best comprehended by a recapitulation of the “orders” issued in his case pursuant to the General Court-Martial. It should, however, be pointed out, that had the prisoner pleaded “guilty” to all the charges made against him, some leniency might have been shown, and his dismission not have been ordered; but, in order to offence unpardonable, he entered a plea of “not guilty” to an easily proveable charge, and then, to render his case utterly hopeless, declined to plead. “MILITARY ACADEMY   ORDER NO. 7. “ENGINEER DEPARTMENT,   WASHINGTON, February 8, 1831 “At the General Court-Martial, of which Lieutenant Thomas J. Leslie, of the Corps of Engineers, is President, convened at West Point, New York, on the 5th ult., in virtue of Military Academy Order No. 46, dated the 31st December 1830, was arraigned and tried . . . . . Cadet E. A. Poe. “The Court next proceeded to the trial of Cadet E. A. Poe of the U. S. Military Academy on the following charges and specifications: “CHARGE 1st. — Gross neglect of duty. “Specification 1st, — In this, that he, the said Cadet Poe, did absent himself from the following parades and roll-calls between the 7th January and 27th January 1831, viz., absent from evening parade on the 8th, 9th, 1501, 20th, 2411, and 25th January 183 1; absent from reveillé call on the 8th, 16th, 17th, 19th, 21st, 25th, and 26th January 1831; absent from class parade on the 17th, 18th, 19th, loth, 24th, and 25th January 1831; absent from guard mounting on the 16th January 1831, and absent from church parade on the 23rd January 1831; all of which at West Point, New York. “Specification 2nd. — In this, that he, the said Cadet E. A. Poe, did absent himself from all his Academical duties between the 15th and 27th January 1831. . . . “CHARGE 2nd. — Disobedience of orders. “Specification 1st. — In this, that he, the said Cadet Poe, after having been directed by the officer of the day to attend church on the 23rd January 1831, did fail to obey such order; this at West Point, New York. “Specification 2nd. — In this, that lie, the said Cadet Poe, did fail to attend the Academy on the 25th January 1831, after having been directed so to do by the officer of the day; this at West Point, New York. “To which charges and specifications the prisoner pleaded as follows: — To the 1st specification of the 1st charge ‘Not Guilty;’ to the 2nd specification of the 1st charge, ‘Guilty;’ and ‘Guilty’ to the 2nd charge and its specifications. . . . “The Court, after mature deliberation on the testimony adduced, find the prisoner ‘Guilty’ of the 1st specification, 1st charge, and confirm his plea to the remainder of the charges and specifications, and adjudge that he, Cadet E. A. Poe, be dismissed the service of the United States. . . . “The proceedings of the General Court-Martial, . . . in the cases of Cadets ——, ——, E. A. Poe, ——, ——, have been laid before the Secretary of War and are approved. . . “Cadet Edgar A. Poe will be dismissed the service of the United States, and cease to be considered a member of the Military Academy after the 6th March 1831.” During; the trial ample evidence was adduced for the prosecution, and only one witness, Cadet