laimed that Mr. Allan had spoken insultingly to
him, and declared that he would no longer be dependent on him. And so he
went forth, as he said, to seek his fortune.

He made his way to Boston, where the first use to which he put his money
was in publishing a cheap edition of his poems. They were not of a kind
to attract attention, and he never realized a dollar from them.
Ambitious to have them known, he sent a number to his friends in
Richmond and other places South, and the rest turned over to his
publisher, an obscure young man of the name of Thomas, in part payment
of the expense of publishing.

Then followed a season of wandering in search of employment until, his
money all gone, he had no resource but to enlist in the army, which he
did on May 2, 1827, being then, as he claimed, eighteen (really
nineteen) years of age, but representing himself as twenty-two.

CHAPTER VIII.

IN BARRACKS.

In the year 1829, my uncle, Dr. Archer, then Post Surgeon at Fortress
Monroe, was one day called to the hospital to attend a private soldier
known as Edgar A. Perry. Finding him a young man of superior manners and
education, his interest was aroused, and his patient, won by his
sympathy, finally confessed that his real name was Edgar A. Poe, and
that he was the adopted son of Mr. John Allan, of Richmond; and also
expressed an earnest desire to leave the army, in which he had now been
for two years, the term of enlistment being five years.

Dr. Archer informed the commanding officer of these revelations, and as
Perry, _alias_ Poe, had proven himself in all respects a model soldier,
interest in his case was at once aroused. It was suggested that, with
his education and the social position which he had enjoyed, a cadetship
at West Point would be more suited to him than the place of a private
at Fortress Monroe. Poe, in his anxiety to be rid of the army, was
willing enough to accept this proposal, and by the advice of his new
friends wrote to Mr. Allan, informing him of his wishes and asking his
assistance.

For some time he received no answer; but at length there came a letter
which must have caused his heart a pang of real sorrow. It was from Mr.
Allan, informing him of the death of his wife, and directing him to
apply for a furlough and come on at once to Richmond, where he arrived
two days after her burial.

Woodbury is mistaken in saying that in all this time Mr. Allan had not
known of Edgar's whereabouts. Acco