Enoch Poor

Enoch was born and raised in Andover, Massachusetts. His father had been part of 1745 expedition that captured Louisburg, Nova Scotia during King George's War. In 1755 young Enoch enlisted as a private in one of the Massachusetts units raised to accompany Amhert's expedition to retake it during the French and Indian War. His unit enforced the expulsion of the Acadians. After the war, he came home to Andover, but only briefly. Enoch eloped with Martha Osgood, and the newlyweds settled in Exeter.

Poor supported the separatists as early as the Stamp Act protests in 1765. He served on various committee's for the town throughout the period of rising rebellion. In 1775 he was twice elected to the provincial Assembly. When the Battle of Lexington caused the assembly to call for three regiments of militia, Enoch became the Colonel of the 2nd New Hampshire regiment.

While the other regiments under Colonels Stark and Reed[?] were sent to Boston, the 2nd was stationed at Portsmouth and Exeter. After the Battle of Bunker Hill they were also sent to Boston, arriving on June 25. In the summer of 1775 the unit was absorbed into the Continental Army. They were soon ordered into the Northern Department, and went with General Montgomery's Invasion of Canada[?].

After the disaster in Canada, Poor led the survivors of his regiment in early 1776 back to Fort Ticonderoga. After refitting and recruiting, the unit was renamed as the 8th Continental regiment and joined Washington's main army in December 1776 at winter quarters near Morristown, New Jersey. The Congress named him a Brigadier General on February 21, 1777. In the spring of 1777, his brigade of three New Hampshire and two New York regiments was sent back to Ticonderoga. He withdrew with the rest of St. Clair's force of July 5. Moving south, they joined General Gates before the Battle of Saratoga, and his brigade was expanded by two regiments of militia.

In the first engagement of Saratoga, the Battle of Freeman's Farm, Poor's brigade was the first to come to the aid of Morgan's attack. Poor held the American left flank, extending into the woods and even wrapping around the British position. They performed well, keeping General Fraser's regulars engaged while Arnold led attacks on the central column.

In the second engagement, the Battle of Bemis Heights, Poor led the American attack on the right (eastern) flank nearest the Hudson River. His men fired the first shots in the battle, and suceeded in stopping that part of the British advance.

Enoch Poor's brigade again spent the winter with the main army, this time at Valley Forge. He led the last manuevers in the Battle of Monmouth on [June 28]], 1778. He accompanied the Sullivan Expedition[?] in 1779.

Afterward Poor was assigned to Lafayette's Division and mainly saw garrison duty in New Jersey. He was shot in a duel near Hackensack, New Jersey on September 6, 1780. Two days later he died from the wound, and was buried in the churchyard of the First Reformed Church in Hackensack. George Washington and Lafayette both attended his funeral. When Washington wrote to inform Congress of Poor's death, he noted that "He was an officer of distinguished merit, one who as a citizen and soldier had every claim to the esteem and regard of his country."