Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Poor, Enoch 1736-

Military officer; born in Andover, Mass., June 21, 1736; became a merchant in Exeter, N. H. After the fight at Lexington he was appointed colonel by the Provincial Congress, and after the evacuation of Boston his regiment was ordered to join the troops in New York that invaded Canada. In February, 1777, he was appointed brigadier-general, and as such commanded troops in the campaign against Burgoyne, after whose surrender he joined the army under Washington in Pennsylvania. He was in the movements near Philadelphia late in the year; spent the winter amid the snows of Valley Forge, and in June, 1778, was engaged in the battle of Monmouth. He accompanied Sullivan on his expedition against the Indians in 1779. When the corps of light infantry was formed (August, 1780), Poor was given command of one of the two brigades. He was killed in a duel with a French officer near Hackensack, N. J., Sept. 8, 1780. In announcing his death, Washington said he “was an officer of distinguished merit, who, as a citizen and a soldier, had every claim to the esteem of his country.”