y any but an assumed name. The title page of the little volume proclaimed the work to be "By A Bostonian." The bulk of it, probably due to Poe's inability to recompense the printer, was apparently destroyed or suffered to lie in neglect. Only a few copies of it got into circulation and only two obscure notices appeared. Poe himself seems to have secured scarcely some for personal use. In the meantime the author of this unknown but now famous little volume was reduced to the greatest extremity. Totally without means and too proud or unable to appeal to Richmond, he finally as a desperate measure enlisted in the United States Army on May 26, 1827, under the assumed name of Edgar A. Perry. He was assigned to Battery "H" of the First U. S. Artillery and spent the summer of 1827 in the barracks of Fort Independence, Boston Harbor. At the end of October his regiment was ordered to Fort Moultrie, Charleston, S. C. The ensuing two and a half years form a curious interlude in the life of a poet. Poe spent the time between Nove...
