Enoch Poor

Enoch Poor (June 21, 1736 (Old Style) – September 8, 1780) was a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He began his life as an apprentice cabinet maker but rose through competence to become a successful ship builder and merchant from Exeter, New Hampshire. Over five years of continuous service, he became one of George Washington's most trusted and reliable brigade commanders.

Poor was born and raised in Andover, Province of Massachusetts Bay. His father Thomas Poor had been part of the 1745 expedition that captured Louisburg, Nova Scotia, during King George's War. Enoch received little formal education and was instead apprenticed to a cabinet maker. In 1755, he enlisted as a private in one of the Massachusetts units raised to accompany Jeffery Amherst's successful expedition to retake Louisburg during the French and Indian War. His unit was also involved in the expulsion of the Acadians.

After the war, he returned to Andover, eloped with Martha Osgood, and settled in Exeter, New Hampshire, around 1760. The elopement was reportedly necessary because Martha's father disapproved of the match.

In Exeter, Poor leveraged his craft skills to become a successful entrepreneur. He "traded cabinet making for ship building," establishing a shipyard on Water Street along the tidal Squamscott River. He was in business with a partner named Thomas Parsons. This venture was successful enough to position him for a leadership role in the colony.

Enoch and Martha Poor had two daughters, Martha and Harriet. These daughters forged a significant bond within the New Hampshire Line's command structure: Martha Poor married Bradbury Cilley, and Harriet Poor married his brother, Jacob Cilley. Bradbury and Jacob were the sons of Colonel Joseph Cilley, who commanded the 1st New Hampshire Regiment while serving alongside Poor.

Poor supported the separatists as early as the Stamp Act protests in 1765. He served on various committees for Exeter throughout the period of rising rebellion. In 1775, he was twice elected to the New Hampshire Provincial Congress.

The Battle of Lexington caused the assembly to call for three regiments of militia, and Poor was commissioned colonel of the 2nd New Hampshire Regiment on May 24, 1775. While the regiments under colonels John Stark and James Reed were sent to Boston, Poor's 2nd was initially stationed at Portsmouth and Exeter to guard the seacoast. His first assignment was to use his shipbuilding skills to construct "fire rafts" to protect Portsmouth Harbor. They were sent to Boston after the Battle of Bunker Hill, arriving at Winter Hill on June 25, 1775.

In the summer of 1775, the unit was absorbed into the Continental Army. Poor immediately distinguished himself as a professional officer focused on discipline. In September 1775, his superior, Brig. Gen. John Sullivan, sought to dismiss a charge Colonel Poor had brought against a lieutenant. General Washington deferred to Poor's authority and instructed Sullivan: "return my thanks to Colo. Poor for his vigilance & attention to the Service... if all Officers would use their endeavours to enforce Orders, duty would go smoothly on, & we should soon be a very respectable Army".