America's First Cover-Up: The Conspiracy Theory Behind Revolutionary War General Enoch Poor's Untimely Death and Burial in Hackensack, New Jersey

  In early September of 1780 two soldiers of the line from Massachusetts, Michael Logan and Daniel Power, both hungry and disillusioned with the American cause after years of service in the Continental Army, crossed the Hudson River at Fort Lee, New Jersey, and turned themselves over to British forces stationed in New York City.

That August George Washington at the head of an army of 14,000 troops marched south from Orangetown, New York and crossed into Bergen County, New Jersey. 

         Washington is hoping to be able to meet up with a combined French land and naval force heading northward and trap the British in New York City before winter sets in. 

British Encampments on Manhattan

If Washington and his army, along with the French can do so, then perhaps, the combined weight of the Franco-American forces can decimate the main British army encamped around New York City and force Parliament to pressure King George III to finally recognize American independence.  

As August turned to September, Washington set up his headquarters in present-day Oradell, New Jersey.  The American army, wary but hopeful, camped along the banks of the Hackensack River and kept a watchful eye on their British adversaries in Manhattan.  Both sides waited for the arrival of the French fleet.

The British are desperate for intelligence on the movements of the combined Franco-American forces and the appearance of the two deserters, Logan and Power, is a welcome sight.  However, the turncoats report more to the British than just the location of Washington’s army.  They also share some welcome news regarding the fate of one of America’s most talented, well-respected and dedicated officers, Brigadier General Enoch Poor.

“General Poor was carried very ill from where the light infantry were...but they do not know whether he died or not,” the deserters Logan and Power tell the British.

Where the light infantry were is a place called Soldier Hill, not far from the border of Oradell and Paramus in New Jersey, a distance of only about ten or twelve miles, as the crow flies, from the Hudson River.

General Enoch Poor did indeed die on September 8, 1780.  It was widely reported, as stated to the British by American deserters and prisoners of war, that General Poor had become stricken with fever, possibly typhus, and died an agonizing death as a result of a terminal illness within a matter of days.

General Enoch Poor

At the time it was officially stated that General Poor had died of some sort of “fever” and death by illness has been the widely accepted cause of death for Brigadier General Enoch Poor for  the past nearly 250 years.   But almost from the moment that  General Poor died and his body was interred, with much solemnity and fanfare, beneath a stone tomb in the small cemetery of the First Reformed Dutch Church in Hackensack, New Jersey, mysterious rumors regarding his untimely death and a possible Continental Army cover-up have swirled. 

Writing in his journal on the 9th of September 1780, Elijah Fisher a soldier in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Army reported, “The 8th--General Poor died.  He received his wound by fighting with a Major.”

Originally from Andover, Massachusetts, Enoch Poor began his military career in 1755 at the age of 19 when he enlisted with a group of Massachusetts volunteers for service in the French and Indian War.

After distinguished service in the French and Indian War Enoch Poor married and moved with his new wife to Exeter, New Hampshire, where he began a career as a successful shipbuilder.  During the 1760’s and early 1770’s, possibly due to his involvement in smuggling operations, Poor began to resent British rule, customs duties and what he considered unfair taxation.  

After the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April of 1775, Enoch Poor decided to lend his services and military experience to the newly formed Continental Army as a Colonel at the head of a regiment composed of New Hampshire volunteers.  Poor’s regiment would go on to distinguish itself in many campaigns throughout 1776 and Enoch Poor would be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in February of 1777 after displaying uncommon bravery and leadership abilities during the Battles of Trenton and Princeton.

Enoch Poor, though well-respected and brave, soon became known throughout the army as a hard-driving General, who took no nonsense from his men, and often pushed his soldiers to the brink of exhaustion.

Many of his own officers even reported that he was too hard on the enlisted men. Almost from the very moment of his death in September of 1780 there was speculation among enlisted men and officers alike throughout the American Army that General Poor, may in fact, have been killed by one of his own men.

In 1880, on the centennial of Poor’s death, the Massachusetts Historical Society published an article entitled “The Duel of General Poor and Major Porter”.

In this article it was reported that Major John Porter had challenged General Poor to a duel over an incident that occurred in August of 1780 as the army was marching south from Orangetown, New York, and into Bergen County, New Jersey.

During that march, it was asserted in the article, that Major John Porter and his company of men from Bridgewater, Massachusetts were resting by the side of a road.  It was late August of 1780 and the temperature was nearing a humid 100 degrees.

 Apparently General Poor rode up on his horse and commanded Porter to, “Rouse your men and continue the march!”

Major Porter ignored the command and not a man in his company stirred.  Upon being ignored Poor became furious with the insubordinate Major Porter, dismounted from his horse, and shouted his order once again.  This time coming nose to nose, in front of all the men, with Major Porter.

Porter grumbled something to the effect of, “Damn you, General,” but nonetheless complied reluctantly with the order and had his men resume the march.  However, feeling that his honor had been disgraced and that he had been publicly embarrassed in front of his own men, Major Porter challenged General Poor to a duel.

Many believe that General Enoch Poor was mortally wounded on September 6, 1780 in a duel over a question of honor with one his own subordinates, Major John Porter of Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

Duels, though relatively common among officers and men in the Continental Army at the time, were technically, illegal and punishable by courts-martial and even death by firing squad if it could be proven that another man had been killed as a result of a duel.

However, fatal wounds as a result of duels did, in fact, occur from time to time among men and officers within the Continental Army, and most often, higher authorities turned a blind eye to such incidents.  Though, in the case of Poor and Porter, such a duel between a commanding officer and his subordinate would have violated the very fabric of military discipline and order itself which was necessary for the army to survive.

Though it may never be known exactly what caused the mysterious death of Brigadier General Enoch Poor on September 8, 1780, it is interesting to note that on the 9th of September, less than twenty-four hours after General Poor’s passing, Major John Porter was relieved of his command and, as the Massachusetts Historical Society reports, “The affair was hushed up as much as possible.”

Andrew Kettel, a soldier in the 16th Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Army has left a vivid retelling of the events surrounding Brigadier General Poor’s death and burial to history.

In the words of Kettel, “We are now lamenting the death of Brigadier General Poor who died last night of putrid fever.”   Kettel then goes on to recount how the corpse of General Poor was, “brought to a house in Paramus about a mile from the burying yard behind the Dutch Reformed Church in Hackensack.”

Dutch Reformed Church and Cemetery in Hackensack NJ

By all accounts the funeral of Brigadier General Enoch Poor was a lavish affair, with thousands of spectators and regiment upon regiment of marching Continental Army soldiers all dressed in their finest uniforms marching past a small cemetery in a Hackensack, New Jersey, church yard to the sound of a mournful dirge.

General Washington and the Marquise de Lafayette each paid their respects to General Poor and Andrew Kettel summed up Enoch Poor’s legacy by saying thus, “He was a true patriot.  Who during his military career was respected for his talents and bravery and beloved for the amiable qualities of his heart.  But it is a sufficient eulogy to say simply that he enjoyed the confidence and esteem of Washington.”

The noble qualities epitomized in the person of Brigadier General Enoch Poor are all, at least according to the historical record, undoubtedly true, but it may also be true, that General Enoch Poor, by dying over a question of honor, may have unwittingly become the subject of one of the first government cover-ups in American history.

Even after the passage of centuries we may never know the whole truth behind the death of Brigadier General Enoch Poor.  For as long as  fifty years after his death, those who had served with and under Brigadier General Poor, would still come to his gravesite in Hackensack, New Jersey, to pay their respects to the brave General each year on the anniversary of his funeral.  And even today, General Poor’s tomb is still adorned with tiny American flags as it sits for all to see, still located in the small burial ground behind a Dutch Reformed Church, guarded forever by a statue of the heroic general himself who either, through fever or from a gunshot wound inflicted by one of his own men, met a tragic and untimely end.