On This Day In History: Famous American Author Edgar Allan Poe Found Dying – On Oct 3, 1849

AncientPages.com - On October 3, 1849, famous American author Edgar Allan Poe was found delirious in Baltimore under mysterious circumstances.

It was the last time Edgar was seen in public before his death.

The Loggia and Enchanted Garden, The Edgar Allan Poe Shrine, Richmond, Va., The Loggia is considered of materials saved from the Southern Literary Messenger Building. Poe was editor of the Messenger for several years. Manufacturer: Tuck & Sons' Date Postmarked: Not postmarked. Rights: This item is in the public domain. Acknowledgement of the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as a source is requested.

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor, and literary critic, best known for his poetry and short stories of mystery and macabre.

Poe is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and credited with contributing to the emerging science fiction genre.

He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in financially difficult life and career.

A plaque naming Edger Allan Poe, John Pendleton Kennedy, and James H. Miller at the Benjamin Henry Latrobe house in Baltimore. Image credit: Smash the Iron Cage - CC BY-SA 4.0

Poe was born in Boston, the second child of two actors. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the following year. Thus orphaned, the child was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia, who never formally adopted the boy.

Poe attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to a lack of money. Poe enlisted in the Army in 1827 under an assumed name with no money for his education. Unfortunately, he failed as an officer cadet at West Point and declared his wish to be a poet and writer.

For years, he had been planning to produce his journal,' The Penn' (later renamed The Stylus), but he died before it could be produced.

In Richmond in 1836, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. In January 1845, Poe published his poem "The Raven" to instant success. His wife died of tuberculosis two years after its publication.

Poe died in Baltimore on October 7, 1849, at age 40; the cause of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents.

The mystery of his death remains unsolved.

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