Johnny Poe

Infobox Military Person
name=John Prentiss Poe, Jr.
born= birth date|1874|02|26
died= death date and age|1915|09|25|1874|02|26
placeofbirth=Baltimore, Maryland
placeofdeath=near Loos, France
nickname=Johnny


branch=United States Army United States Marine Corps Army of Honduras British Army
unit=Fifth Maryland Volunteer Infantry 23rd U. S. Infantry Kentucky National Guard Royal Garrison Artillery The Black Watch
battles=Spanish-American War Philippine-American War Black Patch Wars Banana Wars World War I
relations=Edgar Allan Poe (cousin) John P. Poe, Sr. (father) Edgar A. Poe (brother) Art Poe (brother) Gresham Poe (brother) Bradley T. Johnson (cousin)
laterwork=College football player and coach, cowboy, miner

John P. "Johnny" Poe, Jr. (February 26, 1874 – September 25, 1915) was an American college football player and coach, soldier, Marine, and soldier of fortune, whose exploits on the gridiron and the battlefield contributed to the lore and traditions of the Princeton Tigers football program.

Biography

Family

John Prentiss Poe, Jr., known as "Johnny", was born February 26, 1874 in Baltimore, Maryland, to John P. Poe, Sr., and Anne Johnson Hough. He was the third of six sons in a family which included three daughters. John, Sr., was a prominent attorney, and relative [first cousin once removed, Street, p.117.] of the American writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe. He was an 1856 graduate of Princeton University, and would later serve as Attorney General of Maryland. Anne Hough was from a Maryland family who supported the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Her nephew, Bradley T. Johnson served as a Confederate general, and her brother, Gresham Hough, fought with Mosby's raiders. [Porter.]

All six Poe brothers wound up playing football for Princeton. The oldest, S. Johnson Poe, played halfback, and also played on Princeton's national champion lacrosse team. The second son, Edgar A. Poe, was captain of the football team, and later served as Attorney General of Maryland, like his father. The fourth son, Neilson Poe, also played halfback. Fifth son, Arthur Poe, was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1969. Finally, the sixth son, Gresham Poe, played quarterback, and followed Johnny as head coach at Virginia. [Presby & Moffatt, pp. 341-345.]

College football career

Poe enrolled at Princeton University in the fall of 1891, and was elected president of the freshman class. In spite of his small size, he made the varsity football team at halfback, and finished the season tied for third in touchdowns scored for the team. However, he struggled academically, and was asked to leave in the Spring. When he left for home, the entire freshman class escorted him to the train station. [Presbrey and Moffat, pp. 345-349.]

He re-enrolled the following Fall, and started at quarterback, moving to halfback mid-way through the season. Poe played even better than in his freshman year, finishing second on the team for touchdowns scored. However, he was once again forced to leave the university for scholastic reasons. [Presbrey and Moffatt, pp. 349-354.]

After leaving Princeton, Poe bounced around, coaching two seasons at Virginia, working for a steamboat operator, selling real estate, coaching the Navy football team, and serving as an assistant coach at Princeton. Poe would often return to Princeton as an assistant coach, including the National Championship season of 1903. It was while serving as an assistant coach that Poe is credited with saying "If you won't be beat, you can't be beat," which became the team motto for many seasons. [Washington Bee.] [Edwards, p. 418.]

Head Coaching Record

College coach infobox
Name = John P. "Johnny" Poe


DateOfBirth =
Birthplace =
DateOfDeath =
Sport = Football
College = Navy, Virginia
Title = Head coach
CurrentRecord =
OverallRecord = 21-8-0
Awards =
Championships =
CFbDWID =
Player = Y
Years = 1891-1892
Team = Princeton
Position = Halfback, Quarterback
Coach = Y
CoachYears = 1893-1894 1896-1896 1897, 1902-1903, 1906, 1908-1909
CoachTeams = Virginia Navy Princeton (Asst.)
FootballHOF =

CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1893
name = Virginia
overall = 8-3-0
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 =
championship =

CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1894
name = Virginia
overall = 8-2-0
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 =
championship =

CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1896
name = Navy
overall = 5-3-0
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 =
championship =

oldier, adventurer

Poe enlisted in the Fifth Maryland Infantry Regiment, and after over three years had risen to the rank of corporal, when the United States declared war on Spain on April 25, 1898. His regiment was mustered into Federal service on May 14, and sent to Tampa, Florida on June 3, in preparation for an invasion of Cuba. However, the regiment was unable to obtain transport to Cuba, and spent the war in Tampa, and later in Huntsville, Alabama, before being mustered out of service on October 22,. [Imbrie, pp. 488-489.] Poe worked as a cowpuncher in New Mexico, but longed for action and enlisted in the Regular Army's 23rd Infantry. He was sent to the island of Sulu in the Philippines, where he served in Company F and as an orderly on General Bates' staff, seeing none of the action he had been hoping for. Declining to apply for a commission, Poe instead asked his father to buy out his enlistment, and worked as a surveyor in Baltimore for a few months before returning to New Mexico. [New York Times, Dec. 2, 1901.] [Washington Times, Dec. 28, 1903.] [Washington Bee.]

In 1903, Poe joined the Kentucky National Guard, his detachment of which was sent to Princeton, Kentucky to suppress uprisings which led to the "Black Patch Wars". Later that year, he wrote to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, volunteering his services in the looming Panamanian revolution. He was enlisted and sailed for Panama aboard the USS Dixie, but saw no action, and he returned to the United States. There, he engaged briefly in the coal-mining business in Charleston, West Virginia before moving to Tonopah, Nevada to engage in silver mining there. [Washington Bee.] [Washington Times, Dec. 28, 1903.]

Hearing that war was breaking out between Honduras and Nicaragua, Poe left Nevada in 1907, intending to join the Nicaraguan army. However, when his ship reached Honduras, anxious that the war was ending, he joined the army of Honduras. He was made a captain and put in charge of a gun in the siege of Amapala. The war ended with the defeat of Honduran forces, and Poe returned to Nevada and mining. The following year found him with General Rafael de Nogales Méndez on a filibustering expedition in Venezuela against the dictator, Cipriano Castro. Méndez eventually ran afoul of the new president, Juan Vicente Gómez, and went into exile. Poe returned once again to his mining interest, taking a two year break, however, to join an expedition to survey the boundary between Alaska and Canada. [New York Times, Oct. 30, 1915.] [New York Times, May 7, 1907.]

Death

Within days of Britain's entry into World War I, Poe volunteered for the British Army and was assigned to the Royal Garrison Artillery, where he served in France for the remainder of 1914 and the first part of 1915. By then he had decided that artillery was too far behind the lines, and had himself transferred to the Black Watch, a famous Scottish infantry regiment, known to the Germans as the "Ladies from Hell" for the kilts they wore and their ferocity. [New York Times, Oct 30, 1915.]

In the opening hours of the Battle of Loos, on the morning of September 25, 1915, Poe was with a detachment carrying bombs to another regiment and was part way across an open field, when he was struck in the stomach by a bullet and killed. He was later buried there, between the German and British lines. However, his friends and relatives were never able to locate his grave. [New York Times, Oct. 30, 1915] [Edwards, p. 181.]

Legacy

Poe's name was entered into the Black Watch roll of honor at Edinburgh Castle. At Princeton, Poe field was named in his honor. Given annually and established by Poe's mother, the "John Prentiss Poe, Jr. Memorial Football Cup" (presently known as the Poe-Kazmaier Trophy) is the highest award given to a Princeton football player.

Notes

reflist

ee also

References

*cite news
last=
first=
title=Ex-Football Hero In War
work=New York Times
page=
date=May 7, 1907
url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9C01E2DE133EE033A25754C0A9639C946697D6CF&oref=slogin
accessdate=2008-03-18
*cite news
last=
first=
title='Johnny' Poe Killed Fighting in France
work=New York Times
page=
date=October 30, 1915
url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9C01E3D71E3EE033A25753C3A9669D946496D6CF&oref=slogin
accessdate=2008-03-11

*cite news
last=
first=
title=Poe is on the Dixie Sailing to Panama
work=Washington Times
page=2
date=December 28, 1903
url=http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/lccn/sn84026749/1903-12-28/ed-1/seq-2
accessdate=2007-12-20
*cite news
last=
first=
title=Soldier of Fortune
work=Washington Bee
page=7
date=October 5, 1907
url=http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/lccn/sn84025891/1907-10-05/ed-1/seq-7
accessdate=2007-12-20
*cite news
last=
first=
title=Transport Arrives From Philippines
work=New York Times
page=
date=December 2, 1901
url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D02EFDB1E39EF32A25751C0A9649D946097D6CF
accessdate=2007-12-21
*cite news
last = Bernstein
first = Mark F.
title = A Princeton hero's search for meaning
work = Princeton Alumni Weekly
date = September 10, 2003
url = http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/archive_new/PAW03-04/01-0910/features1.html
accessdate = 2008-03-11

*cite book
last = Edwards
first = William H.
authorlink =
coauthors =
editor =
others =
title = Football Days - Memories of the Game and of the Men Behind the Ball
origdate =
origyear = 1916
origmonth =
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=pO5CAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=football+days
format = PDF
accessdate = 2008-03-18
accessyear =
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edition =
series =
date =
year =
month =
publisher = Moffat, Yard & Company
location =
language =
isbn =
oclc =
doi =
id =
pages = p. 418
chapter =
chapterurl =
quote =
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*cite book
last = Imbrie
first = Andrew Clerk (ed.)
authorlink =
coauthors =
editor =
others =
title = The Class of 1895 Princeton University Decennial Record, 1895-1905
origdate =
origyear = 1905
origmonth =
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=u8cOAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+class+of+1895+princeton#PPA1897,M1
format = PDF
accessdate = 2008-02-25
accessyear =
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edition =
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date =
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pages = pp. 322-327 & 488-489
chapter =
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quote =
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*cite book
last = Morse
first = Edwin W.
authorlink =
coauthors =
editor =
others =
title = The Vanguard of American Volunteers in the Fighting Lines and in Humanitarian Service August, 1914 - April, 1917
origdate =
origyear = 1918
origmonth =
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=NjxGC_DDO3QC&printsec=frontcover&dq=vanguard+of+american+volunteers
format = PDF
accessdate = 2008-02-25
accessyear =
accessmonth =
edition =
series =
date =
year =
month =
publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons
location =
language =
isbn =
oclc =
doi =
id =
pages = pp. 75-82
chapter = John P. Poe of the First Black Watch
chapterurl = http://books.google.com/books?id=NjxGC_DDO3QC&printsec=frontcover&dq=vanguard+of+american+volunteers#PPA75,M1
quote =
ref =

*cite book
last = Porter
first = David L. (ed.)
authorlink =
coauthors =
editor =
others =
title = Biographical Dictionary of American Sports - Football
origdate =
origyear = 1987
origmonth =
url =
format =
accessdate =
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edition =
series =
date =
year =
month =
publisher = Greenwood Press
location =
language =
isbn = 031325771X
oclc =
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id =
pages = p. 474
chapter =
chapterurl =
quote =
ref =

*cite book
last = Presbrey
first = Frank
authorlink =
coauthors = Moffatt, James Hugh
editor =
others =
title = Athletics at Princeton - A History
origdate =
origyear = 1901
origmonth =
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=eTUCAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=athletics+at+princeton
format = PDF
accessdate = 2008-02-25
accessyear =
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edition =
series =
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month =
publisher = Frank Presbrey Co.
location =
language =
isbn =
oclc =
doi =
id =
pages = pp. 341-354
chapter =
chapterurl =
quote =
ref =

*cite book
last = Street
first = Julian
editor = Charles Hanson Towne (ed.)
title = For France
origyear = 1917
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=0mBJAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22for+france%22
format = PDF
accessdate = 2008-02-25
publisher = Doubleday, Page & Co.
pages = pp. 116-121
chapter = The Story of 'Johnnie' Poe
chapterurl = http://books.google.com/books?id=0mBJAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22for+france%22#PPA116,M1
ref =

External links

*CFBCR|1886|John P. "Johnny" Poe

*cite web
url=http://www.snwm.org/cgi-bin/db_w1.pl?function=view&id=125737
title=Johnny Poe's entry in the Roll of honor at the Scottish National War Memorial
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*cite web
url=http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=1766880
title=Johnny Poe's memorial at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
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Persondata
NAME = Poe, John Prentiss Jr.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = American college football player and coach, soldier, Marine, and soldier of fortune
DATE OF BIRTH = February 26, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH = Baltimore, Maryland
DATE OF DEATH = September 25, 1915
PLACE OF DEATH = near Loos, France