Leading From The Front

He wasn’t a household name, but Brigadier General Enoch Poor was one of George Washington’s most trusted officers and a hero of the American Revolution. Born a humble cabinetmaker, Poor became a successful shipbuilder, an early patriot, and a battlefield leader whose courage helped turn the tide at Saratoga and Monmouth. But his death in 1780—officially from typhus, possibly from a secret duel—remains one of the war’s enduring mysteries. In this episode, we peel back the layers of Poor’s life, from his dramatic elopement with Martha Osgood to his role in Lafayette’s elite corps, and explore why his name deserves a place alongside the greats. With a funeral attended by Washington and Lafayette, and a legacy that still stirs the soil of Hackensack, New Jersey, this is the story of a forgotten general who gave everything for liberty—and who may have died not from disease, but from honor.