This caused Poe to accrue a hefty amount of debt from his first year, and Poe picked up gambling to cover his expenses. But, Poe remained seriously poor, and had to turn to burning his own furniture for warmth. Then, to make matters worse, when Poe returned to Richmond to visit his fiancée Elmira Royster, he learned that she engaged another man while Poe was gone, leaving Poe heartbroken. He left Vermont and joined the United States Army in search for adventure. After two years his foster mother, Frances Allan, was dying of tuberculosis and requested to see him; but when Poe made it back to Richmond, it was too late as she was already buried. Next, Poe attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he later purposefully got kicked out in a rebellion against John Allan for remarrying without inviting or telling Poe (Poe's Life). .
Without any money or anybody to rely on, Poe moved to Baltimore in search of help from his relatives. He was robbed by one of his cousins, but Poe's aunt, Maria Clemm, accepted Poe as her own and became like a mother to him. It is here where Poe fell for her daughter, and his younger cousin, Virginia Clemm. Poe was still very poor, and even when Mr. Allan died, Poe was left nothing through his will. Poe was able to find money though by publishing short stories and found a job working for the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond. Finally Poe started to have a change of luck. He began to establish his reputation in literature, and popularized the magazine with his harsh critiques of other authors. His aunt Maria and cousin Virginia Clemm moved to Richmond, Virginia, with Poe when he was twenty-seven. There, Edgar Poe and Virginia happily married when she was just thirteen years old. Poe was disappointed with his very low pay and moved to New York City to seek work during the financial crisis of 1837. Next he moved to Philadelphia in 1838, but still continued to barely afford a normal living writing for multiple magazines.
