The Man That Was Used Up Add a review

"The Man That Was Used Up: A Tale of the Late Bugaboo and Kickapoo Campaign", is a satirical short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in August 1839 in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine.

The story follows an unnamed narrator who meets famous war hero General John A. B. C. Smith and begins to suspect he has some deep secret behind his seemingly magnificent physical appearance. When others he asks only remark on the horrors of the Indian Wars and the wonders of their "age of invention," the narrator visits Smith at home, and finds he is but a heap of flesh whose body parts must be assembled piece by piece.

Scholars consider "The Man That Was Used Up" a satirical comment on America's brutal Indian Wars. They have looked for models for Smith, the most common being Winfield Scott, commander of the U.S. Army and a veteran of the Indian Wars among many other conflicts. Additionally, some scholars suggest that Poe is questioning the strong male identity as well as how humanity falls as machines become more advanced.