Average 1800's soldier pay?

Hmmm…I’d have to do some research but probably not much. Maybe $20—$40 a month, wormy biscuits and a stubborn, army issued mule. haha
I think soldiers pay was around $40 in the Civil war era. Then again, I could be completely wrong, sooo, after all that, my real answer would have to be…I don’t really know. lol

War of 1812, $5 to $8 per month.
While some got a signing bonus of $31 and 160 acres of land. Later in the war the bonus increased to $124 and 320 acres.

what would edgar allan poe have gotten?

Using the name “Edgar A. Perry”, he claimed he was 22 years old even though he was 18. He first served at Fort Independence in Boston Harbor for five dollars a month.

Wikipedia, bitches!

Seriously, though, the wiki for Poe has a ton of information on it. Including his military salary. ^_^

According to this a British infantryman got one shilling per day in 1800. That would work out at $2:40 per month.

Apparently he eventually got up to $10 a month:

Poe’s regiment was posted to Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina and traveled by ship on the brig Waltham on November 8, 1827. Poe was promoted to “artificer”, an enlisted tradesman who prepared shells for artillery, and had his monthly pay doubled.[23] After serving for two years and attaining the rank of Sergeant Major for Artillery (the highest rank a noncommissioned officer can achieve), Poe sought to end his five-year enlistment early. He revealed his real name and his circumstances to his commanding officer, Lieutenant Howard. Howard would only allow Poe to be discharged if he reconciled with John Allan and wrote a letter to Allan, who was unsympathetic. Several months passed and pleas to Allan were ignored; Allan may not have written to Poe even to make him aware of his foster mother’s illness. Frances Allan died on February 28, 1829, and Poe visited the day after her burial. Perhaps softened by his wife’s death, John Allan agreed to support Poe’s attempt to be discharged in order to receive an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point.[24]