1. Powhatan Beaty was an African American soldier and actor.
24 Facts About Powhatan Beaty
1. 2.
Powhatan Beaty received America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for taking command of his company at the Battle of Chaffin's Farm, after all officers had been killed or wounded.
3.
Powhatan Beaty's most well-known stage performance was an 1884 appearance at Ford's Opera House on 9th Street in Washington, DC, opposite Henrietta Vinton Davis.
4.
Powhatan Beaty moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1849, where he received an education.
5.
Powhatan Beaty gained his freedom sometime on or before April 19,1861; the exact date is unknown and may have been before his move to Ohio.
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Powhatan Beaty continued to study acting privately and received training in the field from several coaches, including James E Murdock, a retired professional stage actor from Philadelphia.
7.
Powhatan Beaty then allowed them to return home to prepare for military service, with orders to report the next morning for duty.
8.
Powhatan Beaty enlisted from Cincinnati on June 7,1863 for a three-year term of service in the Union Army; he was among a group of men recruited for a Massachusetts regiment.
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Powhatan Beaty joined as a private but was promoted to sergeant only two days later.
10.
Powhatan Beaty was placed in charge of a squad of forty-seven other recruits and ordered to report to Columbus, Ohio, from where they would be sent to Boston.
11.
Powhatan Beaty continued to distinguish himself in the 5th Regiment's further engagements.
12.
Nothing came of Colonel Shurtleff's requests, however Powhatan Beaty did receive a brevet promotion to lieutenant.
13.
Powhatan Beaty resumed his career as a turner and pursued amateur acting and public speaking engagements.
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Powhatan Beaty gave public readings for charitable causes and became a well-known elocutionist among the African American community of Cincinnati.
15.
Powhatan Beaty wrote a play about a rich southern planter entitled Delmar, or Scenes in Southland, which was performed in January 1881 with himself in the lead role.
16.
The privately run play was well received, but Powhatan Beaty did not engage in self-promotion and it never moved into public theaters.
17.
In January 1884, Powhatan Beaty was working as an assistant engineer at the Cincinnati water works when Henrietta Vinton Davis, a prominent African American actress, came to perform in the city.
18.
The culmination of the festival was a performance of selected scenes from Macbeth, with Powhatan Beaty playing the title role and Davis as Lady Macbeth.
19.
Newspapers in both the black and white communities of Cincinnati praised the performances of the two actors, with the Commercial stating that Powhatan Beaty "threw himself into his part with masterly energy and power".
20.
The successful festival led to Powhatan Beaty being invited to play as a principal actor in a Washington, DC, Shakespearean production organized by Davis.
21.
Davis, the premier black Shakespearean actress of the time, was the star of the show and Powhatan Beaty played opposite her as Macbeth, King Henry VI, and Ingomar.
22.
Powhatan Beaty continued to tour with Davis and performed a show in Philadelphia before returning to Cincinnati.
23.
Powhatan Beaty helped form his city's Literary and Dramatic Club and, in 1888, became the organization's drama director.
24.
Powhatan Beaty lived out the rest of his life in Cincinnati and died at age seventy-nine on December 6,1916; he was buried at Union Baptist Cemetery.