Itchey
Googlemeister
When acting was deadly
In 1840, an acting troupe visited St. Augustine and fell victim to a Seminole attack
By MARCIA LANE | More by this reporter | marcia.lane@staugustine.com | Posted: Monday, November 16, 2009 ; Updated: 11:47 PM on Monday, November 16, 2009
STORY PHOTOS
Click thumbnails to enlarge
If ever a group of actors lived by the creed "The show must go on," it was the William C. Forbes acting troupe.
In 1840, they were headed for St. Augustine for a series of performances when they became a footnote in the Second Seminole Indian War.
Forbes was an actor-manager who had successfully managed theaters in Augusta and Savannah, Ga., and who had performed in the South and West. He saw a two-week engagement in St. Augustine as a way to turn a nifty profit.
Plays were the thing throughout the country, with professional acting companies providing welcome relief from the boredom of every day life. In St. Augustine, the Seminole War had been going on since 1835 and people were looking forward to the promised entertainment.
One of the big crowd-pleasers were the works of William Shakespeare. However, heaven help the actors who didn't keep their audiences entertained; early audiences took their pleasure seriously.
Forbes' troupe performed Shakespeare as well as contemporary comedies and tragedies, and his group included a dancer and a couple of musicians to provide light entertainment.
In 1840, getting to St. Augustine wasn't all that easy. Forbes and his group headed down by sailing ship from Savannah. Then, they had to switch to a small steamer to sail up the St. Johns River (remember the river flows north) to the settlement of Picolata, which housed a small Army fort.
At Picolata Forbes and his group spent the night of May 22, 1840.
The next morning the actors along with their costumes and scenery and a couple of other passengers got on the Picolata Road and began the roughly 17-mile journey to St. Augustine.
Forbes, another actor and three actresses were in what was called a carriage, but most likely was a stagecoach. The others in the party followed in wagons that also held the baggage and scenery.
The Picolata Road, which was a fairly straight shot between Picolata and St. Augustine, went through swamps and hammocks. Along the road were two small temporary forts, with garrisons of only a few men. They were needed to help keep the road safe from the Indians.
"There are a lot of vivid descriptions about how miserable that route was," said Charles Tingley with the St. Augustine Historical Society.
About seven or eight miles outside of St. Augustine, the travelers were attacked by a band of Seminoles led by Coacoochee, also known as Wildcat.
According to an account in an 1840 issue of The News, the group was fired upon by "a party of about 15 Indians, who suddenly rose up from a clump of palmettos, about 50 yards from the road..."
Those in the stage coach including Forbes and the actresses got away, those in the wagons weren't as lucky.
A man from Brunswick, Ga., named Miller, was immediately killed as was one of the actors, D.G. Vose.
Another of the troupe, a German musician named Wegher, ran from the pursuing Indians, "but finding that they gained upon him, he stopped, turned to them, and begged (in German) for his life, under the impression that, as a foreigner, they would spare him -- he was shot," reported The News.
One of the drivers, identified only as a "negro," ran toward a hammock and was followed by actor G.C. Germon.
Germon felt a rifle ball pass within six inches of his head, turned and drew a pistol, and the Indian stopped pursuing. The driver and Germon were able to get to Fort Searle, only about a mile away.
Thomas A. Lyne, one of the principal actors, escaped into another hammock to hide. At one point the Indians were so close he heard an Indian "picking his flint" and was afraid he was discovered. The Indian continued on, however, and after several hours, Lyne found soldiers and was rescued.
The driver, a Mr. Hagan, reportedly escaped, hid until dark and then headed to a nearby plantation owned by an Army colonel.
A couple of newspaper accounts of the incident exist and some facts contradict one another.
One story claimed Hagan remained in the bottom of the wagon he was traveling in. When the Indians came out they threw out the dead body of Miller and beckoned for Hagan to get out.
"Whilst they were plundering the wagons, he was enabled to effect his escape," reported The News.
If the Indians paid no attention, no wonder -- the luggage contained the costumes for the actors including ones for such Shakespearean plays as "Othello," "Hamlet" and "Julius Caesar."
The Seminoles were breaking open the luggage when another wagon came along with three passengers and a driver, and the Seminoles attacked that group.
Francis Medicis of St. Augustine and A. Ball, a carpenter of Wrenthern, Mass., were immediately killed. The "negro driver" and a Mr. Beaufort, escaped, apparently to nearby Fort Weadman.
In all, five people were killed that day.
Although soldiers and volunteers hunted for the Seminoles, they had no luck.
The News reports that in St. Augustine people gathered to watch the bodies brought in. Medicis, who was reportedly the mail carrier, had family, the others were taken to the Council Chambers.
Tingley said the city paid for the burials. They didn't spring for tombstones for the actors since they weren't local. Medicis' family apparently provided one of him.
And what about Forbes and the rest of his troupe of actors? They, in the best tradition of show business, went on with their planned performances.
They played for a week at "Mr. Wharton's Building" which is believed to have been at Bridge Street between Charlotte and Marine streets.
Their first production was "The Honeymooner," a "sterling comedy" in five acts. Bad weather forced them to put off their performance the second night, but they returned with other plays including Shakespeare's tragedy, "Othello." The house was "well-filled."
Somehow, the group found costumes, theirs having been taken by the Seminoles. A couple of amateurs helped fill in for the dead actors.
And the Seminoles and the costumes?
The Indians were spotted wearing them several times. Once was the night of the attack when about 30 showed up outside Fort Searle, wearing the costumes and challenging the handful of soldiers inside.
Coacoochee and seven others were also wearing the clothing when he appeared at Army headquarters on Peace Creek on March 5, 1841.
A Captain Sprague with the U.S. Army described the scene where Coacoochee wore "the nodding plumes of the haughty Dane (Hamlet). Beside him "walked a faithful friend wound up in the simple garb of Horatio," while in the rear was Richard III, "judging from his royal purple and ermine ...." Others "were ornamented with spangles, crimson vests, and fathers, according to fancy."
For Coacoochee the meeting at Peace Creek would be the beginning of the end; before a year past, he and his people were shipped to the Indian Territory in the West.
*
Coacoochee or Wild Cat
Coacoochee is not as familiar a name as Osceola, but he was one of the outstanding leaders and fighters of the Seminole Indians.
His father was chief of a town, his uncle was Micanopy, the paramount chief of the Seminoles. Trained as a healer, Coacoochee in 1836 followed his father in sacking plantations along the Florida costs. Once captured and stuck away in the Castillo de San Marcos, he escaped.
In 1837 on Christmas Day he led a force of Seminoles against an army commanded by Gen. Zachary Taylor. The Americans claimed victory, but Coacoochee lost few men.
He disappeared after that, only to reappear near St. Augustine and attack the Forbes party.
Coacoochee continued his fight until finally agreeing to the move to the Indian Territory in what became Oklahoma in 1841,
He wasn't finished standing up to the U.S. government. Upset because of interference in Seminole affairs, he led about 400 into Mexico in 1849 to live there and seek military assistance. He died of smallpox in 1857.
*
About the actors:
William C. Forbes, actor-manager who had directed theaters in Augusta and Savannah. After the attack he managed a successful theater in South Carolina for several years, later returning to Rhode Island and opening another theater, which was also a success. Survived the attack.
William Isherwood and his wife, the former Fanny Clark. A New Yorker by birth his family ran a well-known confectioner's business. He was attached to the Park Acting Company for several seasons and married Fanny Clark, the eldest daughter of J.H. Clark of the Park Company. He died on Aug. 17, 1841, leaving his wife a young widow. Both survived the Indian attack.
Thomas A. Lyne. A prominent tragedian of the east, he went to Philadelphia to perform with the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith's Nauvoo company. He joined the faith and was for a time a zealous advocate but fell away. For a time in the 1840s, he was part of Chicago's Rialto Theatre. In the 1860s, he would be the first tutors and performers at Brigham Young's Salt Lake City Theatre. Survived.
G.C. Germon - secondary actor. Survived
D.G. Vose - secondary actor. Killed.
Mrs. Cleve - secondary actor, Survived.
Mr. Wegher - a German musician. Killed.
Miss Rosalee - a dancer. Survived.
*
About the painting
The story of the slain theatrical troupe has a way of staying with people.
Artist Guy Labree of Arcadia read about the attack in a history book years ago, but was never able to find out much about the incident. He wanted to do a painting of the event.
"We contacted the Seminole Tribe, but they didn't have too much information," said his wife, Pat Labree. A writer for tribe who checked in the National Archives had little luck either. Then they thought to try the St. Augustine Historical Society. With help from the late director Page Edwards Jr., they found accounts of the attack.
Guy Labree painted a picture of the Seminoles and their booty. There's even poor Yorick's skull included in the painting, which is titled "Suspect Foul Play."
*
Signs missing
Few reminders of what became known as the "Massacre of the Theatrical Troupe" remain.
Signs commemorating the event have twice disappeared off Picolata Road. In 1967 the first sign, erected about 60 years before, was reported missing. A second grander metal historical sign was placed at the spot, about a mile west of Interstate 95. It is now missing.
On Kings Road west of St. Augustine are a couple of roads in a small subdivision that bear the name Forbes Road and Isherwood Terrace.
In 1840, an acting troupe visited St. Augustine and fell victim to a Seminole attack
By MARCIA LANE | More by this reporter | marcia.lane@staugustine.com | Posted: Monday, November 16, 2009 ; Updated: 11:47 PM on Monday, November 16, 2009
STORY PHOTOS
Click thumbnails to enlarge
If ever a group of actors lived by the creed "The show must go on," it was the William C. Forbes acting troupe.
In 1840, they were headed for St. Augustine for a series of performances when they became a footnote in the Second Seminole Indian War.
Forbes was an actor-manager who had successfully managed theaters in Augusta and Savannah, Ga., and who had performed in the South and West. He saw a two-week engagement in St. Augustine as a way to turn a nifty profit.
Plays were the thing throughout the country, with professional acting companies providing welcome relief from the boredom of every day life. In St. Augustine, the Seminole War had been going on since 1835 and people were looking forward to the promised entertainment.
One of the big crowd-pleasers were the works of William Shakespeare. However, heaven help the actors who didn't keep their audiences entertained; early audiences took their pleasure seriously.
Forbes' troupe performed Shakespeare as well as contemporary comedies and tragedies, and his group included a dancer and a couple of musicians to provide light entertainment.
In 1840, getting to St. Augustine wasn't all that easy. Forbes and his group headed down by sailing ship from Savannah. Then, they had to switch to a small steamer to sail up the St. Johns River (remember the river flows north) to the settlement of Picolata, which housed a small Army fort.
At Picolata Forbes and his group spent the night of May 22, 1840.
The next morning the actors along with their costumes and scenery and a couple of other passengers got on the Picolata Road and began the roughly 17-mile journey to St. Augustine.
Forbes, another actor and three actresses were in what was called a carriage, but most likely was a stagecoach. The others in the party followed in wagons that also held the baggage and scenery.
The Picolata Road, which was a fairly straight shot between Picolata and St. Augustine, went through swamps and hammocks. Along the road were two small temporary forts, with garrisons of only a few men. They were needed to help keep the road safe from the Indians.
"There are a lot of vivid descriptions about how miserable that route was," said Charles Tingley with the St. Augustine Historical Society.
About seven or eight miles outside of St. Augustine, the travelers were attacked by a band of Seminoles led by Coacoochee, also known as Wildcat.
According to an account in an 1840 issue of The News, the group was fired upon by "a party of about 15 Indians, who suddenly rose up from a clump of palmettos, about 50 yards from the road..."
Those in the stage coach including Forbes and the actresses got away, those in the wagons weren't as lucky.
A man from Brunswick, Ga., named Miller, was immediately killed as was one of the actors, D.G. Vose.
Another of the troupe, a German musician named Wegher, ran from the pursuing Indians, "but finding that they gained upon him, he stopped, turned to them, and begged (in German) for his life, under the impression that, as a foreigner, they would spare him -- he was shot," reported The News.
One of the drivers, identified only as a "negro," ran toward a hammock and was followed by actor G.C. Germon.
Germon felt a rifle ball pass within six inches of his head, turned and drew a pistol, and the Indian stopped pursuing. The driver and Germon were able to get to Fort Searle, only about a mile away.
Thomas A. Lyne, one of the principal actors, escaped into another hammock to hide. At one point the Indians were so close he heard an Indian "picking his flint" and was afraid he was discovered. The Indian continued on, however, and after several hours, Lyne found soldiers and was rescued.
The driver, a Mr. Hagan, reportedly escaped, hid until dark and then headed to a nearby plantation owned by an Army colonel.
A couple of newspaper accounts of the incident exist and some facts contradict one another.
One story claimed Hagan remained in the bottom of the wagon he was traveling in. When the Indians came out they threw out the dead body of Miller and beckoned for Hagan to get out.
"Whilst they were plundering the wagons, he was enabled to effect his escape," reported The News.
If the Indians paid no attention, no wonder -- the luggage contained the costumes for the actors including ones for such Shakespearean plays as "Othello," "Hamlet" and "Julius Caesar."
The Seminoles were breaking open the luggage when another wagon came along with three passengers and a driver, and the Seminoles attacked that group.
Francis Medicis of St. Augustine and A. Ball, a carpenter of Wrenthern, Mass., were immediately killed. The "negro driver" and a Mr. Beaufort, escaped, apparently to nearby Fort Weadman.
In all, five people were killed that day.
Although soldiers and volunteers hunted for the Seminoles, they had no luck.
The News reports that in St. Augustine people gathered to watch the bodies brought in. Medicis, who was reportedly the mail carrier, had family, the others were taken to the Council Chambers.
Tingley said the city paid for the burials. They didn't spring for tombstones for the actors since they weren't local. Medicis' family apparently provided one of him.
And what about Forbes and the rest of his troupe of actors? They, in the best tradition of show business, went on with their planned performances.
They played for a week at "Mr. Wharton's Building" which is believed to have been at Bridge Street between Charlotte and Marine streets.
Their first production was "The Honeymooner," a "sterling comedy" in five acts. Bad weather forced them to put off their performance the second night, but they returned with other plays including Shakespeare's tragedy, "Othello." The house was "well-filled."
Somehow, the group found costumes, theirs having been taken by the Seminoles. A couple of amateurs helped fill in for the dead actors.
And the Seminoles and the costumes?
The Indians were spotted wearing them several times. Once was the night of the attack when about 30 showed up outside Fort Searle, wearing the costumes and challenging the handful of soldiers inside.
Coacoochee and seven others were also wearing the clothing when he appeared at Army headquarters on Peace Creek on March 5, 1841.
A Captain Sprague with the U.S. Army described the scene where Coacoochee wore "the nodding plumes of the haughty Dane (Hamlet). Beside him "walked a faithful friend wound up in the simple garb of Horatio," while in the rear was Richard III, "judging from his royal purple and ermine ...." Others "were ornamented with spangles, crimson vests, and fathers, according to fancy."
For Coacoochee the meeting at Peace Creek would be the beginning of the end; before a year past, he and his people were shipped to the Indian Territory in the West.
*
Coacoochee or Wild Cat
Coacoochee is not as familiar a name as Osceola, but he was one of the outstanding leaders and fighters of the Seminole Indians.
His father was chief of a town, his uncle was Micanopy, the paramount chief of the Seminoles. Trained as a healer, Coacoochee in 1836 followed his father in sacking plantations along the Florida costs. Once captured and stuck away in the Castillo de San Marcos, he escaped.
In 1837 on Christmas Day he led a force of Seminoles against an army commanded by Gen. Zachary Taylor. The Americans claimed victory, but Coacoochee lost few men.
He disappeared after that, only to reappear near St. Augustine and attack the Forbes party.
Coacoochee continued his fight until finally agreeing to the move to the Indian Territory in what became Oklahoma in 1841,
He wasn't finished standing up to the U.S. government. Upset because of interference in Seminole affairs, he led about 400 into Mexico in 1849 to live there and seek military assistance. He died of smallpox in 1857.
*
About the actors:
William C. Forbes, actor-manager who had directed theaters in Augusta and Savannah. After the attack he managed a successful theater in South Carolina for several years, later returning to Rhode Island and opening another theater, which was also a success. Survived the attack.
William Isherwood and his wife, the former Fanny Clark. A New Yorker by birth his family ran a well-known confectioner's business. He was attached to the Park Acting Company for several seasons and married Fanny Clark, the eldest daughter of J.H. Clark of the Park Company. He died on Aug. 17, 1841, leaving his wife a young widow. Both survived the Indian attack.
Thomas A. Lyne. A prominent tragedian of the east, he went to Philadelphia to perform with the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith's Nauvoo company. He joined the faith and was for a time a zealous advocate but fell away. For a time in the 1840s, he was part of Chicago's Rialto Theatre. In the 1860s, he would be the first tutors and performers at Brigham Young's Salt Lake City Theatre. Survived.
G.C. Germon - secondary actor. Survived
D.G. Vose - secondary actor. Killed.
Mrs. Cleve - secondary actor, Survived.
Mr. Wegher - a German musician. Killed.
Miss Rosalee - a dancer. Survived.
*
About the painting
The story of the slain theatrical troupe has a way of staying with people.
Artist Guy Labree of Arcadia read about the attack in a history book years ago, but was never able to find out much about the incident. He wanted to do a painting of the event.
"We contacted the Seminole Tribe, but they didn't have too much information," said his wife, Pat Labree. A writer for tribe who checked in the National Archives had little luck either. Then they thought to try the St. Augustine Historical Society. With help from the late director Page Edwards Jr., they found accounts of the attack.
Guy Labree painted a picture of the Seminoles and their booty. There's even poor Yorick's skull included in the painting, which is titled "Suspect Foul Play."
*
Signs missing
Few reminders of what became known as the "Massacre of the Theatrical Troupe" remain.
Signs commemorating the event have twice disappeared off Picolata Road. In 1967 the first sign, erected about 60 years before, was reported missing. A second grander metal historical sign was placed at the spot, about a mile west of Interstate 95. It is now missing.
On Kings Road west of St. Augustine are a couple of roads in a small subdivision that bear the name Forbes Road and Isherwood Terrace.