Why did Pauline Cushman get fired from acting?
Pauline Cushman got fired from acting because she was appearing in a road show in Union-held Louisville, KY, when two paroled confederate officers offered her $300 to toast Jefferson Davis during her performance. She did, but first she reported the incident to the federal Provost Marshal, who recognized that this expression of secessionist loyalty would give Cushman entrée' into Confederate camps and would make her valuable as a Union spy. The theater company fired her for making the toast, and she was "evicted" from the Union lines.
- Megan Eaton♥
What was Pauline Cushman's life as a spy like?
- At age 18 she went to New York where she began an acting career - On the outbreak of the American Civil War Cushman was asked to become a Union Army spy. - In 1863 she toured Tennessee and after visiting the camp of General Braxton Bragg of the Confederate Army, she managed to discover his battle plans.
Who were Pauline Cushman's parents?
Pauline Cushman, or rather, Harriet Wood, as that is her real name, was born in New Orleans. Despite being born in the deep south, she was loyal to the Union, and served the Union as a spy. Her father, apparently had a fiery temper, and after a particularly heated arguement, Pauline (Harriet) ran away and became an actress at the age of 18. I believe she acquired the name Pauline Cushman as a stage name…