Pauline Cushman, now featured in a Smithsonian photography exhibition, unexpectedly found herself spying for the Union after accepting a dare
By Emily Toomey
In a photograph no bigger than a playing card, a woman dressed in military costume cradles a sword, staring confidently beyond the frame. Her name is Pauline Cushman, an actress turned Civil War spy whose story dances between the boundary dividing history and fiction.
Born Harriet Wood in 1833, Cushman changed her name when she moved to New York City to pursue acting at age 18. There, she met her first husband, who joined the Union army as a musician, but tragically died in 1862. (Like much of Cushman’s story, the specifics of her husband’s death are unclear...
Additional story at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/actress-who-left-stage-become-civil-war-spy-180972821/
(photo-Amazon)
Pauline Cushman-Spy of the Cumberland
https://www.amazon.com/Pauline-Cushman-Cumberland-William-Christen/dp/1889020117/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=pauline+cushman%2C+spy+for+the+cumberland&qid=1566486404&s=gateway&sr=8-2
