Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/62

43 York, in 1841, Nancy Sykes, Lady Gay Spanker, and other characters, constantly added to her professional reputation, and made warm friends in the intellectual society of England. In August, 1849, she returned to the United States and played throughout the country. She took her farewell at the Broadway theatre, 15 May, 1852, visited friends in England, and travelled on the continent, but began playing again in December, 1853. Her house in Mayfair became a centre of artistic and literary society, and during the dramatic season she acted with undiminished popularity in London and the provinces, while part of her winters she passed in Rome. In 1857 she returned to the United States and performed during the winter and the spring of 1858, and returned to Rome, establishing herself in a spacious permanent winter home in January, 1859. In 1860 she again acted in New York, and appeared on several occasions for the benefit of the Sanitary commission. During the last six year's of her life Miss Cushman developed a remarkable ability as a dramatic reader, giving scenes from Shakespeare, ballad poetry, dialect poems, and humorous pieces with a success not less decided than her early histrionic triumphs. In 1871, after a residence in Europe, she resumed her career in the United States as a reader, besides fulfilling several dramatic engagements. Her farewell appearance was announced at least seven times in as many different years. Her final performance in New York at Booth's theatre, where she played the part of Lady Macbeth, was signalized by social and literary demonstrations. She took a similar demonstrative farewell in the same character in Philadelphia and other cities, and her career closed in Boston, at the Globe theatre, on 15 May, 1875. After a reading-tour to Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse, she retired with a large fortune to her villa at Newport, where she was seized with her final illness, and in October went to Boston and placed herself under medical treatment. An obelisk copied from Cleopatra's Needle was placed over her tomb in Mount Auburn cemetery in 1880. See &ldquo;Charlotte Cushman, her Letters and Memories of her Life,&rdquo; edited by Emma Stebbins, the sculptor, who was her intimate friend and companion at Rome for several years (Boston, 1878). &mdash; Her sister, Susan Webb, b. in Boston, Mass., 17 March, 1822; d. in Liverpool, England, 10 May, 1859, made her début on the stage in April, 1837, at the Park theatre, New York city, as Laura Castelli in Epes Sargent's play, &ldquo;The Genoese,&rdquo; and achieved an immediate success. She played Desdemona to George Vandenhoff's Othello, Grace Harkaway to her sister's Lady Gay Spanker, and other prominent parts in New York and Philadelphia, and made a remarkable success in &ldquo;Satan in Paris.&rdquo; In England her impersonation of Ophelia was regarded as of the first rank, her Juliet ran 200 nights, and in her old and many new characters her acting was greatly admired for its grace and delicacy. In 1847 she retired from the stage, and in March, 1848, married Dr. James Sheridan Muspratt, of Liverpool, the distinguished chemist and author.

CUSHMAN, Elisha, clergvman, b. in Kingston, Mass., 2 May, 1788 ; d. in Hartford, Conn., 26 Oct., 1838. He abandoned the carpenter's trade to be- come a preacher at the age of twenty, was licensed by the Baptist church in Kingston after a short course of study, and ordained a pastor in Hartford. He took a prominent part in establishing the Con- necticut Baptist missionary society in 1814, which was reorganized as the Baptist convention in 1822, and in 1822 founded and edited a denominational journal called the " Christian Secretary." In 1835 he resigned his charge in Hartford to become pastor of a church in Philadelphia, but returned to Con- necticut in 1829, and after preaching in Fairfield became pastor of the church in New Haven in 1831. In 1835 he removed to Plymouth, Mass., but on the failure of his health in 1838 returned to Hartford a few weeks before his death, for the purpose of re- suming the editorship of the " Christian Secretary."

CUSHMAN, Pauline, spy, b. in New Orleans, La., 10 June, 1833. She was the daughter of a Spanish refugee, who became a tradesman in New Orleans, and afterward an Indian trader at Grand Rapids, Mich. After reaching womanhood she re- turned to the south as a variety actress, and at- tracted attention by her beauty. When acting in Louisville, Ky., in March, 1863, she was ottered a bribe if she would give a toast to Jefferson Davis during the performance, and, on informing the provost-marshal. Col. Moore, was induced to carry out the plot. She was afterward employed by the government as a detective to discover the southern sympathizers and spies in Louisville, and their methods of conveying information and medical supplies across the lines, and frequently also as a scout. Securing a theatrical engagement at Nash- ville, where she was welcomed as a secessionist, she performed valuable services for the army police in detecting thefts from the government stores, trade in contraband, and the practices of guerillas. Thence she was sent beyond the lines in May, 1863, ostensibly as a rebel sympathizer, in order to gain information of the strength of the Confederate forces and fortifications, the extent of their sup- plies, and their contemplated movements. She was captured, taken to the headquarters of Gen. Bragg» and sentenced by a court-martial to be hanged as a spy, but was left behind at the evacuation of Shelijyville, where she was found by the Union troops. The fame of her adventures extended over the country, and after her escape from imprison- ment she was given by the soldiers the title of major, and was accoutred as an officer. Her knowledge of the roads in Tennessee, Georgia, Ala- bama, and Mississippi was of great service to the Army of the Cumberland. See her " Life," by F. L. Sarmiento (Philadelphia, 1865).

CUSHMAN, Robert, Plymouth pilgrim, b. in Kent, England, about 1580 ; d. in England in 1625. With John Carver he was instrumental in effecting- the emigration of the pilgrims to Holland, where he joined them after they had been in Leyden sev- eral years. He became a leading member of the community in Leyden. and took a deep interest in the project of settling in an English colony. In 1617 he was sent with Deacon Carver to London to negotiate with the Virginia company, which had secured a grant from the king of all the territory between boundaries 200 miles north and 200 miles, south of Point Comfort, for permission to settle on their lands, and to apply to King James to grant them liberty of conscience there. The king would only grant them permission to settle, and refused to issue a charter under his seal, though he prom- ised not to molest them. Cushman undertook a subsequent mission to England for the same object with Elder Brewster in 1619, when a patent was obtained in which the king granted toleration for their form of religion so long as they remained faithful subjects. The arrangement with the London merchant adventurers was concluded through his agency. He and Carver then returned to England to collect subscriptions, make purchases, and prepare for the voyage. They chartered the "Mayflower," and, while Carver was busy with the ship