In 1863, while playing on an extended contract in Baltimore, Menken was arrested as a Confederate spy; the resulting local fame filled seats at her performances for the next few months. In the process, Menken came to a truth she had been testing, but had never wholly embraced: Her status as a public celebrity would make her stage career a success. Mazeppa would not bring audiences to Menken, but rather “the Menken” would bring audiences to Mazeppa. From this moment on, Menken appeared to act on the understanding that she needed to be as daring and trangressive as the Mazeppa spectators saw on stage because they believed they were seeing Menken herself in the performance. In 1864, when she performed Mazeppa to California and Nevada audiences, Menken even began dressing as a man offstage as well as on, first as a disguise (with whiskers) and later as herself. She began performing Menken as Mazeppa, a romantically tragic figure created by an intellectual mind, a rogue and a hero, vulnerable at times and masterful at others.

The Tartar prince was the epitome of the romantic hero characterized by Byron: fearless, exotic, independent, brooding, and enigmatic, with deeply emotional undercurrents. In the cultivation of her celebrity persona, Menken was already as mysterious and defiant, but in 1863 she began taking her self-performance further still.