Born:
June 10, 1833
Died:
Dec. 7, 1893
Biography:
Pauline Cushman was born June 10, 1833. Pauline was born in New Orleans, but her family later moved to the frontier town of Grand Rapids, Michigan. When Pauline was 18 years old she left for New York, where she began her career as an actress.
In 1862, Pauline was working at a playhouse in Louisville, Ky. when two paroled Confederate officers offered her $300 to toast Jefferson Davis during her performance. She agreed. Perseived now as a Confederate sympathizer, Cushman was fired from her job, and evicted from the theater.
In 1863, a new job appeared. Pauline was offered a chance to spy for the Union. Claiming to be looking for her brother, Pauline began following the Confederate Army. She became the darling of the Confederate troops, and soon she was gathering information of great value for the Union. However, she was eventually captured with incriminating papers, and sentenced to be hung within 10 days. Before the execution could be carried out, Union troops invaded the Shelbyville area where she was being held. She was rescued by Union troops at Shelbyville, Tenn. She then traveled North to much acclaim. President Lincoln made her an honorary major.
Too well known to continue to be a spy, Pauline, wearing her new uniform, (pictured above) lectured about her adventures behind enemy lines. After the war her popularity ebbed, she tried acting, and she married two other times, her last marriage ending in a separation. In her later years she became ill and began taking opium. In time she became addicted to the opium and on December 7, 1893 she took an overdose, which ended her life. The San Francisco Grand Army of the Republic buried her in their cemetery with full honors