(1833-1893)
Union spy during the American Civil War. Famous for both her antebellum acting career and her role as a spy for the United States during the American Civil War, Pauline Cushman was born in New Orleans in 1833 but spent most of her childhood in Michigan. As a spy for the Union, Cushman employed her talents for both verbal and physical disguises.
Pauline Cushman, Union Spy
"Shelbyville, June 18th.
". . . Forrest’s forces on Friday last went in pursuit of a woman to whom suspicion had been attached. She had reached the Yankee pickets in front of Franklin when they came in sight, but on they dashed, driving in the Yankees and capturing their ‘booty.’ She proved to be a Miss Cushman, a theatre actress, claiming relationship with the celebrated Charlotte, and had upon her person plans and drawings of our fortifications, and the disposition made of the latter. It is said that she was a crinoline scout for McClellan in Virginia, and performed valuable services. Her fine talents are, doubtless, occupied at present time in planning an escape from Columbia, where she is under guard. . . ."—Savannah Republican, June 22, 1863, p. 2.
"It is stated that Major Pauline Cushman called on President Lincoln a few days ago, in proper female attire, and preferred her claim for five months of back pay which had been refused her in the West after being wounded and her sex discovered. The President wrote a note to the Paymaster-General, saying that as she had received her pay the greater part of the time, he could see no reason why she was not entitled to the remainder, and therefore directed the payment of the balance."—Nashville Dispatch, September 29, 1864, p. 1.
Cushman’s espionage career began in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1863. During a performance at Wood’s Theater, a group of Confederate officers dared Cushman to offer a toast in Jefferson Davis’s honor. Cushman took this challenge and an unusual idea to the city’s Union provost marshal, Colonel Moore, suggesting that she offer the proposed toast and convince Confederates in Louisville that she supported their cause. Doing so, Cushman continued, would allow her to carry out activities on behalf of the Union without discovery. The provost marshal agreed, providing Cushman would take an oath of loyalty to the United States. She took the oath. At her performance the next evening, Cushman offered praise of Davis and the Confederacy to her shocked audience. The Northern theater company expelled her and sent her to Nashville. Once in occupied Nashville, Cushman reported to the Union’s chief of army police to get her instructions.
In Nashville Cushman cultivated her reputation as an ardent secessionist and Confederate. This image allowed her inside access to valuable details about Confederate fortifications and operations. As part of her intelligence operations, Cushman also made lists of people who harbored what she considered dangerous anti-Union sentiments. She passed this list, as well as the names of local Confederate spies, on to Union officials. In addition, she served as a federal courier, moving information through Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Cushman successfully passed through enemy lines, using her acting skills, disguises, and the enemy’s assumption that she supported the Confederacy. The Union army valued Cushman’s assistance and awarded her an honorary military commission.
Cushman’s activities on behalf of the Union did not go unnoticed. Late in the spring of 1863, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan arrested Cushman on suspicion of espionage. After questioning Cushman, General Nathan Bedford Forrest gave her a death sentence. The hanging was not carried out, perhaps because it was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Union troops. The publicity surrounding Cushman’s arrest by Morgan, however, brought her espionage activities to a halt.
After the Civil War Cushman went on a speaking tour. In addition, a biography celebrating Cushman’s role on behalf of the United States was published in 1865. Pauline Cushman died on December 2, 1893, from an overdose of morphine. Local Civil War veterans gave her a full military burial.
Pauline Cushman.
