Pauline Cushman was an acomplished actress. She toured the country with a theater company but was publicly fired when she took money to toast to the Confederate president Jefferson Davis. She became a spy in 1863 after she reported the toast of Jefferson Davis to a Union officer. Her first station was in Louisville where the only thing she acommplished was telling the Provost Marshal of the city information regarding Confederate activity in that area in spring of 1863. She visited the Confederate camps and gathered information about General Baxton Bragg's battle plans. She was then sent to Shelbyville, Kentucky to spy where she was captured, she was convicted of espienage based on the documents she carried, she was sentenced to be hung. Three days before her hanging she was saved by the Union capturing the city and freed her. After her release she continued to spy through out the war behind the enemy lines. She provided as much information as she could and after the war she was awarded with an honorary major's commission. After the war she toured the county both to give lectures in uniform about her spying exploits as well as to continue her acting career. In old age she felt the devastating effects of arthritis and rheumatism. She died in San Fransico on 7th December, 1893 due to suicide by taking an overdose of morphine.
This website was created by Krista Yarbrough on May 25th 2008
