Cushman, Pauline (1833–1893)

US actor and Union spy. While pretending to be sympathetic to the South, she secretly worked for the Federal espionage branch, until she was caught with compromising papers. Sentenced to be hanged, she was saved by Union troops.

Born in New Orleans of mixed Spanish and French descent, she was raised in a frontier settlement with Indian children. In 1851, she joined the New Orleans ‘Varieties’ and, by 1852, she had come to New York City where she gained some reputation as an actor. Her Southern background, together with her involvement in the theatre, allowed her to move about and observe confederate troop movements. It while she was with a travelling show in Kentucky during the Tullahoma, Tennessee, campaign of June 1863 that her espionage was discovered. She was court-martialled and sentenced to death. After the Union troops saved her, she capitalized on her notoriety and began to lecture, wearing a Federal uniform, but she eventually went back to acting. Married three times, her life was not happy and she took a fatal morphine overdose.