Cushman, Pauline, 1833-1893

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Pauline Cushman, born Harriet Wood, entered the U. S. secret service following a Midwestern acting career. After the death of her husband, Charles C. Dickinson, Pauline left her two children with her in-laws to go on the Louisville stage. In April 1863, Cushman was recruited as an army detective by Col. Orlando H. Moore, the provost marshal there. In June 1863, Cushman was sent behind Confederate lines by Army Chief of Police William Truesdail in Nashville to gain information on Confederate General Braxton Bragg's forces; she gathered information on Confederate dispositions and sketched fortifications. She was betrayed by a local smuggler and taken to Bragg's headquarters where her sketches were discovered. After a court martial conviction, Cushman was sentenced to hang. Cushman was rescued when Union forces retook the town. In the following years, Cushman toured performing recitations of her army service and war escapades, and acted in a variety of plays. On December 2, 1893, Pauline Cushman Fryer died in San Francisco, at age sixty. Circa 1910, her body was reinterred in the Officer's Circle in the Presidio National Park cemetery.
Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Curnow, Alice J. Curnow reminiscences, 1940-1940. Arizona Historical Society, Southern Arizona Division
referencedIn Pinal County Photograph Album, ca. 1908-1935 (bulk 1920-1935) Arizona Historical Society, Southern Arizona Division
creatorOf Pauline Cushman scrapbook, 1863-1869, 1893. California historical society
referencedIn Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States Commandery of the State of Massachusetts Civil War collection, 1724-1933 (inclusive); 1861-1912 (bulk). Houghton Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Place Name Admin Code Country
San Francisco CA US
New Orleans LA US
Subject
Spies
Women entertainers
Women spies
Occupation
Actress
Spies
Activity

Person

Birth 1833-06-10

Death 1893-12-02

Information

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Ark ID: w60d5ns1

SNAC ID: 88000528