Pauline Cushman
Pauline Cushman, originally named Harriet Wood, was a notable figure during the American Civil War, known for her dual career as a performer and a spy. Born into a diverse Creole heritage in New Orleans, she moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, as a child, where she developed skills that would later aid her espionage activities. At eighteen, she adopted the stage name Pauline Cushman and quickly gained fame as a singer and actress. After the death of her husband, Charles Dickson, who served in the Union army, she became a Union patriot and began to engage in espionage.
Cushman skillfully navigated Confederate territory, posing as a Confederate supporter while gathering valuable intelligence for Union forces. Her charm and demeanor allowed her to infiltrate camps, observe troop movements, and report on military conditions. Though her activities did not directly alter battle outcomes, her contributions to the Union war effort were significant. After the war, she toured the country sharing her experiences and ultimately settled in California, where she faced personal challenges until her death at sixty. Pauline Cushman's legacy remains as a testament to the complex roles women played during the Civil War.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Pauline Cushman
American actor and Civil War spy
- Born: June 10, 1833
- Birthplace: New Orleans. Louisiana
- Died: December 2, 1893
- Place of death: San Francisco, California
Cause of notoriety: During the American Civil War, Cushman was captured by Confederate soldiers and sentenced to death for being a Union spy, but she was freed by the Union army before her punishment could be carried out.
Active: 1861-1863
Locale: Southern United States
Early Life
Born as Harriet Wood into a mixed Creole heritage with Spanish, French, and African roots, Pauline Cushman (KUHSH-man) lived in New Orleans until she was ten, when her father opened a trading post in the frontier city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. There, on the edge of wilderness, Harriet learned to ride and to read trail signs, and gained other outdoor skills that served her well in her later adventures.
At age eighteen, Harriet went to were chosen, seeking a theatrical career. Hired by Thomas Placide, manager of the New Orleans Varieties, to perform in his music hall, she took the stage name Pauline Cushman. Her bright, flashy style of singing and acting quickly won a following. In 1853, she married Charles Dickson, a fellow musician-actor. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Dickson enlisted in the Union army. He died a year later in one of the army camps. Devastated, Cushman joined a touring company, performing The Seven Sisters in the border states between the North and South.
Espionage Career
Cushman had always been a Union patriot, although her brother was in the Confederate army. She apparently reported some information about opposition spies while performing in St. Louis. Her first known assignment, however, originated in Louisville, a city nominally under Union control but full of Southern sympathizers. Two Confederate officers offered her three hundred dollars to give a toast onstage to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. Cushman played for time and reported the offer to the local provost marshal. To her surprise, he asked her to do it and then gave her an oath of allegiance. In his mind, the public toast could establish Cushman as a Confederate loyalist, enabling her to travel in the South and gather information.
The plan worked. Cushman started following Confederate forces, claiming to be looking for her brother. She would usually be admitted to the camp and invited to ride through the area. Although she asked no questions about defenses or military power, this approach gave her the opportunity to observe Confederate soldiers and take mental notes. Visiting the hospitals, she asked about medical supplies and the number of casualties. By riding between camps and crossing rebel lines frequently, she also gained detailed information about country roads and terrain in Tennessee, northern Georgia, and other sparsely mapped areas where Union forays were planned. Her background in riding and outdoor activities suited her for such explorations, and her beauty and charm won the confidence of Confederate officers, who often offered her help and news.
Her most ambitious assignment began in May, 1863, when General William Rosecrans charged her to discover the location and strength of the Army of Tennessee. Prepared with a specially made gray uniform, she managed to cross into Confederate territory. However, security measures there had become tighter. Captured by scouts, she made several nearly successful escape attempts. The discovery of sketches hidden in her boots increased her jeopardy. When she was brought before Confederate General Braxton Bragg, he put her under guard at a farmhouse and instituted a trial. She was sentenced to be hanged as a spy.
However, fate intervened. Rosencrans’s advance reached Shelbyville before her sentence could be carried out. The Confederate army evacuated, leaving Cushman behind to be rescued by the Union forces. Now too recognizable to spy actively again, Cushman continued to provide Northern forces with information on the Southern terrain until the war’s end.
Postwar, Cushman toured the country with a lively lecture on her spying adventures. She moved to California in 1872 and married twice again. When her stage career faded, she supported herself as a seamstress until her death of a morphine overdose at age sixty.
Impact
Although no action by Pauline Cushman clearly determined a battle’s outcome, the mass of data she supplied certainly aided the campaigns of Union generals. Her quiet fingering of Confederate spies in St. Louis and Louisville also helped the success of the Union war effort.
Bibliography
Caravantes, Peggy. Petticoat Spies: Six Women Spies of the Civil War. Greensboro, N.C.: Morgan Reynolds, 2002. A summary account of Cushman’s life and career.
Eggleston, Larry. Women in the Civil War. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2003. Detailed coverage of Cushman’s work as a scout and spy, emphasizing its match with her loyalties and skills.
Markle, Donald E. Spies and Spymasters of the Civil War. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2004. Discusses Cushman’s career as part of the larger espionage effort in the war.