PAULINE CUSHMAN [1833-1893] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pauline Cushman's training as an actor prepared her well for her dramatic wartime role as "The Spy of the Cumberland." Born in New Orleans, & widow of a fellow actor who died of illness while he was in the Union Army, Cushman began playing her own unique role in the Federal cause--rendering valuable services to Union intelligence--even before the clamorous performance in 1863 during which she toasted Confederate causes in Louisville, a city filled with southern sympathizers but occupied by Union forces. Banished by the Union provost marshal to the Southern lines, Cushman was able, by dint of the reputation she had gained from the Louisville scandal, to acquire information useful to Union authorities. It was not long, however before she was caught near Confederate General Braxton Bragg's headquarters in Tullahoma, TN, with compromising papers in her possession. Court-martialed, she was sentenced to be hanged, but was reprieved when the Confederates were forced to retreat. Cushman was left behind--able to provide useful information on Confederate strength & plans one last time. Submitted by, Bill Waterhouse Mystic, CT