The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1894-02-01
Major Pauline Cushman

y n
Hill rests the body of Major Pauline
Cushman. The title was first bestowed
by the soldiers of the army of the
Cumberland, who admired the bravery
of the handsome girl spy, and who
on battlefield and in hospital had
learned the gentleness of her touch,
1t was confirmed by President Lin
coin. LET her keep the title" said
he; 'she has earned it." So COM
mission was made out for Major Pau
line Cushman.
In war time the major was famous.
After the war Lincoln her friend, was
murdered, and Pauline Cushman, the
dashing, rcsolute young woman who
had paused at no danger, was forgot
ten. At one time, when for weeks
she had lain in the Union lines near
death from fever, Il Captain Garfield
had helped nurse her back to strength
and he it was who had put her case
before the president. When in time
Garfield became president he might
have done something for her. but the
assassin's bullet reached him.
Pauline Cushman was born in New
| Orleans in 1890 Early in the fifties
| she married Charles +. Dickinson, and
in 1862 she was penniless widow, her
husband, wearing the blue, being
| killed in battle. She resumed her
maiden name and went back to the
stage, where she had had some cx.
pcriencc. She was handsome and
blithe and popular In the strong
holds of secession she could sing the
songs of the North, ana officers
uniformed in gray tloclied about hel
| to applaud. But when they asked hel
to toast Jefferson Davis and the
Confcderacy" she laughed at them
She was so much in conference will
these officers that suspicion fell upor
her, and she was summoned before
the Federal authorities. They ac
cused her of sympathizing with tn,
South, and then she laughed at them,
She told OF the refusal to toas
Jefferson Davis.
On the incident her fortune hinged
1t led to her becoming Il SPY. Sh
was told to toast Davis in Louisville
and it was arranged that for the ac
of treason she shorld be ordered t.
leave. This was dSae, and repeate
at Nashville. III soiress, prosecute,
and defiant, beca 40 dol of tn
Confederacy. Th paved the wDg 70
her to cross the line. Her ostensibl
quest was to find her brother Sh
ascertained the numbers of the enemy
their positions, their plans, and wa
ca ptured by FORESTS men. Befor
she could be tried she fell sick, an
before complete recovery the Fedora
had forced Forrest to retreat. In tn
confusion Pauline escaped and mad
, her report. 1t was complete. The
she broke down, and during the lon
: illness that ensued the title majc
was given her. She went on othe
expeditions, She cared for tn
wounded and soothed the dying. Th
army of the Cumberland learned t
love her
. But after all the ingratitude of tt
republic was her reward As yeal
, went by she came West She marie
a man named Fryer, and he deserte
her She secured a pitiful pensic
that would barely avert starvation
She toied at mental labor when h,
health would permit. She tried lat,
to get into some charitable institute
and failed. At last she was almo
,, dependent upon charity. So dire W;
her poverty that when she died
San Francisco last year it w
: elieved that she had sought r
lief in suicide. Investigation d
. proved this, The major, worn on
. hopeless, her spirit finally crushed
} adversely and privation, had given ,
the struggle. When her almost i
vincible courage failed, death car
;, quickly. Now people speak in prai
d OF her who had been neglected.
y A beautiful girl she was in the ear
= 'Go's. A photograph taken in is
= shows more than trace of I'll
= beauty left. 1t pictures her in bla
Is lace dress with waist decollete al
). with Spanish mantilla draped abo
u her head and falling over her sho,
ders. The abundant hair is in Co
q uuon her head, and from beneath
. velvet band some locks appear.
: Soon after the close of the rebelli
, books were written about the e
spy. They Landed her, but paid