The Washington herald., 1909-07-11
AMAZONS OF TIE CIVIL War
Daring Careers of the Spies, Pauline
Cushman and Belle Boyd.
Heroines of Fiction Modelled After
woman who Aided Lost Cause
in Trying Days.

Discussion now rife concerning Joan Of
Arc. her deeds and her sainthood bring
to mind the fact that last week included
the anniversaries of two Of our most IA
nous war heroines. Pauline Cushman and
Belle Boyd. says writer in the current
number OF Appletons Magazine.
on June 10. 1S53, Pauline X Cushman.
the daring Union spy. was born in New
Orleans, la. Her father was a Spanish
refugee. who soon after her death moved
20 Michigan. where he became an Indian
trader. she became an actress and at
tracted a deal OF attention in Louisville in
March 1853. by drinking a public toast
10 Jeff Davis at a supper party
Having thus made herself conspicuous
as an open rebel sympathize-. she pro-
ceeded 20 engage in maze Of Intrigue IN
the service OF the Union. The measure
Of her usefulness TO the Army OF the
Cumberland can hardly be exaggerated.
foI her minute familiarity with the roads
and passes of Tennessee. Georgia. Ala
bama. and Mississippi made her invaIu-
able as a guide
She was captured inside the rebel lines,
in disguise. by Gen. Braxton Brasg. in
I May. 1858. and sentenced TO be hanged as
! spy Left 10 herself over night. locked
I in a miserable little shanty. with the
promise that she should die at sunrise.
her JOY may be imagined at hearing the
Ithunderous entrance into the little town
( OF Shelbyville OF a column Of Federal
cavalry. The Confederate force made no
stand. and decamped precipitstely. ieav-
/ ing their prisoner TO be released by the
Union men.
] Belle Boyd was born in 1913 which
/ would make Ter barely twenty-One years
old when she was captured IN 1864 by the
( Federal forces. after many times frus-
trating their best-laid plans. and hamper
ing their movem-n in numerous ways
She was sentenced TO be shot, but avoid
ed the death penalty, aided By a Union
officer. Lieut. Hardinge. The condition OF
the committing Of her sentence was that
she would leave the country. She went
I 10 England, and there was married Il
her protector. whose heart she Rad wor
during her romantic capture and trial.
She~had been captured several times
before. but had managed. through heI
resource and ingenuity, TO escape and con
tinue her service 70 the Confederacy She
was married twice after the death Of he.
first husband, and was for many years or
the stage, playing at first good parts in
lrepertOire and then starring in a drama.
tizatiOn of her own war career. in which
she played with great success throughout
the country. from 1876 TO 1881 Rouci
icault's play OF Belle Lamar is alss
modelled upon her experiences as a secret
tagent.
In 1885 she married for the last tine
Her husband was Nathaniel High. O.
Toledo, Ohio. She died In KiIbourn, Wis.
on June H. 1900.
In searching for the facts about thes,
two women. whose names have COM
down 20 US. dozen or more half-forg0t
ten names and incidents OF feminin
! pluck, audacity, and ingenuity wer
brought 20 light in the dusty documents
Z I records Of war. pictorial histories. an,
old-fashioned compilations Of anecdote
| that had TO be gone through
There was gifted and energetic Cana
dian woman. the author Of Nurse an,
spy" a Spanish girl. Loretta Velasquez
a Confederate sympathizer and man
/ others, all famous in their time. an
( responsible for reams and volumes O
z writing - autobiographical. biographica
e apccryphical and frankly fictitious
E Robert W Chambers recently disclaim
4 ed having taken as q prototype OF hi
: heroine. in Special Messenger. the mo
= torious Belle Boyd" Il had been sal
THAT no woman Of the youthful age OF hi