Hot dead chick of the day

Here is another lovely, long-dead lady.

Pauline Cushman

Now this was a cool chick. Pauline Cushman was an actress whose Northern theater company often performed in the South during the Civil War. She became well acquainted with many Southerners in her travels, and it occurred to her that her acting skills put her in a perfect position to spy for the Union. After making arrangements with Union officers, she posed as a Southern sympathizer and quickly ingratiated herself with Confederate soldiers. Unfortunately she was no Mata Hari; she was caught carrying drawings she had made of Rebel fortifications. She was tried and convicted as a spy, and was sentenced to hang. Luckily for her, the Confederates holding her had to flee from advancing Union forces and they left her behind.

Cushman received a hearty welcome when she returned north—Abraham Lincoln even made her an honorary major in the Union army. She wore her major’s uniform (see above photo, taken by the famous Civil War photographer Mathew Brady) on the lecture circuit, where she regaled audiences with her adventures as a spy. The rest of her career was pretty unremarkable, and later in her life she turned to drugs and alcohol. She died in 1893 at the age of 60 from an intentional drug overdose. A sad ending for a brave, beautiful woman.