One of the most dramatic heroine's of the American Civil War, Pauline Cushman acted as a Union spy and scout while behind enemy lines in the South. She was eventually captured, brought before General Nathan Bedford Forest, and sent to General Bragg for prosecution. She was found guilty and sentenced to hang but was rescued by the forces of General James Garfield. Praised by Abraham Lincoln for her courage and services, General Garfield made Cushman a brevet major. Published before the close of the war, this book is not only interesting for Cushman's story but as an example of the type of literature that a northern audience, after four years of horrific war, was hungry for.