Charlotte Mary Sanford Barnes (c. 1818 – April 14, 1863)[1][2] was an American actress and playwright, perhaps best known for her play Octavia Bragaldi, or, The Confession (1837).

[3] Barnes' first original play was the blank verse drama Octavia Bragaldi, or, The Confession, which took the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy (the 1825 murder of Kentucky legislator Solomon P. Sharp by Jereboam O. Beauchamp) and set it in 15th century Milan, a popular trope of the day.

Barnes' next original drama was The Forest Princess; or, Two Centuries Ago, about Pocahontas, which premiered at the Arch on February 16, 1848.

[3] Other Barnes works include an adaptation of the French monodrama A Night of Expectations, Charlotte Corday, based on the play by M.M.

Dumanoir and Alphonse de Lamartine's work Histoire des Girondins, and an adaptation of the short play A Captive by Matthew Lewis.