Cynthia Eloise Cleveland (August 13, 1845 – April 1932) was an American lawyer, politician, writer, and temperance worker.

[5] Having passed the civil service examination in 1885, she worked for the U. S. Treasury Department from 1886 until 1911, as a post office inspector, and lived in Washington, D.C. after 1888.

[8] Cleveland wrote two novels set in Washington D. C., See-Saw: or Civil Service in the Departments (1887)[9] and His Honor; or Fate's Mysteries: A Thrilling Realistic Story of the United States Army (1889).

[10][11] See-Saw was considered barely fictional, based as it was so closely on her own experiences with the civil service.

"Miss Cynthia E. Cleveland's life is identical with that of her heroine," observed the Chicago Tribune, "except her description of herself, which is entirely different.