March 4, 2022
Mary Edwards Walker, M.D.
Medal of Honor Recipient
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I came across the subject of this week's Musings from Main as I was researching
Medals of Honor recipients.
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Dr. Mary Edwards Walker (1832 – 1919) |
Dr. Mary Walker, physician and Civil War field surgeon, was the first woman to receive the Medal of Honor. She also remains the only woman awarded the honor out of almost 3,500 recipients.
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Born in Oswego, New York, Mary became one of the first female physician in the country, after earning a doctor of medicine degree from Syracuse Medical College in 1855. She briefly had a private practice but when Civil War broke out she traveled to Washington D.C. to join the Union Army.
She was denied a commission as a medical officer but stayed on as a volunteer surgeon. She served off and on as a volunteer until finally in 1863 won appointment as an assistant surgeon from Gen. George H. Thomas, making her the first female surgeon in Army history.
Dr. Walker treated not only wounded soldiers but she routinely crossed the lines to treat civilians and in 1864, she was arrested as a spy by Confederate troops. She spent four months at Castle Thunder prison until being freed in a prisoner exchange. In 1865, on the recommendations of two Major Generals, Sherman and Thomas, Dr. Mary Walker received the Medal of Honor.
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| Image of Mary Edwards Walker, M.D.date unknown courtesy of National Women's History Museum
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"Let the generations know that women in uniform also guaranteed their freedom."
-Dr. Mary Edwards Walker |
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Image of Dr. Mary Walker date unknown courtesy Whitman-Walker Health website
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Growing up on a farm, Mary often wore trousers and shirts because they were more comfortable and throughout the war, she wore men's clothing, arguing that doing so made her job easier.
Dr. Walker was strongly opposed to traditional women's dress, arguing they were uncomfortable, inhibited mobility, and spread dust and dirt. Her typical clothes in the 1860s were trousers with suspenders worn under a knee-length dress, known as the "Bloomer Costume." |
| Dr. Mary Walker ca.1860 -1865
Courtesy of National Archives
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After the war, Dr. Walker dedicated the rest of her life advocating for women's rights. She wrote two books Unmasked, or The Science of Immorality, and Hit: Essays on Women's Rights, as well as numerous pamphlets promoting equality in all facets of life.
She also lectured throughout the United States and abroad on, dress reform, health and temperance issues, sexual and political equality and urged the reform of unfair divorce laws. In 1866 she was elected President of the National Dress Reform Association and she was arrested several times throughout her life for impersonating a man. |
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Active in the suffrage movement she attempted to vote, but was turned away. She rejected the idea that there needed to be a constitutional amendment as she believed that the Constitution already allowed women to vote. In 1917, just a few years before her death, she (along with several others) was stripped of her medal. She refused to give it back and continued to wear it until her death in 1919.
In 1977, the Army admitted that Dr. Walker had been a victim of sex discrimination her Medal of Honor was posthumously restored by President Carter. |
| Dr. Walker circa 1911 courtesy of Bain Collection - Library of Congress |
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Celebrate Women's History Month
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Learn about South Windsor's first female physician, Dr. Mary Starr Tudor, on our website.
Learn more about Mary Edwards Walker by exploring the following websites that were used in researching this Musings from Main.
National Parks Service
Military.com/Medal of Honor Spotlight: Dr. Mary Edwards Walker Whitman-Walker Health-Meet Dr. Mary Edwards “Walker”
Coe, Alexis Mary Walker's Quest to be Appointed as a Union Doctor in the Civil War, The Atlantic, February 7, 2013.
National Women's Hall of Fame-Mary Edwards Walker
Malesky, Kee, She Was The Only Woman To Get The Medal Of Honor, NPR, November 25, 2012
Mary Edwards Walker Papers, An inventory of her papers at Syracuse University, Biographical sketch taken from Notable American Women (1971), Syracuse University, Libraries, Special Collections Research Center |
Please forward this email to anyone who might be interested. |
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