Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, Civil War Surgeon

The First and Only Woman Medal of Honor Winner

Aug 4, 2009

Mary Edwards Walker was truly a pioneer of women's rights. In her long and distinguished career she was a doctor, POW, prohibitionist, and feminist.

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker showed incredible courage during the course of her remarkable career. At a time when Victorianism ruled, and females were second-class citizens, she was an outspoken advocate of woman’s rights in many areas. Walker was not content to just talk about such issues—she actually became a living embodiment of them. The capstone of her career—and controversy—came when she was awarded the Medal of Honor, the only woman to date to have received the coveted prize.

Early Feminist

Walker was born in Oswego, New York in 1832. Her parents were liberal, even radical, by the standards of the day, insisting that girls be educated on an equal basis as boys. Though the term wasn’t invented yet, young Mary became a feminist at an early age. It was said she did not like women’s clothes, because the long dresses were too confining and unsanitary, the latter because they trailed on the ground. As a young girl on the farm she wore men’s clothes to do chores. Later, as an adult, she supported the dress reforms of Amelia Bloomer, whose skirt-baggy pants combination were considered shocking by some.

Woman Doctor

Mary Walker became a teacher, but only to help finance her real goal, medical school. She entered Syracuse Medical College and graduated in 1855, the only woman in her class. She was n She married fellow physician Albert Miller, and the couple opened up a private practice in Rome, New York. The idea of a woman doctor was so new, and so novel, even women hesitated to become patients. Women were considered creatures of emotion, not intellect, fit only for their “natural” roles as mothers and wives.

Dr Walker’s early years as a physician were not successful, and her marriage foundered as well. Walker later claimed her husband was unfaithful, which might have been true, but perhaps even a “liberal” man of the time could not stand a woman so far from the Victorian stereotype. It is worth noting that even after marriage Walker kept her maiden name in defiance of traditional custom.

Civil War Surgeon

When the Civil War came Walker was quick to volunteer her services as a doctor. She was initially rejected, but persevered. Walker began as a nurse, but slowly started treating the sick and wounded as a doctor. She attended the wounded after the Battle of Fredericksburg, where she won much praise, but no assignment.

Finally, fate intervened. When the surgeon of the Army of the Cumberland’s 52nd Ohio Infantry died, there was no one to fill the vacancy. General George H. Thomas had heard of Walker and appointed her Acting Assistant Surgeon for the regiment.

Confederate Prisoner of War

On April 10, 1864, Walker was captured by Confederate soldiers. They didn’t know what to make of her. Bred on the stereotypes of “southern ladies fair,” the Confederates were appalled. One southern officer, tongue in cheek, suggested she be put in a dress and bonnet and sent back to Union lines—or put in an insane asylum. She was exchanged after four months in Castle Thunder prison, Richmond.

The First Woman Medal of Honor Winner

She was awarded the Medal of Honor for Meritorious Service at the end of the war. In 1917 her medal was revoked (along with over 900 others), because her war record was not considered worthy enough. Dr Walker, by this time in her eighties, refused to surrender the award. “You can have it,” she said, “over my dead body.” The medal was restored posthumously by President Jimmy Carter.

Later Years as a Suffragette, Prohibitionist, and Women’s Right’s Advocate

Beginning in 1867 Walker became active in the women’s right’s movement, especially for getting the vote. She was also anti-alcohol and anti tobacco. In her later years she was considered a bit eccentric, since she was always seen in men’s dress. Dr. Walker died on February 21, 1919 in Oswego. Acccording to the National Library of Medicine's website, In 1897 she proudly concluded, “I am the original new woman.” She did indeed blaze a trail for other to follow.

Charles McCool Snyder, Dr. Mary Walker, The Little Lady in Pants (Vantage, 1962)

Gerald Henig and Eric Niderost, Civil War Firsts: The Legacies of America's Bloodiest Conflict (Stackpole, 2001)

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