Surgeon Mary Edwards Walker — A Soldier’s Story | Civil War Medal of Honor
Surgeon Mary Edwards Walker — A Soldier’s Story
Surgeon Mary Edwards Walker was born on November 26, 1832, in Oswego, New York. Raised in a progressive household that emphasized education and equality, she attended Falley Seminary in Fulton, New York, before working as a schoolteacher in nearby Minetto to save money for medical school. She went on to graduate from Syracuse Medical College in 1855, earning her degree at a time when female physicians were rare.
While establishing her medical practice, Walker became an outspoken advocate for women’s dress reform. She criticized the restrictive corsets and heavy multi-layered skirts of the era, arguing, correctly, that corsetry damaged posture and internal organs. In contrast, long skirts dragged bacteria and filth through unsanitary streets. In 1859, she published her views in The Sibyl in the article “A Review of the Tastes, Errors, and Fashions of Society About Women's Dress.”
When the American Civil War erupted, Walker volunteered to serve as a surgeon in the U.S. Army but was repeatedly denied service solely because of her gender and told she could serve only as a nurse. Rejecting that limitation, she offered her services as an unpaid volunteer surgeon, treating soldiers wounded at the First Battle of Bull Run and working at the U.S. Patent Office Hospital in Washington, D.C.
In 1862, she again sought official appointment, this time even offering her services as a scout, but was denied. Undeterred, she remained in frontline medical work and again volunteered without pay during the Battle of Fredericksburg, providing care directly behind Union lines.
Finally, in September 1863, while working near the Battle of Chickamauga, Walker was formally commissioned as a “Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon” for the U.S. Army, making her the first female surgeon in the United States Army. She was later attached to the 52nd Ohio Infantry Regiment, continuing her tireless work treating wounded soldiers, often crossing active combat zones to reach civilians and wounded prisoners.
In April 1864, Walker was captured by Confederate forces while returning from a medical mission and imprisoned at Castle Thunder in Richmond, Virginia. She remained a prisoner of war for four months before being exchanged for a Confederate surgeon in August. Following her release, she resumed service as an assistant surgeon at a women’s military prison in Louisville, Kentucky, until the war’s end.
Walker left the Army in November 1865 and returned to civilian life. In recognition of her extraordinary bravery and dedication, she was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Andrew Johnson for her service during the Civil War, the only woman in American history to receive the nation’s highest military decoration. She was also granted a modest pension for her wartime service.
After the war, Walker continued practicing medicine while intensifying her advocacy for women’s rights and dress reform. During the war, she wore a knee-length skirt with bloomers, but later abandoned skirts altogether in favor of trousers, leading to multiple arrests for wearing “men’s clothing,” which she viewed as acts of protest against discriminatory dress codes. She spent the remainder of her life as a physician, writer, public lecturer, and suffragist.
In 1917, during a federal review of Medal of Honor recipients, Walker’s medal, along with nearly 900 others, was revoked because recipients were deemed civilians rather than formally commissioned officers. Yet her record of frontline surgical work and imprisonment as a prisoner of war prompted a historical reassessment. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter posthumously restored her Medal of Honor, reaffirming her place in American military history.
Surgeon Mary Edwards Walker passed away on February 21, 1919, and is buried in Rural Cemetery in Oswego, New York. At the time of this writing, she remains the only woman to have received the Medal of Honor, a lasting testament to her courage, conviction, and unwavering commitment to service.
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