American Women Quarter Series: Dr. Mary Edwards Walker

She must have been a strange sight around town! She preferred men’s clothing, worn for convenience, comfort, and health. She was often seen sporting a silk shirt, men’s trousers with suspenders, and a topcoat. She didn’t wear lady’s shoes but preferred a pair of sturdy boots and carried a man’s cane. A trademark silk top hat adorned her short hair! For much of her life she was known more for dress code reform than her skill as an Army surgeon. On June 3, the US Mint honored Dr. Mary Walker with a special issue quarter. She is the 13th historic woman recognized in the American Women’s Quarter Series.

Mary Edwards Walker was born on November 26, 1832, in the small town of Oswego New York. This “The Port City of Central New York” is located on Lake Ontario, about 35 miles northwest of Syracuse. She was the youngest of seven children and had five sisters and one brother.

Her parents, father Alvah and mother Vesta, were considered “Freethinkers” and nurtured Mary’s independence. They ran a farm and her father was a self-taught “country doctor.” He left medical texts and drawings around the house and Mary’s interest in medicine developed from an early age. Meanwhile, the Walker children had assigned chores, often in non-gender roles. Mary did heavy labor while her brother did lighter general household work. Clothes were worn for practicality and comfort so on the farm Mary wore shirts and pants.
Her mother Vesta believed that corsets and tight lacings for women were unhealthy and this view was something passed down to the girls. Also, long skirts weren’t good for you—they were carriers of dust and dirt.

Education was important to the Walker household. Alvah and Vesta Walker founded the first free schoolhouse in Oswego in the 1830s. They wanted their daughters educated properly, the same as their sons. Mary and two of her older sisters went on to Fally Seminary in Fulton, New York. This place of higher learning had an emphasis on modern social reform in gender roles, education, and hygiene. After finishing her classes, Mary taught school for a time and earned enough money to pay her way through medical school.

In 1855 at the age of 23, she earned her medical degree from Syracuse Medical College. She graduated with honors, the only woman in her class. She also married Albert Miller, a fellow medical student, that same year, but the union didn’t last.

On her wedding day, Mary wasn’t a normal bride. She wore a short skirt with trousers underneath, retained her last name, and refused to use the word “obey” in the wedding vows. The young couple started a New York medical practice, however female doctors were not well received. The two stayed together four years until in 1859 Mary sued for divorce. It would take ten years for her decree to be granted. Some written accounts of her life state that she never married at all.

Dr. Mary Walker desired to be a surgeon during the Civil War but was denied. The Army had no place for a female surgeon. Instead, she took a civilian position as a surgeon and worked in a temporary hospital in Washington D.C. She worked for two years without pay. Dr. Walker was an unpaid field surgeon during the Battle of Vicksburg and also went to Tennessee to assist at the Battle of Chickamauga.

Finally, in September of 1863, Dr. Mary Walker was given a commission in the Union Army. She was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland and later to the 52nd Ohio Infantry, becoming the first female US Army surgeon. Through an Act of Congress, she said she was given permission to wear male attire. (Later, there was no proof of such permission.) She often crossed enemy lines treating injured soldiers and civilians. On one such life-saving trip, her luck ran out.

In 1864, Dr. Walker was captured by the Confederate Army and arrested as a spy. She spent four months in Castle Thunder, a terrible prison in Richmond, Virginia. She endured filthy conditions and rotten food. Later in life, she would have permanent health damage attributed to Castle Thunder. After four months, she was released in a prisoner exchange. She was traded for a male surgeon of equal rank. Before the end of the war, Dr. Walker was given the title “acting assistant surgeon.” She served as supervisor of a female prison in Kentucky and later as head of an orphanage in Tennessee.

At the end of the Civil War, Dr. Walker was given a small disability pension. She was also recognized for her service to our country. On June 15, 1865, she was awarded the Medal of Honor for Meritorious Service by President Andrew Johnson. The medal was shipped to her and she wore it proudly everywhere right up until the day she died.

Following the war, Dr. Walker lectured across the US and the United Kingdom on women’s rights, hygiene, and dress reform. Did you know there was a National Association of Dress Reform? Dr. Walker was often attacked, teased, and criticized for her shocking way of dress. In 1870, she was arrested in New Orleans for being dressed as a man. In New Hampshire in 1891, she was detained by authorities for her dress until she could provide proof of her identity.

In 1871, she tried to vote but was refused. Dr. Walker believed the Constitution gave equal rights to men and women, including the right to vote. She continued to write and lecture tirelessly to support the women’s suffrage movement.

In 1895 a 63-year-old Dr. Mary Walker purchased a 135-acre farm near Rochester, New York. She desired to have a colony for women only. Women, not men, would farm the land and harvest the crops. In later years, she opened up her home to those who had been ostracized, arrested, or harassed. She certainly knew how that felt.

There is an interesting story published in the Buffalo Sunday Morning News in 1911. It seems that Mrs. Reginald Waldorf of Philadelphia advertised to purchase a “living” right index finger. One was requested to replace the missing digit on her own hand. Dr. Mary Walker replied to the advertisement, willing to part with her own right forefinger, which she said was of no use to her anymore, in exchange for enough money to start a tuberculosis sanitarium. She would even part with her right hand or whole arm if necessary. The exchange never happened, and Mrs. Waldorf couldn’t be located. However, this shows how passionate Dr. Walker was about medicine.

Between 1916 and 1917, Congress removed 911 names from the list of Medal of Honor recipients, citing eligibility requirements. Removed from the list of men’s names was an award given to Buffalo Bill Cody. Also removed was the one for Dr. Mary Walker, the only woman recipient. She refused to give the medal back after it was revoked, saying there was no official record of its issue. She wore it to her dying day. In 1977, President Carter, by proclamation, restored the Medal of Honor to Dr. Mary Walker.

In the mid-1910s, Dr. Walker took a fall on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. This led to hospitalization and a weakened state of health for her remaining years. She went home to live with a neighbor and passed away on February 21, 1919.

Dr. Mary Walker, often called an oddity, nuisance, or unwelcome guest, was buried in a black suit and rests in a rural cemetery in Oswego, New York. She is the first female surgeon for the US Army and the first and only female Medal of Honor recipient.