The only woman in the United States to ever be given the Congressional Medal of Honor, she practiced medicine as well as advocating for women’s rights and the abolition of slavery.

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was the fifth daughter born to Alvah and Vesta Whitcomb Walker in upstate New York in 1832. Her parents encouraged free thinking and formal education for their children, having themselves started the first free school in Oswego, New York. At the end of her teenage years, Mary enrolled in Syracuse Medical College and graduated with her doctor of medicine degree in 1855, the second woman to accomplish this after Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell.

Mary married Albert Miller, also a physician, and they set up a practice together. The public, however, did not want to accept a female doctor which led to the failure of her practice. She was unconventional in her dress and behavior for a woman of the time. First, Mary refused to agree to say “obey” in her wedding vows. The marriage did not last and they divorced after a separation. She chose to buck the fashion of the time and instead wore pants with suspenders under a knee-length dress. For this she was often mocked. She claimed the fashion of the corseted large, long dresses made it difficult to move as well as spreading dust and dirt. 

With the start of the Civil War in 1861, Mary went to Washington to be part of the medical corps. She was rejected on account of her gender, so she volunteered at the U.S. Patent Office Hospital. She served as a nurse since they would not tolerate a female surgeon. The next year Mary uprooted herself so she could volunteer to treat soldiers on the front lines of the war at Fredericksburg and Chattanooga. 

Finally, in 1863, the Union Army accepted her petition to practice as a surgeon, making her the first female surgeon in the U.S. Army. In her work, she often crossed military lines, leading to her capture by Confederates in 1864. She was released after four months in a trade for a Confederate soldier. Following this, Mary was appointed assistant surgeon of the Ohio 52nd Infantry.

President Andrew Johnson awarded her the Medal of Honor after the Civil War. Later, however, due to a redefinition in terms of eligibility, the medal was stripped from Mary and others in 1916-1917. She refused to surrender it, though, and it was posthumously reinstated in 1977. She is still the only woman to receive the honor in wartime.

After the war, Mary wrote and published a book, Hit, which included essays on her ideas for women’s rights. She advocated for the right to dress as she pleased. She was even arrested in 1870 for dressing as a male. She responded, “I don’t wear men’s clothes. I wear my own clothes.”

Hoping to further advance her cause, Mary attempted to register to vote in 1871. She was denied the right and continued to fight for women’s suffrage the rest of her life. In addition, she campaigned for political office and lost twice. She died in 1919, just before the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote became law. Mary will be featured as one of the American Women Quarters Program, to be released in 2024. Learn more about Mary in the book on my shelf here. This is an affiliate link; thank you for your support.