Dr. Mary E. Walker was the only woman to ever win a Medal of Honor. Then they took it back.

The Woman Who Never Gave Up Her Medal of Honor

Mary Edwards Walker grew up on Bunker Hill Road where her parents ran Oswego’s first free school and taught their daughters to question everything. She became America’s second female doctor in 1855, then fought her way into the Union Army as the first female surgeon in 1863.

The government took away her Medal of Honor in 1917 but she wore it anyway until she died. Here’s her rebel story, told at the Dr. Mary Edwards Walker Exhibition you can visit at the Oswego County Historical Society.

Her Parents Raised a Rebel on Bunker Hill Road

Mary Edwards Walker was born November 26, 1832, on her family’s farm on Bunker Hill Road in Oswego. Her parents, Alvah and Vesta Whitcomb Walker, weren’t like most folks in the 1800s.

These freedom fighters and free thinkers taught their daughters to question rules and value learning. They started Oswego’s first free school so their girls would learn as much as their son.

Alvah told his daughters to skip tight corsets and wear pants under short skirts for health. The Walker girls wore comfy boys’ clothes for farm work.

She Saved Up Cash to Become the Nation’s Second Female Doctor

After finishing at her parents’ school, Mary and two sisters went to Falley Seminary in Fulton, New York. Mary worked as a teacher in Minetto after graduating but wanted more.

She saved every penny until she could pay for medical school.

In 1855, she got her degree from Syracuse Medical College, becoming only the second woman doctor in America. She married classmate Albert Miller, and they opened a joint office in Rome, New York.

Patients didn’t trust a woman doctor, though, and their business struggled.

The Army Turned Her Away Despite a Doctor Shortage

When the Civil War started in 1861, Mary went to Washington DC ready to work as a Union Army surgeon. The military refused her simply because she was a woman.

They offered her a nurse job instead, but Mary wouldn’t settle. She knew her surgeon skills deserved respect. She worked for free at the U. S. Patent Office Hospital in Washington.

The Army had fewer than 100 licensed surgeons when the war began yet still refused to hire a qualified doctor who wore skirts.

She Treated Wounded Soldiers for Free Near Enemy Lines

Mary stepped up in 1862, working as an unpaid field surgeon near the front lines at Fredericksburg and Chattanooga. She wore men’s clothing throughout the war, saying it made her job easier.

The Army finally gave in during 1863, and Mary became the first female surgeon in U. S. Army history. She worked as a civilian “Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon” with the 52nd Ohio Infantry in Tennessee.

Her male coworkers called her job “a medical monstrosity” and hated working with a woman doctor.

Confederate Soldiers Captured Her While Helping Civilians

Mary’s bold nature got her into trouble. While working with the 52nd Ohio, she often crossed battle lines to treat sick civilians who had no medical care.

During one of these mercy trips in 1864, Confederate troops caught her and said she was spying.

Mary later said she got the Medal of Honor because she went into enemy territory to help suffering people when no man would risk prison. She cared for all patients, no matter which side they fought for.

Castle Thunder Prison Couldn’t Break Her Spirit

The Confederates locked Mary up for four months in the harsh Castle Thunder prison near Richmond. Even in jail, she refused to wear women’s clothing.

Mary spent her prison time writing angry letters to anyone who might listen. The hunger and abuse she saw at Castle Thunder stayed with her forever.

The Confederates finally freed her in August 1864 during a prisoner swap for other doctors. After all she went through, Mary went right back to treating patients.

President Johnson Gave Her the Medal When the Army Wouldn’t

After the war, Mary asked for a backdated commission to officially count her service. President Andrew Johnson told Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to check into it.

The Army’s Judge Advocate General found no past cases of commissioning a woman but said they could give her a “commendatory acknowledgment” instead. Johnson thought the Medal of Honor fit better.

Based on support from Major Generals Sherman and Thomas, the President signed a bill on November 11, 1865, giving Mary the Medal of Honor for Meritorious Service.

A Board of Men Stripped Away Her Hard-Earned Medal

Trouble came in 1917 when a review board took back 911 Medals of Honor, including Mary’s. They claimed she didn’t qualify because she worked as a civilian contract surgeon, not a commissioned officer.

The board showed clear bias when they let at least two male contract surgeons keep their medals despite having the exact same status as Mary.

One of them, Major General Leonard Wood, had been a civilian contract surgeon just like her when picked for the award.

Federal Marshals Backed Down When She Grabbed Her Shotgun

Mary refused to let anyone take her medal. When federal marshals came to her door in 1917 to collect it, they found her wearing the medal around her neck and holding a 12-gauge shotgun.

The marshals quickly decided this wasn’t worth the fight. Mary kept her medal and wore it proudly every day until she died.

She felt angry that the government tried to take away her award while letting men with the same service records keep theirs.

She Died Fighting for Women’s Rights Until Her Last Breath

Mary spent her final years in Washington, D. C., fighting to get her medal officially restored. She got sick while there and died on February 21, 1919, at age 86 in her Oswego home.

True to her lifelong rejection of gender rules, she was buried in a black suit instead of a dress. Mary died just one year before women finally won the right to vote through the Nineteenth Amendment.

She left this world alone and nearly broke, known more for her unusual clothing than her brave wartime service to America.

President Carter Finally Righted a 60-Year Wrong

In the 1970s, a campaign to restore Mary’s Medal of Honor began with someone falsely claiming to be her grandniece.

Her actual grandniece, Helen Hay Wilson (granddaughter of Mary’s sister Luna), took up the fight and pushed it forward.

Their efforts paid off in 1977 when President Jimmy Carter officially restored Mary’s Medal of Honor, 60 years after it was taken away.

The Army Board admitted what everyone already knew: Mary Walker had been a victim of sex discrimination. Today, she remains the only woman ever awarded the Medal of Honor.

Visiting Dr. Mary Edwards Walker Exhibition at Oswego County Historical Society

The Dr. Mary Edwards Walker Exhibition at Oswego County Historical Society tells the story of America’s first female army surgeon at 135 East Third Street in Oswego, New York.

This National Register house museum is open Thursday through Saturday from 1 to 5 p. m., April through December. Admission costs $8 per person and guided tours are available with knowledgeable docents.

You can call (315) 343-1342 for more information about visiting this intact historical house museum.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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