Thread by @TheCivilWarDoc1

Meet Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, who #OTD was awarded the Medal of Honor for her service during the Civil War. She remains the only woman to be be awarded this honor. She was a suffragist, suspected spy, POW, and surgeon.

nps.gov/people/mary-wa…

#Twitterstorians #OTD #WomensHist

In 1855, she earned her MD from Syracuse Medical College. She and her husband opened their own practice, but it failed. She also refused to "obey" her husband, kept her last name, and wore a short skirt with trousers. They divorced.

#women #rights #feminism #histmed

When the war started, she joined the Union Army. She was refused a commission, so she worked as an"unpaid volunteer surgeon at the U.S. Patent Office Hospital in Washington." She wore men's clothing throughout the war and said it made doing her job easier. (NPS)

She was not unpaid for long!
In 1863, Dr. Walker became the first female U.S. Army surgeon following her commission as a "Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon (civilian)" by the Army of the Cumberland. She routinely crossed the lines to treat civilians.

While helping civilians, Confederate soldiers captured her and charged her with spying. She spent 4 months in jail at Castle Thunder prison near Richmond, VA; refused to wear women's clothing, and was freed in a prisoner exchange.

According to the National Park Service, "based on the recommendation of Major Generals Sherman and Thomas, President Andrew Johnson signed a bill on November 11, 1865, to present Walker with the Medal of Honor for Meritorious Service."

"The medal was stripped from her (and several others) by government action from 1916 to 1917. It was reinstated to her in 1977. She remains the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor. Dr. Walker spent the remainder of her life advancing the cause of women's rights." (NPS)