History is usually a collection of tidy stories, but Mary Edwards Walker doesn't fit into any of them. Honestly, if you saw her walking down the street in 1865, you’d probably have stared. She wore trousers under a short skirt, a man’s frock coat, and sometimes a top hat. She wasn't trying to be "one of the boys." She just thought Victorian dresses were literal death traps—unhygienic, heavy, and impossible to work in when you’re elbow-deep in a soldier's shattered leg.
She is the only woman in American history to receive the Medal of Honor. Just one. Out of more than 3,500 recipients. And yet, the government spent a good chunk of the early 20th century trying to pretend she never had it.
The Surgeon Who Refused to Be a Nurse
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Mary Walker didn't head to the front lines to pass out bandages or write letters for the wounded. She was a doctor. She had a degree from Syracuse Medical College—she was the only woman in her graduating class in 1855—and she wanted a commission as an Army surgeon.
The Union Army laughed.
They told her she could be a nurse. She said no. Instead, she just... showed up. She volunteered as a civilian at the Patent Office Hospital in Washington, D.C., working for free because she knew she was the best person for the job. Eventually, her sheer persistence wore them down. By 1863, she became the first female surgeon in the U.S. Army, specifically a "Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon" for the 52nd Ohio Infantry.
She wasn't just sitting in a tent. Walker was known for crossing right over the lines into Confederate territory. Sometimes she went to treat civilians who had no doctors left. Other times, she was likely listening to troop movements. In April 1864, the Confederates finally caught her. They didn't really know what to do with a woman in a custom-made officer's uniform who insisted on being called "Doctor." They threw her into Castle Thunder, a notorious prison in Richmond.
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She spent four months there. When she was finally released in a prisoner exchange, she was traded for a Confederate major. She reportedly loved that—the idea that the U.S. government finally admitted a woman was worth one whole male officer.
Why the Mary Walker Medal of Honor Became a Scandal
On November 11, 1865, President Andrew Johnson signed the order. He couldn't give her a retroactive military commission (because of "policy," naturally), so he gave her the Medal of Honor instead. The citation didn't list a single "heroic" charge or a specific battle. It praised her "valuable service" and "unflinching loyalty."
Then 1917 happened.
The U.S. was entering World War I, and the Army wanted to "clean up" the Medal of Honor rolls. They created a board to review every single award given out since the Civil War. They decided the medal should only be for "actual combat with an enemy."
They struck 911 names from the list. Mary Walker was one of them.
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The board’s logic was basically: "You’re a civilian, and you weren't technically in a bayonet charge, so give it back."
Mary's response?
"No."
She wore that medal every single day until she died in 1919. She was 86 years old, living in poverty, and widely considered a "crank" by the public because she still wore pants and talked about women’s suffrage. She never gave the medal back. She told the government they could take it from her cold, dead hands.
The Long Road to Restoration
It took nearly sixty years for the record to be set straight. In the 1970s, her grandniece and a group of advocates started pestering the Army Board for Correction of Military Records. They argued that the 1917 revocation was a product of blatant sexism. Other civilian doctors and scouts—men—had received the medal and didn't have theirs stripped away with the same vitriol.
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter officially restored the Mary Walker Medal of Honor.
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Why does this matter now? Because Walker represents the messy reality of the Civil War. She wasn't a "angel of the battlefield." She was a prickly, brilliant, stubborn surgeon who refused to follow the rules. She championed "dress reform" because she realized you can't be free if your clothes weigh 20 pounds and trip you up. She pioneered ideas like regular bathing and fresh air in hospitals long before they were standard practice.
What Most People Get Wrong
A lot of history books paint her as a spy. While she definitely gathered intel, she always insisted she was a doctor first. She treated Confederate soldiers with the same intensity she gave Union boys.
There's also this myth that she was "allowed" to wear men's clothes by an Act of Congress. She actually just made that up to get the police to stop arresting her. It worked, mostly. She was arrested dozens of times for "impersonating a man," and her defense was always the same: "I don't wear men's clothes. I wear my own clothes."
Actionable Insights for History Buffs
If you want to actually see the legacy of Mary Walker, you don't have to look far.
- Visit the Richardson-Bates House Museum: Located in her hometown of Oswego, New York, it holds her original Medal of Honor.
- Check your change: In 2024, the U.S. Mint released a Mary Walker quarter as part of the American Women Quarters Program. She’s depicted wearing her medal and her signature surgical attire.
- Read the Board's 1977 decision: It’s a fascinating look at how military bureaucracy finally admitted they were wrong. It cites her "distinguished gallantry" despite the "apparent discrimination because of her sex."
The best way to honor her isn't just to remember she won a medal. It's to remember that she lived her life entirely on her own terms in an era that tried to lock her in a corset. She didn't wait for permission to be a doctor, and she certainly didn't wait for permission to be a hero.
If you’re researching the Mary Walker Medal of Honor for a project or just out of curiosity, start by looking into the "Dress Reform" movement of the 1850s. It explains more about her character than any battle report ever could. You'll find that her fight for the medal was just one small part of a much bigger war she was fighting for her right to simply exist as an equal.
Key Next Steps:
Research the "Purge of 1917" to see the other 910 recipients who were stripped of their honors. Many were members of the 27th Maine who were given medals just for reenlisting, which provides a stark contrast to Walker’s four years of field surgery and imprisonment.