Doctor Mary Walker at Chatham Manor

Library of Congress

Mary Walker was born in Oswego, New York in 1832. In 1855, she received a medical degree from the Syracuse Medical College,
a rare college that admitted women. Mary was known to wear “masculine” clothing, such as trousers and suspenders covered by knee length dresses, because she believed women’s clothing to be too restrictive.

When the Civil War began, Mary was denied a commission as an army doctor. Instead, she volunteered. In December 1862, Dr. Walker came to Fredericksburg. At Chatham, she “was directed by the managing surgeons to take any cases [she] chose and dress them preparatory to sending them to Washington.” She also wore a green surgeon’s sash green surgeon’s sash, “although [she] had not then any government authority to do so.”

Doctor Walker received a commission as a “Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon” in 1863. In 1864, Mary was captured by Confederate soldiers. She was imprisoned at the Castle Thunder Prison in Richmond, Virginia for four months. On November 11th, 1865, Mary was awarded the Medal of Honor.

After the Civil War, Mary became a women’s rights activist. She was arrested many times for wearing men’s clothing and faced repeated ridicule. In 1871, she unsuccessfully tried to register to vote reasoning was that women had the right to vote under the U.S. Constitution.

Despite the contributions she made and the danger she faced during the Civil War, Mary Walker’s Medal of Honor was revoked in 1917. Regardless, she continued to wear her medal until her death in 1919. Mary wrote, “I have got to die before people will know who I am and what I have done. It is a shame that people who lead reforms in this world are not appreciated until after they are dead; then the world pays its tributes.” She was buried in Oswego, New York.

Mary’s Medal of Honor was reinstated in 1977. She is the only woman to have received the award. Mary recently received another honor. The decision to change the name of Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia to Fort Walker was approved in early 2022. Mary Walker is remembered as a woman who spoke her mind and stood up for her right. She saved the lives of countless soldiers. Though her time at Chatham was brief, her presence contributed to the success of the hospital operations.