Mary Edwards Walker
ABOLITIONIST / PRISONER OF WAR /
SURGEON (1832 - 1919)
In 1855, she earned her medical degree at
Syracuse Medical College in New York. She
volunteered with the Union Army at the
outbreak of the American Civil War and
served as a surgeon at a temporary hospital
even though at the time women were
considered unfit for the Union Army
Examining Board. After the war, she was
approved for the Medal of Honour, for her
efforts to treat the wounded during the Civil
War. Notably, the award was not expressly
given for gallantry in action at that time, and in
fact was the only military decoration during
the Civil War. Walker is the only woman
toever receive the Medal of Honour and one
of only eight civilians to receive it. After the
war, she was a lecturer supporting the
women's suffrage movement.
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