September 17, 2024

Mary Edwards Walker was an unusual nineteenth-century woman, brimming with self confidence and determined to make a significant contribution to her country. She believed in women’s rights, wore trousers, and graduated from medical school. A few months after the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, she left her home state of New York for Washington, D.C., where she met with the secretary of war and offered her expertise as a physician to the United States Army. Denied a commission because of her gender, Dr. Walker worked as a volunteer, sometimes at a D.C. hospital, sometimes traveling with the army. Finally, in 1864, she received a paid position as a contract assistant surgeon. During her first posting, Confederate soldiers captured Dr. Walker, and she spent time as a prisoner of war. Upon her release, she returned to her duties with the army. After the war, President Andrew Johnson awarded Dr. Walker the Medal of Honor for the incomparable medical service she rendered, the only woman to receive that recognition—and have it rescinded and restored.

Theresa Kaminski, Ph.D., is a professor emerita of history from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. As an author, she specializes in writing about scrappy women in American history. In 2020, Theresa published Dr. Mary Walker’s Civil War: One Woman’s Journey to the Medal of Honor and the Fight for Women’s Rights. Her most recent book, Queen of the West: The Life and Times of Dale Evans, was released in April 2022. She is also the author of a trilogy of books about American women in the Philippine Islands, including Angels of the Underground. Theresa is currently working on a book about Jane Grant, a feminist, writer, and co-founder of The New Yorker.