Mary Walker (1832 – 1919) may not be a notable American woman on the tip of your tongue. Time tends to erase recognition, and Dr. Walker’s lifetime began almost 200 years ago.
However, Mary Walker is one of 20 women recognized on specially-designed quarters issued through the US Mint’s American Women Quarters Program. So, she must have been pretty special.
She was. We need to know about Dr. Walker. Let’s talk about who this woman was and why she’s a clear choice to appear on American currency.
Mary Edwards Walker was born in Oswego, New York on November 26, 1832. She was the fifth of seven children born to Alvah and Vesta Walker.
Mary’s parents were farmers, but with a decidedly different approach to life than most people during the early 19th century. They were freethinkers, and encouraged all of their children to question and consider the world as it was presented to them.
One of the clearest examples of Alvah and Vesta’s unorthodox mindset was the clothes that they allowed their children to wear. Young Mary was permitted to wear clothing traditionally associated with men or boys, such as pants and work shirts.
The elder Walkers also extended their gender-neutral approach to the family business. The heavy work of the farm was often left to Vesta – along with Mary – while Alvah committed more frequently to household chores.
The Walkers also created their own school for Oswego during Mary’s early years. Mary attended this school for her first years of education, then went to Falley Seminary in Fulton, New York. Despite its name, Falley Seminary was a girls preparatory school that combined a high educational quotient with a progressive approach to norms that mirrored Mary’s upbringing.
During her time at Falley, Mary found herself with free time to read. Her chosen reading materials happened to be her father’s textbooks on anatomy and physiology. The passages within ignited her passion for medicine, which would inform the rest of her journey through life.
Early career
After she graduated from Falley, Walker knew she wanted to attend medical school. Lacking the necessary funds, she taught school for a short time.
Once she’d saved enough, she applied to and was accepted into Syracuse Medical College. She graduated as a medical doctor in 1855. She was only the second woman to be designated a physician in the United States after Elizabeth Blackwell’s graduation in 1849.
1855 was a big year for Dr. Walker, as she married a fellow graduate of medical school in November. She and her husband, Albert Miller, established a joint medical practice in Rome, New York.
Although Mary Walker was an accomplished person who had largely created her own social norms, the unfortunate reality is that most people of the day were unwilling to accept a woman as a doctor. Thus, the joint practice failed, and she and her husband ultimately divorced, albeit due to his infidelity and not the failure of the office.
Civil War years
However, Mary’s greatest opportunity came knocking only a few years later. The outbreak of the American Civil War generated a terrific need for doctors, and Mary was eager to help.
The Union Army was not initially thrilled with the idea, as it had no other female surgeons. So, she began the war working as a volunteer nurse.
The sentiments began to change in the second year of the war. Dr. Walker’s efforts to aid soldiers on the front lines in 1862 yielded credibility to her position and importance. She was a key medical worker for soldiers at the Battle of Fredericksburg and the Battle of Chickamauga.
Finally, she was hired as a Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon (civilian) for the Army of the Cumberland in 1863, making her the first paid female surgeon in the history of the US Army. She remained in this capacity until April of 1864 when she was captured by the Confederates.
Ironically, she was labeled a spy despite the fact that she’d crossed enemy lines to assist civilians and soldiers on both sides of the conflict. She remained imprisoned until a prisoner exchange in August 1864.
After her release, she became an assistant surgeon with Ohio’s 52nd Infantry. She served out the rest of the war in Tennessee, and moved between a women’s prison and an orphanage in her duties.
For her efforts during the war, Dr. Mary Walker became the first woman ever to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. To date, she remains the only woman ever so honored, and is one of only eight civilian recipients of the nation’s highest military honor.
Of course, the award did not come without controversy. President Andrew Jackson asked his various advisers to weigh in – without much conclusion – and Dr. Walker actually had her award revoked in 1916 in order to resolve the issue.
Unfortunately, Walker died before the situation could be corrected. It took more than 60 years until the Army decided to reverse its decision and reinstate her medal to her.
Post-Civil War advocacy
After her surgeon days, Walker elected to become a writer and lecturer. However, it was her advocacy for women’s rights that stood out as her lasting contribution.
The first issue was a basic one – clothing. Dr. Walker wore men’s clothing all her life, which was more than just a social faux pas in some areas of the country. It was actually illegal, and Walker was arrested numerous times for these violations.
Even if her clothing did not run afoul of the law, she was still the target of ridicule and harassment wherever she went, as women wearing men’s clothes were often thought to be homosexual. However, she remained steadfast on the matter, saying “I don’t wear men’s clothes, I wear my own clothes.”
Dr. Walker was also an ardent supporter of women’s suffrage. She believed that the Constitution, as it existed in her time, already allowed women to vote. She even attempted to register to vote in 1871, but her application was denied by the powers that be.
She also published the first of two books on women’s rights that year, entitled Hit: Essays on Women’s Rights, which remains in print to this day. Her second book, Unmasked, or the Science of Immorality, To Gentlemen by a Woman Physician and Surgeon, was published in 1878.
She continued to argue for these issues for the remainder of her life, both in the United States and in England. She published an important essay, Crowning Constitutional Argument, in 1907, and testified before House committees on the topic of suffrage in 1912 and 1914.
Sadly, Dr. Mary Walker did not live to see the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote in 1920. She passed away at her home on February 21, 1919, at the age of 86.
Dr. Mary Walker has been a fairly common subject for commemoration since the 1940s. Most of those honors have sought to recognize her military and medical service.
The SS Mary Walker served as a cargo ship during World War II. There are multiple military clinics named in her honor, along with a reserve center and a facility for homeless female veterans.
Most notably, Dr. Walker managed to set a first in 2023, more than 104 years after her death. The US Defense Department elected to rename Virginia’s Fort A.P. Hill as Fort Walker. Mary Walker is the first woman ever to be the namesake of a US military installation.
So, in a sense, her inclusion in the quarters program is a bit of an afterthought to her other accolades. However, it is a deserving and fitting tribute to a lady who defied cultural norms and expectations her entire life and, for that matter, continues to do so in death.
The Mary Walker quarter is the thirteenth quarter released by the US Mint overall as part of its American Women Quarters Program. It is the third release of 2024.
As is customary, the obverse of the quarter features President George Washington. He has appeared as the standard bearer for the quarter since 1932.
On the coin’s reverse, the Mint pays tribute to Dr. Mary Walker by commemorating her military career. She is portrayed in her military uniform, and her Medal of Honor is depicted both on her clothing and as a standalone feature on the left side of the coin.
Her full name and title, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, appear beneath the medal on the left. The coin’s engravings finish out with an inscription of the award itself and its year – Medal of Honor 1865.
Considering she’s the only female winner of the award, her quarter is certainly a striking piece, both in terms of the other American Women quarters and as part of the broader group of coin designs in the US.