Mary Edwards Walker: Surgeon and Suffragist

By Natalia Pepe, 2028

Published September 28, 2025

Mary Edwards Walker was born in 1832 to a family of free spirits who encouraged her to think freely and work hard. Walker had an unconventional childhood for the time, wearing pants, working on the family farm with her brothers, and attending school. Her parents took intellectuality and education very seriously, schooling her as they would any of her brothers. Mary Edwards Walker was the second woman in the United States to ever receive a medical degree, at the same college as the first, Elizabeth Blackwell. 

After her graduation, Walker’s fiery determination drew her to join the Union’s efforts in the Civil War. However, her initial request to be a medical officer was denied because she was a woman. Although her country spurned her, Walker felt an immense responsibility to serve her country. Mary’s dedication to helping the sick and injured was remarkable, even volunteering to be a completely unpaid surgeon, just so that she could use her skills to help others. When she was subsequently rejected from working as an unpaid surgeon and forced to act as a volunteer nurse for the singular cause of being a woman, Walker worked tirelessly nonetheless, even if she was severely overqualified. Meanwhile, Mary Edwards Walker constantly submitted requests to practice as a surgeon while she saved the lives of countless injured soldiers in Virginia.

Finally, after three years of effort, Walker was accepted to practice as a surgeon. In her        work, Mary Edwards Walker performed through Confederate and Union crossfire, helping whoever she could. She often crossed enemy lines so that she could secretly aid captured and wounded Union soldiers, but this would lead to disaster when she was caught saving the life of a Union soldier and imprisoned for “being a spy.” Following her release after four months, Walker was appointed as one of the head surgeons of the 52nd Ohio Infantry. Apart from soldiers, throughout the war, Mary aided women in prison hospitals, and orphans in Tennessee.

After the war’s conclusion, Walker was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Andrew Johnson. Mary Edwards Walker wore her award proudly as she advocated for women’s rights. She believed that all women deserved the same educational opportunities as she received, and that women’s suffrage was a necessary and Constitutional right. In 1871, her bold voting registration was denied, and in 1912 and 1914,  when she was in her mid-80s, Walker stood before the US House of Representatives in support of women’s suffrage. Walker was often critiqued for her constant choice of clothing—men’s clothing. She was arrested multiple times for wearing men’s clothing, which she responded to by saying, "I don't wear men's clothes, I wear my own clothes." 

In 1916, Mary Edwards Walker’s Medal of Honor was revoked by the government, but Walker still wore the award every day until she died at age 86. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter legally restored Walker’s Medal of Honor. To this day, no other woman has received the Medal of Honor. Walker’s legacy is a testament to women impacted by systematic gender barriers in medical and political fields, with her vocal opinions on women’s suffrage and resistance to societal norms creating new opportunities for women years after her death.