Why Is Mary Edwards Walker Important

The Commemoration of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker

A Monument Proposal for SSC200H6 Fall 2016

Introduction

The commemoration of figures and events in history through monuments and memorials provides individuals with a tangible reminder of that person or place being remembered. Many individuals have been recognized as worthy of being commemorated for the works they accomplished in their lifetime, but many are still left unrecognized. Dr. Mary Edwards was a female physician that played an active role in both the Civil War and in the Women’s Rights Movement. While she has received recognition for her participation in the war, there were many other aspects of her life that often go unnoticed. I propose a monument that will incorporate those aspects

Walker attended Syracuse Medical School where she was the only female in her class and graduated in 1855 as only the second woman to obtain a medical degree in the United States. Walker was an enthusiast for women’s rights and for the dress reform. She frequently wore men’s clothing to lectures and other public affairs. She wore trousers and a man’s coat for her wedding and kept her surname, both controversial acts of her time. Walker and her physician husband moved to Rome, New York where they opened a practice, but the practice failed when Walker was not accepted as a physician. At the start of the Civil War, she reached out to the Surgeon General for the Union Army in hope of obtaining an assistant position for a field surgeon, but she was rejected because of her gender. As a result, Dr. Walker moved to Indiana where she volunteered her medical services at a hospital. She received a second Doctor of Medicine degree in 1862 and volunteered for the Union Army in that same year (Irizarry

Walker worked without end to tend to the wounded soldiers. She served at numerous battle sites, including Fredericksburg where she attended to the nearly 9000 wounded soldiers after the Union’s defeat, only receiving rations and a tent for her service. Dr. Walker also acted as a spy for the Union Army, treating civilians and soldiers across enemy lines. She was eventually captured while on the Confederate side and was placed in the Castle Thunder Prison in Richmond, Virginia for four months before her release. Two months after being released from the Confederate prison, Dr. Walker was finally contracted as a field surgeon with the 52nd Ohio Infantry where she served for nearly two years. Dr. Mary Walker was not well liked in the field because she would frequently avoid amputating limbs of soldiers when she saw it unnecessary. She advocated for the patients and wrote, “I considered that I had a higher duty [to patients] than came under the head of medical etiquette” (Irizarry 9). Only years after did she receive praise for stopping amputations. Neighbors of Dr. Walker recall many soldiers visiting and expressing their gratitude for her work in the field (Irizarry