Trailblazers

Sanctuary celebrates a talented surgeon and early suffragist who paved the way for women to wear clothing that did not restrict and confine. She experienced consistent backlash from 19th century society but held her ground. The editors believe she is a perfect fit for our October issue which focuses on "embracing change."

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Dr. Mary Walker
​(1832-1919)
© Library of Congress

Of all the things Dr. Mary Walker found ridiculous and inhumane, it was the strictures of nineteenth century women's dress that galled her the most – and she lived her ideals on the issue, going about her business in men's attire and remaining unfazed by the predictable belittlement she attracted. Dr. Walker also took her lumps as a pioneering female physician, earning her diploma from Syracuse Medical College in 1855. She was awarded a Medal of Honor for her service as a nurse and surgeon in the Union Army during the Civil War, and she wore the medal everywhere, despite its being rescinded for lack of documentation. For a number of years, she edited a journal of opinion, The Sybil, while struggling to practice medicine in an environment whose lack of sympathy toward female doctors was intensified by her unconventional mode of dress. Nevertheless, she seldom lost her good-natured composure in the face of ridicule, nor her strong opinions on the "barbarism and unhealthfulness" of the devices by which women were confined and trussed in the name of fashion.

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Some interesting facts...

• During the Civil War, Mary went to Washington but was not allowed to serve as a medical officer because she was a woman. She decided to still serve as an unpaid volunteer surgeon at the U.S. Patent Office Hospital in Washington. At the time, the army had no female surgeons, so Walker was only allowed to practice as a 'nurse.' 
• She was captured by Confederate troops as a spy. She was held as a prisoner of war for four months. 
• After the war, Dr. Walker was awarded a disability pension for muscular atrophy that she suffered while in prison in Castle Thunder.
• She published a book titled Hit in 1871 which contained her radical ideas on topics from love and marriage and dress reform to woman's suffrage and religion.
• She was arrested in New Orleans in 1870 because she was dressed like a man. Walker responded by saying, "I don't wear men's clothes. I wear my own clothes."
• She testified twice in front of the U.S. House of Representatives in support of women's suffrage. 
• In 1977, President Jimmy Carter legally restored the Medal of Honor to Walker’s name. She remains the only woman to have won the honor.

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