Oddlet: Mary Edwards Walker · 1 min read
Jun 13, 2026
The Surgeon Who Wouldn't Give It Back
She was exchanged man-for-man for a Confederate major, and that wasn't even the strangest thing about her wedding.
Mary Edwards Walker was the only woman in her class at Syracuse Medical College in 1855, the first female surgeon in the U.S. Army, a Confederate prisoner of war exchanged man-for-man for a Confederate major, and the only woman ever awarded the Medal of Honor. Andrew Johnson signed it himself in November 1865.
She also refused to wear a dress.
At her wedding she wore trousers and a frock coat, kept her own name, and struck "obey" from the vows. Held at Castle Thunder prison in Richmond, she was offered women's clothing more becoming to her sex and declined, remaining in her Union surgeon's uniform until exchange. Arrested in New Orleans in 1870 for impersonating a man, she told the judge she had served four years on the tented fields of free America. The case was dismissed.
In 1917, an Army review board rescinded her Medal of Honor along with 910 others, on the grounds that she had been a civilian.
She refused to return it.
She wore it every day for the next two years. She was buried in a black men's suit with an American flag over the casket.
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- U.S. National Park Service – Dr. Mary Edwards Walker — Government biographical sketch covering Syracuse Medical College education, Civil War service with the Army of the Cumberland and 52nd Ohio Infantry, capture and four-month imprisonment at Castle Thunder, Medal of Honor award on November 11, 1865 by Andrew Johnson, 1917 rescission and 1977 reinstatement, the 1870 New Orleans arrest, and her 1912 and 1914 House suffrage testimony. Source of the quote 'I don't wear men's clothes, I wear my own clothes.'
- Encyclopaedia Britannica – Mary Edwards Walker — Standard reference entry confirming birth/death dates, 1855 Syracuse Medical College degree, marriage to and 1869 divorce from Albert Miller, September 1863 appointment by Gen. George H. Thomas, April–August 1864 imprisonment in Richmond, 1917 rescission, 1977 restoration, presidency of the National Dress Reform Association in 1866, and her appearances in dime-museum sideshows after 1886.
- Wikipedia – Mary Edwards Walker — Comprehensive cross-referenced biography providing specific dates: parents' names, schooling timeline, November 16, 1855 marriage, April 10, 1864 capture and August 12, 1864 release, 1871 Hit publication, 1878 Unmasked, 1907 Crowning Constitutional Argument, 1912/1914 House testimony, 1977 restoration.
- U.S. Army – Meet Dr. Mary Walker — Official Army article confirming her status as the only woman among ~3,500 Medal of Honor recipients, September 1863 War Department surgeon appointment, four-month POW status, post-release service as medical director of a women prisoners' hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, 1917 rescission, and 1977 restoration.
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