Dr. Mary Edwards Walker

           Born in Oswego, New York, she acquired her early education from her sisters and parents, especially her father, a skilled teacher, farmer and docter. In 1855, overcoming obstacles and the prejudices against women that existed in the mid-19th century, 22-year-old Mary graduated from Syracuse Medical College to become one of the first female physicians. That same year she married her classmate, Dr. Albert Feller, and they set up practice in Rome, New York.
           When the War started, she applied for a surgeon's commission in the Union Army, despite having little training in surgery. After her petition was rejected by the surgeon general, she volunteered as a nurse in the army hospitals. Walker petitioned President Lincoln in Jan., 1864, writing that she would be willing to be assigned to a female ward, but she would "much prefer to have an extra surgeon's commission with orders to go wherever there is a battle...I will not shrink from duties under shot and shells, believing that my life is of no value...if by its loss the interest of future generatiuons shall be promoted."
           Familiar with the persistant woman from her appearances around Washington in conspicuous dress (she was pelted with rotten eggs by boys and made the target of cruel jokes by men for wearing men's clothing...), Lincoln endorsed Walker's petition: "The Medical Department of the Army is an organized system....and I am sure it would injure the service for me, with strong hand to force among them anyone....against their consent. If they are willing for Dr. Mary Walker to have charge of a female ward, if there be one, I am also willing...".
           Her marriage had ended when she threw her husband out in 1859 after discovering his extramarital affairs. After ten years of separation, they were legally divorced in 1869. Following that, she built a small medical practice and devoted herself to such causes as women's suffrage, suppression of tobacco smoking, and abolition. Her lifelong signature habit was the wearing of men's clothing, which she referred to as her "bloomer" attire.

"Civil War Cards", Julie A. Temple, 1963 Atlas Editions, USA