OSWEGO COUNTY- Oswego Town Historian George DeMass announced the late Dr. Mary Walker – Oswego native, Civil War surgeon, women’s rights activist and abolitionist – will receive two new honors by the federal government.
Dr. Walker been selected as one of five women to be honored by the U.S. Mint for its 2024 American Women Quarters Program Honorees. The quarters will feature designs representing the accomplishments and contributions of these women. DeMass has contributed details about Walker to the U.S. Mint to ensure design accuracy. The design of Dr. Walker’s quarter is estimated to be unveiled in spring or early summer of 2023, with quarters available in 2024.
Along with having her image appear on the quarter, a fort will also be renamed in Dr. Walker’s honor. Congress is renaming nine U.S. Army bases after acclaimed heroes, one site being Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, a U.S. Army Garrison Regional Training Center. Once renamed, it will become Fort Walker.
Dr. Mary Walker graduated from medical college in 1855 as the second woman in the U.S. to obtain a medical degree. She went on to volunteer in hospitals in Washington D.C. during the early years of the Civil War, crossing battle lines to provide life-saving care to wounded soldiers.
In 1864, Walker was taken prisoner by Confederate forces and spent four months in a Richmond, Virginia prison until being released in a prisoner exchange. The following year she was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for her numerous acts of heroism and bravery on the battlefield. Walker remains the only woman to have been awarded the Medal of Honor.
After her time on the battlefield, Walker gave lectures throughout the U.S. and Europe, published multiple books and spent several years in Washington D.C. advocating for suffrage and other causes. She died in 1919 at her home in Oswego Town.
For more information, contact Oswego Town Historian George DeMass at [email protected].
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