I was born in 1832 in Oswego, New York.
I taught school to earn enough money to pay my way through Syracuse Medical College where I graduated as a doctor in 1855.
At the outbreak of the American Civil War, I volunteered for the Union Army as a civilian. At first, I was only allowed to practice as a nurse. As a nurse, I served at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), July 21, 1861 and at the Patent Office Hospital in Washington, D.C. I also worked as an unpaid field surgeon near the Union front lines, including the Battle of Fredericksburg and in Chattanooga after the Battle of Chickamauga. Finally, I was awarded a commission as a "Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon (civilian)" by the Army of the Cumberland in September, 1863, becoming a U.S. Army Surgeon.
I was later appointed assistant surgeon of the 52nd Ohio Infantry. During this service, I frequently crossed battle lines, treating civilians. On April 10, 1864, I was captured by Confederate troops and arrested as a spy (I may have allowed myself to be captured in order to spy for the Union Army). I was sent to Richmond and remained there until August 12, 1864 when I was released as part of a prisoner exchange. I went on to serve during the Battle of Atlanta and later as supervisor of a prison in Louisville, Kentucky, and head of an orphanage in Tennessee. After the war, I was recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor by Generals William Tecumseh Sherman and George Henry Thomas. On November 11, 1865, President Andrew Johnson signed a bill to present me the medal, specifically for my services at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas).
After the war, I became a writer and lecturer,
In 1917, the U.S. Congress, after revising the standards for award of the medal so that it could only be given to those who had been involved in "actual combat with an enemy", revoked more than 900 previously-awarded medals, including mine and William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody’s. Although ordered to return the medal, I refused to do so and continued to wear it until my death.
President Jimmy Carter restored my medal posthumously in 1977.
In World War II, a Liberty ship was named for me.
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Here's the game: I give you clues and you try to guess what more or less famous person I'm talking about. The clues are written in the first person, but they weren't really written by that person, they were written by me. A sample clue would be: I was the first pilot to make a successful solo, non-stop flight across the Atlantic "the hard way," i.e. from East to West. When you are ready to see the answer, click on "comments" and the answer will appear in a new window.
1 comment:
The answer is Mary Edwards Walker.
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