Dr. Mary Edwards Walker is the only woman to hold a Medal of Honor to this day, awarded for her work as a surgeon during the Civil War.
Timeline of her life:
1832 - Mary Edwards Walker was born November 26 at the family farm on Bunker Hill Road, in the Town of Oswego, just west of the City of Oswego. Her parents were abolitionists Alvah and Vesta Whitcomb Walker. She had four sisters: Aurora, Luna, Vesta, Cynthia, and one brother, Alvah Jr. As a child, her father encouraged his daughters to forgo corsets and wear pants under a short skirt for health reasons. She continued through her life to dress this way, and advocated for dress reform. In her later years, she dressed exclusively in pants and a jacket.
1850-51 - Attended Falley Seminar in Fulton, New York.
1851-52 - Taught school in Minetto, New York.
1853 - Entered Central Medical College, Syracuse, New York.
1855 - Graduated from Medical College as the second woman in the United States to become a medical doctor. Elizabeth Blackwell (Geneva, New York) was the first. Also, this year she opened a practice in Columbus, Ohio, which lasted but a few months.
1856 - Dr. Mary Walker married Dr. Albert Miller, who had been a fellow student at Central Medical College, and they ...
