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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 23, 2005 Food & History The missing medal of honor Jeff Cheek In April 1864, Capt. Benedict Semmes, CSA, captured an unusual prisoner. "She was dressed in the full uniform of a Federal surgeon. She was not very good looking and she had tongue enough for a regiment of men." Semmes' shock in understandable. His prisoner was Mary Edwards Walker, M.D., the first women ever assigned as a surgeon by the U.S. military and later the first woman to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Born on a New York farm on Nov. 26, 1832, Mary spent her whole life breaking the rules. She refused to wear a dress. She wore trousers. They were more comfortable. She also invaded the male dominated medical profession by earning an M.D. from Syracuse Medical College in June 1855, becoming the seventh female physician in the United States. When she married Dr. Albert Miller, a fellow student she had met in college, Mary made a minor concession to femininity. She wore a wedding gown over her trousers. But she kept her own name. They established a joint practice, but separated in 1860. Miller left for California, putting a whole continent between them. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Walker rushed to Washington and applied for a commission as an Army surgeon. The request was denied. Women did not serve in the armed forces! Mary worked as a voluntary nurse while still badgering Secretary of War Stanton for that commission. Finally, Stanton gave her a job. He wanted to get her out of town. He hired her for $80 a month as assistant surgeon for the 52nd Ohio Regiment fighting around Chattanooga, Tenn. Walker disobeyed more rules when she went out into the countryside to treat ill rebel families, using government-issued medical supplies. On one of these unauthorized mercy missions, she was captured. Walker was a POW for about four months, then exchanged for a Confederate surgeon with the rank of major. Mary now demanded a major's commission. She was as valuable as that rebel! She offered to raise a regiment, "Walker's U.S. Patriots," from inmates in U.S. prisons. Newspapers applauded her unconventional offer. Stanton did not need a regiment of hardened criminals. He shipped her off to work in a military hospital in Missouri. But Stanton did nominate her for a medal for "rendering valuable service to the government." It has long been rumored that her mercy missions also gathered intelligence for General Sherman. President Andrew Johnson signed it on Nov. 11, 1865, and the medal was presented in 1866. Within a few months, Dr. Walker was making $150 a week on stage, wearing a man's suit with her Congressional Medal of Honor pinned in the lapel. Her speeches blasted the male-dominated society, demanding more opportunities for women. In 1917, Congress completed a lengthly review of all recipients of the Medal of Honor. Nine hundred eleven names were removed from the Roll of Honor. Mary E. Walker's name was one of those expunged. When a messanger came to tell her she had to turn it in, the 85-year-old spitfire told him: "You can have it, over my dead body!" and continued to wear it proudly until her death on Fenruary 21, 1919. On June 10, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed a decree restoring the Congressional Medal of Honor to Mary Edwards Walker, M.D., civilian surgeon, 52nd Ohio Regiment, U.S. Army, 1863. Sweet Potato Pie is a southern treat everyone enjoys. Ingredients 1 unbaked pie shell 2 cups canned sweet potatoes 1/2 cup sugar 3 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup milk 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon nutmeg 3 tablespoons melted butter 2 tablespoons brandy Preparation Using hand mixer, combine all ingredients. Pour into pie shell, bake at 350 degrees for about 55 minuts or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc libor rate Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress afsa studentloans home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms fasa student loans Matchmaking & Dating Scripts African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems student loan consolidation wholesale diamonds Currancy Exchange Online Casinos Community Fasa Student Loans Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams