DR MARY WALKER ~ SURGEON ~ CIVIL WAR ~ MEDAL OF HONOR 2013 Block of 6 x 20¢ US Postage Stamps

This is a block of 6 stamps as pictured. * * * On June 10 1982 in Oswego NY the USPS honored Dr Mary Walker, who risked her life to treat the sick and wounded during the Civil War. At the beginning of the American Civil War, she volunteered for the Union Army as a civilian. At first, she was only allowed to practice as a nurse, as the Army had no female surgeons. During this period, she served at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) She 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, she was awarded a commission as a "Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon (civilian)" by the Army of the Cumberland in September, 1863, becoming the first-ever female U.S. Army Surgeon. Walker was later appointed assistant surgeon of the 52nd Ohio Infantry. During this service, she frequently crossed battle lines, treating civilians. She went on to serve during the Battle of Atlanta and later as supervisor of a female prison in Louisville, Kentucky, and head of an orphanage in Tennessee. After the war, Walker was recommended for the Medal of Honor by generals William Tecumseh Sherman and George Henry Thomas. On Nov 11, 1865, President Andrew Johnson signed a bill to present her the medal, specifically for her services at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas). In 1917, the U.S. Congress, after revising the standards for award of the medal to only be given to those who had been involved in "actual combat with an enemy", revoked more than 900 previously-awarded medals, including that of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker and William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Although ordered to return the medal, she refused to do so and continued to wear it until her death. President Jimmy Carter restored her medal posthumously in 1977.