Women s Studies Curriculum Eleventh Grade Social Studies Lesson Plan Mary Walker: First Woman to be Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor

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1 Women s Studies Curriculum Eleventh Grade Social Studies Lesson Plan Mary Walker: First Woman to be Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor Content/Theme: Women s Achievements Grade: 9-12 Textbook Connection: The American Vision Glencoe Unit 4: The Crisis of Union: Chapter 11 The Civil War pg. 367: The Role of Women in the War Primary Benchmark: SS.912.A.1.1 Describe the importance of historiography, which includes how historical knowledge is obtained and transmitted, when interpreting events in history. Time: 1-2 class periods Objective: 1. Students will understand how Mary Walker contributed to the Civil War and the early women s movement. Teacher Preparation/Materials: Multicultural Information Activities: 1. Pre-reading: ask students what they know about the rights of women at this time of history. Read over in the textbook the section of the Role of Women in the War (p. 367). Ask students stop pair and share with a partner some names of women that were famous for past or current wars or wartime efforts. 2. Reading: have groups or students as individuals read the passage and underline three main effects of women fighting in the war effort. 3. After reading: Have students write and discuss their beliefs about acceptable female behavior in the 1800 s (social climate) and what is acceptable today (social climate). How do they think we arrived at the liberties that we have today? 4. In small groups, have students review Constitutional Law and inalienable rights. Assign each group a pro and con question to be answered by the group. Students can develop the questions.

2 5. Have students check out books from the media center or public library about Mary Edwards Walker and other women, like Maria Lewis and Mary Dyson, who were participants in the Civil War. Discuss how and why these women are unusual. Identify women from student s homelands that are unusual (This can be done from their memories of their home, interview of family members or books found in the library). ESOL Strategies: Cooperative Learning Assessment Choices: 1. Students will develop a list of at least ten books that identify the contributions of at least ten women who participated in activities related to the Civil War. 2. Students will interview parents and/or family members to identify women in their homeland that have made significant contributions to their native country or state. These findings will be presented to the class as part of the oral history of their country. This oral history will be presented to the media center as part of the school archives. 3. Students will record their answers on newsprint for display in the classroom, to be referred to in discussing the Civil War. 4. Students may complete multiple choice quiz: Answers: 1. B 2. B 3. D 4. A 5. C 6. She developed ideas on return postage, she wrote various books, and she was the second woman to graduate from a medical school in the U.S. Resources: Hall, Majory. Quite Contrary: Dr. Mary Edwards Walker. NY, NY: Funk & Wagnalls, Billings, Henry & Stone, Melissa. Doctor Under Fire: Great Firsts. Austin, TX: Steck- Vaughn

3 Mary Walker Mary Edwards Walker is the only female veteran to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for her services during the Civil War. However, along with thousands of other women, she received recognition for her military services in an American Memorial in October Mary E. Walker could be considered an eccentric personality of her era. She was born in the Town of Oswego, New York, into an abolitionist family in Controversy and politics were no strangers to Mary. Her father was a country doctor and freethinker, participating in many of the reform movements that thrived during the mid 1800 s. Through her association with her family Mary came to believe that women should not be constrained by the ethos of society. Mary became an early enthusiast for women s rights, and was passionate about her beliefs in social conformity, especially dress codes. In college, she was known as a rebel because of her association with women who defied the Puritan system of dress. Later in life, she was known to wear full men s clothing, for which she received many social sanctions. She attended the Syracuse Medical College, as the only female member of her undergraduate class. This was the first Medical College to accept men and women on an equal basis. She graduated in 1855, at age 21, after 13 weeks of school. She soon married Albert Miller, another physician. This union began with Mary wearing her own coat and trousers to the wedding and keeping her last name. The marriage lasted 13 years. During her marriage, she and her husband set up practice in Rome, New York. Mary s dress and aggressive behavior led to the demise of her marriage and practice. When the war between the States broke out, Mary rushed to Washington, DC to join the Union Army, where she was denied commission as a medical officer. She wanted to serve so badly, she volunteered and served as an acting assistant surgeon. This was historical, as she was the first female to serve as a surgeon in the US Army. As an unpaid volunteer, she worked in strategic locations, US Patent Office Hospital, Washington, and on the front lines (Fredericksburg and Chattanooga after the Battle of Chickamauga). Walker was finally appointed assistant surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland (1863). Mary designed her own version of an officer s uniform for her position, in response to the demands of traveling with the soldiers. She was then appointed assistant surgeon of the 52 nd Ohio Infantry. During this assignment it is generally accepted that she also served as a spy. She

4 continually crossed Confederate lines to treat civilians. In 1864, she was taken prisoner by Confederate troops and imprisoned in Richmond for four months until she was exchanged, with two dozen other Union doctors, for 17 Confederate surgeons. Upon her release back to the 52 nd Ohio Division as a contract surgeon, she spent the rest of the war as a surgeon at the Louisville female prison and an orphan s asylum in Tennessee. Her pension for wartime service was $ Afterwards, she got a monthly pension of $8.50, later raised to $20.00, but still less than some widows pensions. President Johnson signed a bill awarding her the Congressional Medal of Honor for Meritorious Service on November 11, This may have been recognition in order to avoid awarding her an army commission. She was the only woman to receive this recognition. In 1917 her Congressional Medal, along with the medals of 910 others was taken away when Congress revised the Medal of Honor standards to include only actual combat with an enemy. She refused to give back her Medal of Honor, wearing it every day until her death in Mary s medal was reinstated posthumously in 1977, citing her distinguished gallantry, self-sacrifice, patriotism, dedication and unflinching loyalty to her country, despite the apparent discrimination because of her sex. Mary was also a writer and lecturer. After the war, she toured the U.S. and abroad addressing the issues of women s rights, dress reform, health and temperance issues. Mary is famous for her stance on tobacco. She claimed that the use of tobacco would result in paralysis and insanity. She blasted women s clothing as being immodest and inconvenient. In 1866, she was elected president of the National Dress Reform Association. She was arrested numerous times for her wearing full male dress, including wing collar, bow tie and top hat. She was also a strong thinker and inventor. She developed the idea of using a return postcard for registered mail. She was an extensive writer and wrote a combination biography and commentary called Hit and Unmasked, or the Science of Immortality. She died in the Town of Oswego, N.Y., in Her gravesite is at the Rural Cemetery on Cemetery Road. A twenty-cent stamp honoring Dr. Mary Walker was issued in Oswego, N.Y. on June 10, The stamp commemorates the first woman to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and the second woman to graduate from a medical school in the United States.

5 Mary Walker: Quiz Name Date Directions: Choose the best answer to the following questions: 1. Why could you say that Mary s family was freethinking? a. Her family was from a long line of war heroes. b. Her family believed in reform and abolitionism. c. Her family was fashionable. d. Her family was poor but able. 2. What is an example of Mary s passion about her beliefs? a. She went to church to pray for her rights. b. She was rebellious by wearing men s clothing. c. She never married. d. She opened her own business. 3. Why did Mary have to volunteer, instead of being hired or drafted into the war? a. She was not qualified. b. The war was too dangerous for a woman. c. The war could not afford to pay them d. She was denied because she was a woman. 4. Mary s pension was unfair because: a. It was less than that of a man s pension or a widow s pension. b. It was shortened because of her short service. c. It was given to her late. d. It was given to her monthly. 5. Why was the congressional Medal of Honor given to Mary but then taken away? a. It was decided that a woman could not receive the Medal of Honor. b. It was not given to doctors or assistants. c. It was decided that only people who had actual combat would receive it. d. It was a presidential decision. 6. Besides serving in the war, list other contributions Mary Walker made: