2024 - D Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, American Women Quarter Series 40 Coin Roll
- You will Receive one Roll of 40 coins.
- D Mint is Denver Mint.
- Mint roll wrapping may vary.
- The Third 2024 Quarter in the American Women Quarter Program will feature Dr. Mary Edwards Walker.
The reverse (tails) depicts Dr. Mary Edwards Walker holding her pocket
surgical kit, with the Medal of Honor on her uniform, and surgeon’s pin
at her collar. After receiving the award, she continued to wear the
Medal of Honor for the rest of her life. The left side of the design
showcases the details of the Medal of Honor.
- The obverse depicts a portrait of George Washington, originally
composed and sculpted by Laura Gardin Fraser to mark George Washington’s
200th birthday. A recommended design for the 1932 quarter,
then-Treasury Secretary Mellon ultimately selected the familiar John
Flannigan design.
- This will be the 13th
quarter released as part of the United States Mint American Women Quarter Program.
- Find more in our Quarter Program Category.
The 2024 Dr. Mary Edwards Walker Quarter is the 13th coin in the American Women Quarters™ Program.
Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was a Civil War era surgeon, and a women’s
rights and dress reform advocate. She’s the only woman to be awarded the
Medal of Honor.
Mary Edwards Walker was born in Oswego, New York to parents that
encouraged her to think freely. They allowed her to wear “bloomer” pants
instead of skirts and corsets.
Walker graduated from Syracuse Medical College in 1855. She married
fellow medical student Albert Miller, and they set up a joint practice
in Rome, New York. The practice failed, probably because the public
would not accept a woman as a doctor. She and Albert later divorced.
When the Civil War began in 1861, Walker wanted to join the Union’s
efforts, but she was not allowed to serve as an army medical officer
because she was a woman. Instead, she served as an unpaid volunteer
surgeon at the U.S. Patent Office Hospital in Washington, DC. A year
later she went to Virginia to treat wounded soldiers near the front
lines.
In 1863, the Army finally accepted her request to practice as a
surgeon and commissioned her as a “Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon
(civilian)”. She became the first woman to serve as a U.S. Army surgeon.
Walker often crossed battle lines to care for wounded soldiers. In
1864, she was captured by Confederate troops and held for four months as
a prisoner of war at Castle Thunder near Richmond, Virginia. She was
freed in a prisoner exchange and spent the remainder of the war serving
at the Louisville Women’s Prison Hospital and at an orphan asylum in
Clarksville, Tennessee.
President Andrew Johnson presented Walker with the Medal of Honor for
Meritorious Service in 1865 based on the recommendation of Major
Generals Sherman and Thomas. The medal was stripped from her – and
several others – by government action in 1916 because she was a civilian
at the time of her valor.
Walker opposed society’s expectations of traditional women’s dress
codes and often wore “men’s” clothing because she found this attire more
practical, comfortable, and sanitary. In the 1860s, she wore a
knee-length dress with trousers underneath. Later in life, she wore
jackets and trousers most of the time. She was often mocked, punished,
and treated as an oddity for her clothing choices.
Dr. Walker died on February 21, 1919. Through the efforts of her
grandniece and some members of Congress, the Medal of Honor was
officially restored to her by President Jimmy Carter on June 10, 1977.