Doctor Mary Edwards Walker Award

The Doctor Mary Edwards Walker Award is presented to a female member of one of the Allied Orders of the Grand Army of the Republic in recognition of and appreciation for her outstanding service to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.  The Department Commander may present up to two awards in any one year.

To date, there have been four recipients of this award presented by the Department of Indiana:

DUVCW Sister Vickie Day, on June 1, 2019
Vickie Day is a member of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War (DUVCW), Rebecca Otis Tent #54. She first joined the DUVCW and was initiated into the order as a member of the Linda Richards Tent #51, on June 13, 1969, marking her 50^th year as a member of the DUVCW in 2019. The Linda Richards Tent #51 disbanded and she joined the Rebecca Otis Tent #54. Vickie has served in many of offices in the Rebecca Otis Tent, the Department of Indiana and in the National DUVCW offices; Department Chief of Staff many times and National Chief of Staff and on the National Membership Committee.

Sister Day has worked tirelessly in support of veterans and homeless veterans in the state of Indiana for many years. She has been responsible for purchasing personal items, food items and clothing for the homeless veterans in the Shepard’s House in Fort Wayne, Indiana. On holidays, such as: Valentine’s Day, Easter, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas; Vickie has purchased apples, oranges, candy and cookies and taken them to the Fort Wayne Veterans Hospital for the veterans.

ASUVCW and DUCVW Sister Jennifer Kay Thompson, on January 25, 2020
Jennifer Kay Thompson has been of great service to the SUVCW, Department of Indiana, Ben Harrison Camp, No. 356, in Indianapolis, for many years. In addition, in 2013, Jenny organized the Eliza E. George Auxiliary to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Benjamin Harrison Camp No. 356 and also became one of its charter members which, up to that time, was the first Auxiliary that had been in Indiana for many years. Unfortunately, the Eliza E. George Auxiliary had to surrender their charter at the end of 2019, due to too few members.

Sister Thompson transferred her membership and is now a member of the Jennie Wade Auxiliary No. 27, Department of Pennsylvania. Jenny is also a member of the Catharine Merrill Tent No. 9 (Indianapolis) Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

LGAR and WRC Sister Elizabeth Thurston and LGAR and WRC Sister Penny Bucks, On October 29, 2022
Both Sisters Elizabeth Thurston and Penny Bucks were instrumental in founding Arsinoe Martin Circle #78, Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic in Indiana, and in subsequently founding Oscar and Mollie Mott Corps #1, Woman’s Relief Corps in Indiana. Sisters Thurston and Bucks have provided sustained, outstanding, and conspicuous service in support of the Department of Indiana, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, and Sisters Thurston and Bucks inculcate the principles of Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty in carrying on the traditions and mission of the Grand Army of the Republic and its Allied Orders

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About Dr. Mary Edwards Walker

Doctor Mary Edwards Walker was a well-known physician, women’s rights activist and Civil War veteran.

Born on November 26, 1832, in Oswego, New York, she enrolled at Syracuse Medical College, graduating with a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1855. Thereafter, she relocated to Columbus, Ohio, where she started a private practice. Returning to her home state not long after, Walker married fellow physician Albert Miller, and the couple moved upstate, to Rome, New York.

Soon after the Civil War began in 1861, she began volunteering as a nurse, working early on at the Patent Office Hospital in Washington, D.C. Soon she found herself on the battlefield in tent hospitals in Warrenton and Fredericksburg, Virginia. In the fall of 1863, she relocated to Tennessee and was appointed assistant surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland by General George H. Thomas.

Mary Walker was captured and imprisoned by the Confederate Army in April, 1864. She was exchanged in August 1864, after being held in Richmond, Virginia, for four months. Following her exchange she returned to Washington, D.C. She received a contract as an “acting assistant surgeon” with the 52nd Ohio Infantry and began supervising a hospital for women prisoners and then an orphanage.

She left government service in June 1865. In recognition of her courageous war efforts, she was awarded the Medal of Honor for Meritorious Service. She became the first woman to receive the honor and to date remains the only female Medal of Honor recipient.

Following the Civil War, Mary lectured extensively on such issues as women’s suffrage.

In 1917, the U.S. government revoked her Medal of Honor. However, she refused to return it and continued to wear it until her death February 21, 1919, in Oswego, New York. Nearly 60 years after her death, in 1977, Mary Walker’s Medal of Honor was posthumously restored by President Jimmy Carter.