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We were discussing female soldiers on another thread, and this story came to mind.
That is the story of Dr. Mary Walker. She was a contract surgeon for the Union Army in the Civil War. She had the distinction of serving as the first female doctor in the Army Medical Corps. During the war, at one time she was taken prisoner by the Confederates and was imprisoned for four months. The US Army nominated Dr. Walker for the Congressional Medal of Honor for her wartime service, and it was signed by President Andrew Johnson in Nov. 1865, and she was presented with the award in Jan. 1866. The citation for her award mentions her devotion to the treatment of sick and wounded soldiers, both in hospitals and in the field, sometimes putting her own health at risk. It also mentions her captivity as a prisoner of war. It does not cite a specific act of battlefield heroism.
The US Army reviewed all previous awards of the C.M.H. in 1916. At the time, it was felt that not all of these awards had met the proper criteria for it. Dr. Walkers C.M.H. was revoked at that time, along with hundreds of others. Awards that had been revoked were directed to be returned. Dr. Walker refused, and wore hers until her death in 1919.
Dr. Walker's Congressional Medal of Honor was restored by President Carter in 1977.
Dr. Walker was something of a feminist for her time, long before the main efforts of activism for women's rights. It's possible that her outspoken personality and opinions didn't endear her to the 1916 War Department.
Of course, her opinions on women's rights and the fact that women as doctors were not widely accepted by most people of the time put her at odds with her Civil War contemporaries. She was an early advocate on the ill effects of tobacco to health.
During the Civil War, she was known to wear men's trousers under her skirt and a man's uniform jacket, with two revolvers.
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