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The United States Mint has revealed the design for the Dr. Mary Walker quarter as part of the 2024 American Women Quarters Program.
It was announced in February that Walker would be one of five women to be honored in the program for her many accomplishments and contributions to the nation.
Walker was an Oswego Town native, Civil War surgeon, women’s rights activist and abolitionist. She remains the only woman to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The quarter’s design shows Dr. Mary Walker holding her pocket surgical kit. On her uniform are her surgeon’s pin and the Medal of Honor, which she continued to wear for the rest of her life. The left side of the coin displays the details of the Medal of Honor, and the inscription reads “United States of America,” “E Pluribus Unum,” “25 Cents,” “Dr. Mary Edwards Walker” and “Medal of Honor 1865.”
The coin was designed and sculpted by Phebe Hemphill, medallic artist for the U.S. Mint. Oswego Town Historian George DeMass contributed details about Walker to the U.S. Mint to ensure design accuracy.
The on-sale dates for the 2024 American Women Quarters Program will be published by the U.S. Mint on its product schedule. The Dr. Mary Walker quarter will be released in June 2024. Once the quarters are available, they can be ordered online at catalog.usmint.gov.
In addition to having her image appear on a quarter, Dr. Mary Walker will receive another federal honor. Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, a U.S. Army Garrison Regional Training Center, will be renamed as Fort Walker.
Walker graduated from medical college in 1855 as the second woman in the U.S. to obtain a medical degree. She went on to volunteer in hospitals in Washington D.C. during the early years of the Civil War, crossing battle lines to provide life-saving care to wounded soldiers.
In 1864, Walker was taken prisoner by Confederate forces and spent four months in a Richmond, Virginia prison until being released in a prisoner exchange. The following year she was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for her numerous acts of heroism and bravery on the battlefield.
After her time on the battlefield, Walker gave lectures throughout the U.S. and Europe, published multiple books and spent several years in Washington D.C. advocating for women’s suffrage and other causes. She died in 1919 at her home in Oswego Town.
For more information, contact Oswego Town Historian George DeMass at demassgeorge@gmail.com.
