Rude Words for a True American Hero

Originally published Breadcrumbs Blogger post 7/14/2013 

A revised and expanded version of this story appears in 

Snapshots and Short Notes, Kenneth Wilson, Univ. of North Texas Press, 2020. 

This impromptu photograph of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, circa 1912, was almost certainly snapped without her consent on a sidewalk in New York, and no doubt Dr. Walker had very sharp words for the photographer. Despite the circumstances of its creation, the photo gives us a candid look at one of the more intriguing characters in American History. The image is printed on a real photo postcard and discourteously titled “Dr. Mary Walker, The Only Self Made Man in America.” 

 

You will note that Dr. Walker is dressed in trousers and a top hat. When this photograph was taken, that had been her chosen mode of dress for many years. Born in Oswego, New York, in 1832 to very progressive or “free-thinker” parents who believed strongly in education and equality for women, Mary became an early advocate for women’s rights and dress reform, and she rejected the tight-fitting, restrictive women’s clothing of the day.

 

Mary Walker's story goes well beyond her choice of attire. She was a physician, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and Civil War surgeon. She was the first female surgeon in the U.S. Army and the only female recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, the United States’ highest military honor, awarded for personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty.  

 
Walker graduated from medical school in 1855 at age 23, when very few women in the country were medical doctors. She married and began a medical practice; however, the marriage ended in divorce, and in 1861, when the Civil War broke out, Walker volunteered her services as a physician to the Union Army. The army refused her a commission or a salaried position because of her gender. Despite this rejection, Walker volunteered her services and worked long, arduous, unpaid hours, first as a nurse and later as a field surgeon in tent hospitals near the battlefront. She treated wounded soldiers at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861 and later that year at the Battle of Fredericksburg.  

 

 

Walker continued requesting an official posting as a surgeon, but the army refused her a commission. Though officially a nurse, she wore the green sash of an army physician as she worked alongside the male doctors. A New York Tribune article written about Dr. Walker in 1862 included this paragraph:

  

Dressed in male habiliments… she carries herself amid the camp with a jaunty air of dignity well calculated to receive the sincere respect of the soldiers… She can amputate a limb with the skill of an old surgeon and administer medicine equally as well. Strange to say that, although she has frequently applied for a permanent position in the medical corps, she has never been formally assigned to any particular duty.

 

In response to her many requests for a position as a physician, President Lincoln sent a letter to Dr. Walker in 1864, which read in part:

The Medical Department of the army is an organized system in the hands of men supposed to be learned in that profession and I am sure it would injure the service for me, with strong hand, to thrust among them anyone, male or female, against their consent.

In September of 1863, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Walker treated the wounded after the Battle of Chickamauga, where Assistant Surgeon General Robert Wood observed her work and later assigned Walker the rank of Acting Assistant Surgeon. During these years, Walker continued to face the disapproval of many of the male physicians who had little respect for her opinions, including her suggestion that many of the battlefield amputations were unnecessary. Despite these conflicts, there is ample evidence that many physicians and generals in the field were grateful for her assistance in treating large numbers of wounded.

 
In 1862, Walker wrote to the War Department, requesting employment with the Secret Service as a Union spy, but this offer was declined. There is some speculation that, subsequently, she actually worked as a spy in Confederate territory, but the validity of those claims is apparently in question.
 

As an acting assistant surgeon to the 52nd Ohio Volunteers in 1864, Walker managed a hospital for women prisoners and an orphanage. Part of her responsibility included caring for the surrounding civilian population, and she often crossed enemy lines in performing this duty. On one of these excursions, Walker was captured and arrested as a spy by Confederate troops and imprisoned at the notoriously brutal Castle Thunder Prison in Richmond, Virginia, until her release later that year as part of a prisoner exchange. After her release from prison, Walker cared for Confederate women prisoners and an orphan asylum in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

  

Walker modified her uniforms during military service to include trousers and a knee-length tunic. She faced adverse reactions from male physicians and female patients, who were offended by her manner of dress and believed that women should not be doctors. 
 
After the Civil War, Congress awarded Walker the Congressional Medal of Honor for meritorious service. However, in 1917, in an unfortunate twist of fate, Congress rescinded Walker’s medal and those of 910 other recipients, including "Buffalo Bill" Cody, when the Medal of Honor standards were revised to include only awards for actual combat. Despite this ruling, Walker wore the medal proudly until her death in 1919. In 1977, congress restored Walker's medal posthumously, citing her "distinguished gallantry, self-sacrifice, patriotism, dedication and unflinching loyalty to her country, despite the apparent discrimination because of her sex."
 
Walker continued to work and lecture for women’s rights and dress reform well into her later years. In September 1866, she helped Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone organize the Women’s Suffrage Association for Ohio. She was also a powerful spokesperson for the Temperance Movement and was quite outspoken on the evils of sexual activity beyond the act of procreation. Walker attempted to vote in 1872 and continued to fight for the right of all women to vote and the abolishment of slavery. She campaigned for a U.S. Senate seat in 1890 and became a well-known figure of her time, easily recognized by her formal attire, including a winged collar and top hat. Unfortunately, Walker was often ridiculed for this manner of dress and even harassed by children on the street.
 
Dr. Mary Walker died in Oswego, New York, at 86.  During WWII, a Liberty ship, the SS Mary Walker, was named for her, and in 1982, the US Postal Service issued a 20¢ stamp honoring Dr. Walker. In 2012, a statue of her likeness was erected in Oswego. The bronze figure depicts young Dr. Walker wearing trousers under her uniform skirt and proudly wearing the Medal of Honor. A quote from Walker is inscribed on the lectern that accompanies the statue: 
 

“I have got to die before people will know who I am and what I have done. It is a shame that people who lead reforms in this world are not appreciated until after they are dead; then the world pays its tributes.”

  

 

 

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was a dynamic figure with unyielding views on many subjects. She was undoubtedly eccentric and perhaps complex and antagonistic. Still, she was a person of fervent convictions who fought tirelessly for the causes she believed in–abolishing slavery and improving medical treatment, education, and women's rights. You might disagree about her views on temperance, but in her honor, let’s raise a glass of a non-alcoholic beverage and proclaim, “Here’s to Mary Edwards Walker, a vigorous and genuine American hero!”

9/20/2022 Addendum:

From “A History Lesson for Trump: Transgender Soldiers Served in the Civil War” by Steve Hendrix, Washington Post, August 25, 2017:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/07/26/a-history-lesson-for-trump-transgender-soldiers-served-in-the-civil-war/

 

Many cross-dressers and gender defiers have served in the U.S. military since its earliest days. In fact, cross-dressing soldiers have been in the ranks of armies at least as far back as Joan of Arc, the 15th-century military genius who was burned at the stake for heresies that included wearing a man’s uniform.

During the American Civil War, boys just barely past puberty served in both armies, and the smooth face of a female impostor could easily have passed without remark.

“Researchers at the National Archives have found evidence that at least 250 women dressed as men to fight in the 1860s, some motivated by ideology, some by a taste for adventure, and some by the need for a job. Most of those who survived presumably returned to their lives as women, but others continued to live as men after the war.”  

 

Sources and Additional Reading: 

Women in Military Service for America Memorial:  

            https://womensmemorial.org/

Changing the Face of Medicine:  

            http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_325.html 

Obscure Histories, Mary Edwards Walker: 

            https://www.obscurehistories.com/dr-walker-resource-links

Mary Walker's Quest to be Appointed as a Union Doctor in the Civil War by Alexis Cole, The Atlantic, Feb. 7, 2013:

            http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/02/mary-walkers-quest-to-be-appointed-as-a- union-doctor-in-the-civil-war/272909/

Walker Bio:

            http://www.biography.com/people/mary-walker-9522110

Women in History:

            https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mary-edwards-walker

Dedication of Walker statue in Oswego, NY 

             http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/05/statue_to_dr_mary_edwards_walk.html

Castle Thunder:

             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Thunder_(prison) 

 

 

 

D Frenzel July 16, 2013 at 8:28 AM

Thanks, Ken. Interesting post (as always). Dave Frenzel.

 

 

Anonymous December 11, 2013 at 12:31 PM

Hey Ken...I've been to her grave (so what else is new). Rumor has it that she was buried with her Medal of Honor, so they couldn't get it back from her....Ginny Michaels

 

Remember Freda and the Alamo

My favorite table at the Alamo Lounge was against the west wall, just under a small framed "Freda and the Firedogs poster. It was the late 70s in Austin, Texas. The Alamo Lounge was the bar on the ground-floor corner of the old Alamo Hotel on West 6th Street, and I wanted that poster. 

To me, the Firedogs poster represented the beginning of the "progressive country rock" explosion in Austin, and the 1974 artwork was by Micael Priest, my favorite Armadillo World Headquarters poster artist. Freda and the Firedogs had been an essential part of a new music scene in Austin, a longhaired, country-rock, cosmic-cowboy sound that was just getting cranked up. The 1960s emergence of folk music as a distinctly countercultural scene in Austin with venues such as Kenneth Threadgill's and Janis Joplin as a local folk artist had set the stage for the 1970s development of the progressive country radio format at Austin's KOKE-FM and the legendary Armadillo World Headquarters music hall and beer garden.

Described by the press at the time as “freaks” and “hippies,” the Firedogs donned their cowboy hats and moved confidently into country music with their own style that incorporated rock “n” roll, folk, blues, and Cajun elements.  The band consisted of Marcia Ball, John X. Reed, Steve McDaniels, David Cook, and Bobby Earl Smith. 

Freda and the Firedogs by Micael Priest, 1974

Freda and the Firedogs played gigs in the local bars and honky-tonks like the Split Rail, Dry Creek Cafe, and Soap Creek Saloon, as well as opening for Freddie King at Armadillo World Headquarters and frequently backing up Doug Sahm. They were the first “hippie” band to play the legendary Broken Spoke on South Lamar. When big-time music promoter for Atlantic Records, Jerry Wexler, came to town, he wanted to sign them as well as Willie Nelson and Doug Sahm, but the Firedogs decided against signing with Atlantic, and the band broke up after the second Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic in 1974.

Freda (center) and the Firedogs, Dry Creek Cafe 1972, photo by Burton Wilson

www.fredafiredogs.com

Although Freda and the Firedogs were no longer together by the time I discovered the Alamo Lounge, the individual band members, including Marcia Ball, who had been dubbed “Freda” because it sounded good with “Firedogs,” were still playing music around Austin and the Alamo Lounge was rockin’ with music almost every night. I looked at that poster covetously each time I came in, examining the screws that held it to the wall and wondering if it would fit under my coat, but I left it there – not out of a sense of honor, but out of fear of getting thrown out of the coolest music venue in Austin.

The bar at the old Alamo Hotel, at Sixth and Guadalupe, had been renamed the Alamo Lounge in the early 1970s. The hotel was a funky old 1920s, five-story brick building full of dusty old hangers-on and down-and-outers, including Sam Houston Johnson, LBJ’s black-sheep brother. It had seen better days of politicians, conventions, businessmen, and travelers, but now it was pretty rough around the edges, and so were its tenants. They say that Tom Waits stayed there once, and later on, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard filmed part of their video for “Pancho and Lefty” in the hotel and its lounge. 

Alamo Hotel postcard c. 1940s

The heyday of the old hotel was long past, but the Alamo Lounge gained a new life in the decade after 1972. The room was long and narrow, with a beautiful old wooden bar and a small stage at one end.  The tables and chairs were worn and scuffed, and there were a lot of memories of one sort or another hung on the walls. At night the room pulsed with sound as musicians like Townes Van Zandt, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Bill Neeley, Lucinda Williams, Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, and Steve Earle played on the tiny stage for pass-the-hat money. 

I remember one particular evening at the Alamo when a newcomer to Austin, Mandy Mercier, was playing fiddle and accompanying Blaze Foley. Listening to that lively young woman tearing up that fiddle made me forget about the Freda poster.  Mandy Mercier is still playing fantastic fiddle music, but sadly, Blaze Foley went to his rest in his duct tape-covered coffin only a few years later.  The Alamo Lounge closed its doors in 1981, and the Alamo hotel was bulldozed to make way for a parking lot and, later, another bland Austin high-rise. The hotel's furnishings were sold at auction, and one of the U.T. professors picked up some great bent-bamboo chairs for his living room, but I never saw the poster again.

Marcia Ball continued to treat folks to her bluesy, Cajun voice and that boogie-woogie piano beat––keeping time with one long, bouncing leg crossed over the other. She went on to a highly successful career that has included more than a dozen albums and Grammy nominations.  As the years went by, I would ask younger folks in the audience if they remembered Freda and the Firedogs. “No?” I’d say, “Well, that’s Freda right there––that's her, yep, Freda and the Firedogs!”

It’s been a bit over thirty years since I sat in the Alamo Lounge under the Freda poster, but at the Austin Book and Paper show last weekend, I was fortunate to find and purchase an original 1974 Firedogs poster. There’s Marcia–big glasses and too-tall cowboy hat–and Micael Priest’s signature, almost lost in his classic cross-hatching. “Freda and the Firedogs. Every Sunday at the Texas Opry House, behind the Terrace.” 

After safely getting the poster home, I wanted to email a few old friends, especially my brother-in-law Joe Specht, our family music historian, and tell them about my find.  But I wanted to have my facts straight, so first I googled Freda and the Firedogs and found that Bobby Earl Smith, Firedog bass player and vocalist, is now an Austin attorney as well as a recording artist, and he maintains the Firedogs website at: http://www.fredafiredogs.com/index.html.

You can order a Freda and the Firedogs CD consisting of the 12 original cuts the band made on a demo tape for Jerry Wexler in 1972.   The website has a terrific history of the band written by Joe Nick Patoski, as well as photos, poster art, and reviews.  The music cuts include traditional country tunes like Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya,” Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City,” Taj Majal’s arrangement of “EZ Rider,” and a couple of original tunes by Bobby Earl Smith.

Freda and The Firedogs:

Marcia Ball – piano and vocals

John X. Reed – guitar and harmony vocals

Bobby Earl Smith – bass and vocals

Steve McDaniels – drums

David Cook – steel guitar and rhythm guitar

Recorded August 10-12, 1972, Robin Hood Studios, Tyler, Texas

Produced by Jerry Wexler, 

The CD is a reasonable $15. Be sure to ask Bobby Earl about his own CD, “Turn Row Blues”––“9 new original songs and four old favorites,” featuring James Burton, Lloyd Maines, John X. Reed, Casper Rawls, Freddie Krc, Eric Smith, Warren Hood, and Bobby Earl Smith.

The longed-for poster will soon be on my wall, and the original sound of Freda and the Firedogs floats to me through the air from 1974; life is good––go out and hear some music you will remember. 

2015 Addendum:

The University of Texas Press published Homegrown, Austin Music Posters 1967 to 1982, from the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University in San Marcos, and edited by Alan Schaefer. A book (and poster) signing event was held at TSU on March 1, and my wife, Debbie, and I grabbed a handful of our old Armadillo posters and showed up.

The Armadillo poster artists on hand to sign posters included Jim Franklin, Kerry Awn, Guy Juke, Danny Garrett, Sam Yeates, and Micael Priest! Yes, my personal favorite of the Austin poster artists, a genius with pen and ink, Michael Priest, was seated behind a table next to another Armadillo legend, Jim Franklin. 

Micael Priest self-portrait, 1977

We bought four copies of this beautiful book and stood in line for each attending artist, the writers, and the editor to sign them. As I reached Priest and Franklin, Debbie stood behind me and fed me our collection of Armadillo posters as the artists signed 'em. Both Priest and Franklin examined the posters closely and were impressed that they were original. Micael Priest had not been doing well for some time, and he died in September 2018. I was pleased that I had been able to tell him how much pleasure his art had brought me.

Of course, one of the posters he signed for me was Marcia Ball, Freda and the Firedogs. 

December 31, 2017 Addendum:

My sister and brother-in-law invited Debbie and me to see Johnny Nicholas and Marcia Ball performing a New Year's Eve show at Nicholas' Hill Top Cafe, just north of Fredericksburg. I had been lucky enough to have a few brief conversations over the years with Marcia Ball when she attended the art shows where Debbie and I sold our creations, but a chance to see her and Johnny Nicholas perform on New Year's Eve could not be missed. 

Johnny Nicholas, Marcia Ball, Hill Top Cafe 12/31/2017

To skip to the end of this long Freda story, we had a great time watching the performers and listening to their music in this perfect, small venue. I reintroduced myself to Marcia, and she graciously chatted with us about Austin music history and signed the Freda Poster; it is framed and hanging within sight as I type. I'm grateful to have had a chance to rub shoulders with folks like Micael Priest and Marcia Ball! 

Marcia Ball, Hill Top Cafe 12/31/17

You are the music while the music lasts.

T. S. Eliot

Note:  The Firedogs briefly reunited with all the original musicians at Soap Creek Saloon in 1979 to record an LP, "Live from the Old Soap Creek Saloon Austin, Texas" (Big Wheel Records), with special guest Sir Doug Sahm, but finding a copy of that LP will be a lot tougher than finding a Firedogs poster.

Wanna hear some '72 Freda and the Firedogs?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlGUMJ0ojRY

Or Marcia Ball a little more recently?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri8FMzc3Yt8

More about Michael Priest:  http://www.austinchronicle.com/arts/2006-10-06/408173/

The “Pancho and Lefty” Video with images from the interior of the Alamo Hotel and the Alamo Lounge:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxzJAF1BxP4

A good 2002 essay by Nancy Meredith about some of the eccentric tenants of the Alamo: http://2merediths.com/Nancy/rememberingtheal.html

A site with 1981 Alamo Lounge photos by Dana Kolflat:

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Austin-Songwriters-(Alamo-Lounge-Spellmans-EmmaJoes)/5654813

LINCOLN SLEPT HERE, 25¢

After seeing the movie Lincoln recently, I was reminded of a postcard I purchased a few years ago... 

I buy, sell, and collect antique postcards as a hobby, and I particularly like cards with interesting messages on the back. Most of the messages run along the lines of "I'm fine. How are you?"  "I hope Grandma is feeling better," or "Wish you were here," but occasionally, you find something more interesting than that.  This blog post is about a card from a dealer's twenty-five-cent sale box at a postcard show and the card's surprising message.

York, PA postcard show 2012

Postcards in sale boxes are usually common or damaged, but there are always customers for them. Beginning collectors often start their collections from the sale boxes, and artists buy them for collage work or ideas. More advanced collectors and dealers also go through the sale boxes, looking for a "gemstone" in the "gravel."  They might find a card that the seller didn't recognize as valuable or a damaged copy of a card that will suffice until a better one turns up. Often, the find is just a postcard that appeals to the eye or reminds one of another time or place. 

When shopping for postcards at a sale, I go through sale boxes quickly. Hundreds of cards are in each box, and I depend on a swift look to tell me when to pause.  The card pictured below appealed to me on two levels:  first, it was an early Japanese postcard with an attractive, hand-tinted rural scene, and second, I knew that many early Japanese cards have significant value. This card’s printed back has no dividing line between an address space and a message space, meaning it was printed before 1907. The edges of the card had minor wear, and it had been written on and postmarked in 1948.  These changes were acceptable, but unfortunately, it had a small, discolored, rough area on the back where some of the paper's surface was missing–perhaps where a sticker or a piece of tape had been removed.  Collectors of this type of foreign postcard want cards in excellent condition, but this card seemed to be a bargain at twenty-five cents.

Are you still with me? Remember that I mentioned Lincoln? We're getting there—we just had to set the scene. Some buyers would lose interest after seeing the card's poor condition, but I always hope the message tells a good story. 

The card was produced about 1905; however, the message, neatly written in ink, was mailed in 1948. Glancing at the message, I saw that the name "Lincoln" appeared several times.  That got my attention, of course, and here's the payoff:

Message:

8-4-48.  The card you mailed in the Mailomat at Chicago shows a Lincoln statue in Lincoln Park.     

Any Lincoln card is always of interest in this household, especially to Mrs. Matthews.  Her father used to sleep with Abraham Lincoln.  Her grandfather, Joshua Wagenseller, and Mr. Lincoln were long time friends, beginning when Mr. Lincoln practiced law in Springfield and Pekin, Illinois.  Whenever Mr. Lincoln came to Pekin for a term of court, he was always entertained at the Wagenseller home as long as he stayed in Pekin.   

Mrs. Matthews spent the first twenty-two years of her life in that big Wagenseller home so full of Abraham Lincoln reminders.  Thanks for the fine cards.  

Sincerely, Will C. Matthews, 2310 Fort St., Omaha, Nebr

Back at my computer, Internet research revealed that Joshua Wagenseller was a successful Pekin, Illinois businessman,  an ardent abolitionist, and a good friend of Abraham Lincoln.  In fact, President Lincoln offered Mr. Wagenseller a cabinet position, but Wagenseller declined due to his extensive business interests.  

Lincoln also had strong ties to Pekin, Illinois. In 1862, he gathered a group of men there to establish the first council of the Union League of America to promote patriotism and loyalty to the Union during the Civil War.

The postcard message seems legitimate and tells a Lincoln story that may not be recorded elsewhere. But of course, it gets better, doesn't it?  The message says Mrs. Matthews' father "used to sleep with Abraham Lincoln."

In recent years, there has been some speculation that Lincoln might have been bisexual, based in part on the fact that, as a young lawyer in Springfield, Illinois, he shared a bed for four years with Joshua Speed, a local businessman.  This postcard gives us another instance of Mr. Lincoln possibly sharing a bed, or perhaps just a bedroom, with a male––Mrs. Matthews' father, the son of Joshua Wagenseller. 

It's an interesting bit of history and open to speculation, I suppose, but in the 19th century, it was pretty standard for people of the same sex to share a bed.  In many instances, bed space was scarce or expensive, and a comfortable sleeping space was not to be wasted.  In fact, when necessary, unmarried house guests of the opposite sex sometimes shared a bed. In such cases, a wooden plank called a "bundling board" was often set between them to ensure no "accidental" touching occurred during the night.  

In my opinion, these reported sleeping arrangements for Mr. Lincoln are simply evidence that even the great Abraham Lincoln needed a good night's sleep. Rest in peace, President Lincoln. 

So, that's the 25¢ Lincoln story.  Looking closely, you can see the price written lightly in pencil on the back of the card.  It was a bargain and an excellent example of the small treasures out there if you keep your eyes open.

By the way, see the Spielberg movie, "Lincoln," as soon as possible.  Daniel Day-Lewis is as close as you will ever get to the real Lincoln. Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field are terrific, and James Spader almost steals the show. However, One must remember that the true story is always much more complex than a movie version.

To see a broader view of people who influenced Lincoln, like Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, you might want to check out the PBS documentary, "The Abolitionists."  Here's a link to a review of it written by Mary McNamara of the LA Times:  
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-abolitionists-20130108,0,1215367.story