Dr Mary Walker Elmina Spencer

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker and Elmina Spencer
Photo of Dr. Walker courtesy the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-48794)


Walker/Spencer Tent #108 is located in Oswego County, NY and was installed September 5, 2009. The tent is named for two women--Dr. Mary Edwards Walker and Elmina Spencer. Dr. Mary Walker was born in Oswego, NY and graduated from the Syracuse Medical College. She was the first female surgeon in the US Army and served during the Civil War as both a surgeon and a spy. After the war, she became the only woman to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor. You can read more about her here.

Elmina Keeler Spencer was also born in Oswego. During the Civil War she followed her husband into the 147th NY Infantry and served the unit as a nurse. There is a bust of her carved into the walls of the great staircase in the New York State Capitol in Albany.

Monthly meetings are held at VFW 2320 (85 E. Bridge Street) in Oswego. In addition to their involvement with this VFW post, Walker/Spencer Tent #108 is also involved with the Oswego City Veterans Council, Fort Ontario, and assorted clubs and organizations involved with genealogy, historical preservation and patriotic duties. We participate in Civil War encampments throughout the state, march in parades, and attend memorial services for our veterans. We are involved with the Annual Memorial Service each spring at the Union Rural Cemetery (in the Town of Oswego) honoring Dr. Mary Walker and Elmina Spencer, and we lay a wreath on their graves. Our goal is to further knowledge of the DUVCW and what we stand for, and to keep alive the memories of our forefathers who fought gallantly during the war and made many sacrifices.



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