Remember the Ladies

Photo: Find a Grave

Dr. Esther “Hettie” Kersey Painter 1821-1889

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker is best known as the only woman physician to serve as an Acting Assistant Surgeon during the Civil War, but she was not the only female doctor who cared for the wounded. Esther Kersey grew up in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in a Quaker family active in reform movements of temperance, anti-slavery and women’s rights. An 1860 graduate of the Pennsylvania Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia, Dr. Painter played a number of roles during her service in the Civil War.

As a woman, she was not allowed to serve as a surgeon, but when her husband Joseph Painter joined the 7th New Jersey, she volunteered as a nurse in the army. Her first hospital experience was helping to establish the Fairfax Seminary Hospital under the auspices of General Philip Kearny. With other Philadelphia area Quakers, she helped distribute supplies under the auspices of the Penn Relief organization. She was with the Army of the Potomac on the march to Gettysburg and was among the first to assist with care of the wounded at the Third Corps hospital. At the Depot Hospital, City Point, Virginia during 1864-1865, Dr. Painter acted as a state agent for New Jersey and traveled with passes issued by General Grant. After the war she and her husband lived in Washington, D.C., where she practiced medicine and he worked as a government clerk.

They later moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where she practiced medicine and established an infirmary for chronic diseases. In 1883, she helped organized the Woman’s Relief Corps of the Grand Army of the Republic, still looking out for the well-being of veterans.