Results: Scandals of Daniel Sickles (Part 3 of 5)

Leading the Union's Third Corps at Gettysburg in 1863, Major General Daniel Sickles was ordered 3 times by his Army of the Potomac Commander General George Meade to maintain his position next to Hancock's Second Corps, and cover the Round Tops on the Union left flank. Against orders and without telling anyone, Sickles moved his men forward to the Peach Orchard. Doing so stretched the defensive posture of the Corps too thin, allowing the Confederate troops to attack from multiple sides. The Third Corps was overrun, driven from the field, and 40% of the soldiers were killed. His change of position was referred to as " . . . one of the war's most stupendous blunders". Many think the only reason Sickles was not court-martialed for insubordination was because he was seriously wounded in the battle and was politically well-connected. Do you agree?

During the assault by Lieutenant General James Longstreet's Confederate troops, Sickles' leg was struck by a cannonball and mangled beyond repair. He was carried off the field in a litter and his leg was amputated above the knee. Having heard that the Surgeon General had requested "specimens of morbid anatomy" for study to create advances in medical science, Sickles had a wooden coffin made to display his shattered right tibia and fibula in the Army Medical Museum in Washington, DC. The museum was renamed the National Museum of Health and Medicine in 1989 and was relocated to Silver Spring, MD where his leg is still on display. Sickles recovered quickly, and was back on horseback in 2 months. Do you think it took a strong will and fortitude to get back in the saddle that quickly?

Later in life, on the anniversary of having lost his leg, sometimes Sickles visited it (pictured in a newspaper woodcut) - the bones of which were now stabilized with bits of wire. He even invited guests to accompany him. After having joined him on one such occasion, author Mark Twain stated, ". . . the general valued his lost leg away above the one that is left". Do you think Sickles' visiting his leg was eccentric?

Major General Sickles stayed in the army through the duration of the war, but General Ulysses S Grant didn't allow him to return to combat command. After he retired in 1869, Sickles became the US Minister to Spain, continuing his scandalous behavior by having an affair with deposed Queen Isabella II. In 1871 Sickles, 52, married twenty-something Carmina (Caroline) Creagh (pictured), one of the queen's attendants. The couple had a daughter Eda, and a son (George) Stanton Sickles, named after lawyer Edwin Stanton, who defended Daniel at his murder trial. Would you want to name your child something that was a reminder of dark times?