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In his pre- and post-Civil War careers, as well as during the conflict, Daniel E. Sickles proved to be one of the most controversial of Union corps commanders. Prewar, the New York City native had already become the first man acquitted of a murder charge on the grounds of temporary insanity.
Infamous: Sickles, a congressman, shot down Philip Barton Key-the son of Francis Scott Key, the composer of the "Star Spangled Banner"-in LaFayette Park ,across the street from both Sickles' home and the White House. Key had been having an affair with Sickles' wife, whom Sickles had married while serving as secretary of the U.S. legation in London.[1] Defense attorney Edwin M. Stanton gained the innovative verdict. Sickles then publicly forgave his wife, outraging the public, which had applauded his role in the shooting, and apparently ending his political career. just then the Civil War broke out and he saw his chance to get a new start. [2][3]
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Sickles was born in New York City to Susan Marsh Sickles and George Garrett Sickles, a patent lawyer and politician. (His year of birth is sometimes given as 1825.[4][5]
On September 27, 1852 Sickles married Teresa Bagioli, the girl who had also been part of the Da Ponte household. She was 16 years old at the time of their marriage and he was almost 33. A daughter, Laura, was born to the couple in the following year. As the date of this daughter's birth is unclear, it is speculated that Teresa was pregnant before the wedding ceremony.[6]
First Marriage: On September 27, 1852, Sickles married Teresa DaPonte Bagioli Sickles (1836 - 1867) against the wishes of both families—he was 33, she about 15 or 16. Sickles was living in the house of Lorenzo L. Da Ponte and adopted daughter Maria and her husband, Antonio Bagioli. The Bagiolis had one child, an infant daughter named Teresa who was born around 1836. Teresa would eventually become Dan Sickles’ first wife[7]
Second Marriage: Carmina Creagh (m. 1871–1914) In 1871 he married Carmina Creagh, the daughter of Chevalier de Creagh of Madrid, a Spanish Councillor of State[8]
After the war, Sickles was most concerned (like many vets) with getting on with his life. He spent the late 1860s – 1870s on Reconstruction Duty and then served as Minister to Spain. Teresa Sickles died unexpectedly in 1867, leaving him a bachelor again. In Spain, he regained his reputation for entertaining lavishly, well above his annual salary. Dan began a romantic affair with the deposed Queen Isabella II in Paris, and the French press sarcastically dubbed him the “Yankee King of Spain”. But in November 1871, he instead married one of Isabella’s twenty-something attendants, Caroline de Creagh. [9] Sickles married again while in Spain but lived apart from his wife, the former Caroline Creagh Sickles, and their children for almost 30 years.[10]
Caroline bore a daughter (Eda) in 1875 and a son (George Stanton) in 1876.
In 1875 the general's wife bore him a daughter who was named Eda his first official offspring since Laura was born. When in the following year Mrs. Sickles bore a son, there was nothing Latin about the names given him. The infant was christened George Stanton, honoring his hoary old grandfather in New York and the late political autocrat who had once de fended Sickles' life for protecting the "sanctity of his home."[11]
Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Sickles became one of the war's most prominent political generals, recruiting the New York regiments that became known as the Excelsior Brigade in the Army of the Potomac. Despite his lack of military experience, he served competently as a brigade, division, and corps commander in some of the early Eastern campaigns. His military career ended at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, after he insubordinately moved his III Corps to a position where it was virtually destroyed. [8]
Always courageous on the field of battle, he was struck in the leg by a shell as his command was beginning its withdrawal. The leg was amputated within half an hour. In 1867 he was brevetted regular army major general for his role in the battle and three decades later was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He donated his leg to an army medical museum and in later years is said to have visited it. During his recovery he engaged in a feud with Meade over his generalship and who had won the battle. As a result he was denied further field command and was assigned a series of special missions by the War Department. Made colonel, 42nd Infantry, in the 1866 regular army reorganization, he was mustered out of the volunteer service as a major general (since late 1862) on January 1, 1868. [3]
Awarded the Medal of Honor
He preserved the bones from his leg and donated them to the museum in a small coffin-shaped box, along with a visiting card marked, "With the compliments of Major General D.E.S." For several years thereafter, he reportedly visited the limb on the anniversary of the amputation. The museum, now known as the National Museum of Health and Medicine, still displays this artifact.[12]
After the war he held a variety of positions: diplomat to Colombia, Military Governor of South Carolina, Minister to Spain, Chairman of the New York Civil Service Commission, New York City Sherriff, New York Congressman and Chairman of the New York State Monuments Commission. He was removed from the monuments committee in 1912 - allegedly misusing funds. Despite this, he was instrumental in establishing the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park. He visited Gettysburg many times after the war.
After the war he held a variety of positions: diplomat to Colombia, Military Governor of South Carolina, Minister to Spain, Chairman of the New York Civil Service Commission, New York City Sherriff, New York Congressman and Chairman of the New York State Monuments Commission. He was removed from the monuments committee in 1912 - allegedly misusing funds. Despite this, he was instrumental in establishing the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park. He visited Gettysburg many times after the war.[13]
Sickles died of "cerebral hemorrhage" at New York City on May 3, 1914. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
DANIEL E. SICKLES
Medal of Honor
Maj. Gen.
US Army
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Categories: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia | Union Army Generals, United States Civil War | US Representatives from New York | Battle of Chancellorsville | Battle of Gettysburg | Excelsior Brigade (Sickles'), United States Civil War | Notables | Medal of Honor | Wounded in Action, United States of America, United States Civil War
This is a great profile!
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