Daniel Edgar Sickles (1819 - 1914)

Born 20 Oct 1819 in New York City, New York, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Teresa DaPonte (Bagioli) Sickles — married 2 Mar 1853 in New York County, New York, United States

Descendants

Died 3 May 1914 at age 94 in New York City, New York, United States

Biography

Daniel Sickles is Notable.

Daniel Sickles was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Maj Gen Daniel Sickles served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: Sep 1861
Mustered out: Jan 1, 1868
Side: USA
Regiment(s): 17th New York Infantry, New York's Excelsior Volunteer Brigade, Third Corps unit = 17th Regiment, New York Infantry

Maj Gen Daniel Sickles was Wounded in Action during the United States Civil War.

Summary

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]

Read more about Daniel E. Sickles on:

• Daniel E Sickles
• http://civilwarny150.org/sickles%20history.htm
• "Sickles The Incredible" by W. A. Swanberg
• "Dan Sickles: Hero of Gettysburg and 'Yankee King of Spain' " by Edgcumb Pinchon
• "American Scoundrel" by Thomas Keneally
• "Sickles at Gettysburg" by James Hessler. Published by Savas Beatie, LLC.

Birth

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]

Marriage

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]

Children

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]

Military Career

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

* June 20, 1861: Colonel, 70th New York

* September 3, 186: Brigadier general, USV

* October 3, 186 1-March 13, 1862: Commanding 2nd ("Excelsior") Brigade, Hooker's Division, Army of the Potomac

* May 24 - July 16, 1862: Commanding 2nd ("Excelsior") Brigade, 2nd Division, 3rd Corps, Army of the Potomac

* September 5, 1862 - January 12, 1863: Commanding the division

* November 29, 1862: Major General, USV

* February 5 - May 29 and June 3 - July 2, 1863

* Commanding the corps^[3]

Interesting Facts

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]

Later Years (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.

Legacy

• The lengthy “Sickles Avenue” runs over much of his line of battle.

• The Excelsior Brigade monument, even without the legendary missing bust, commemorates both he and the men he raised in New York.

• The marker near the Trostle farm (placed in 1901) denotes where he was wounded, while the New York Monument in the National Cemetery depicts the dramatic moment.

• The back-side of the Lincoln Speech Memorial, dedicated in 1912, credits Sickles with introducing the legislation that established the park and erected the monument.

• His name sits at the top of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, dedicated in 1925 (after his death) to the memory of all New York commanders who were not individually honored elsewhere.

• Under his leadership, New York placed eighty-eight monuments on the battlefield, the state monument in the National Cemetery, statues to two generals (Slocum and Greene), and applications for two more (Wadsworth and Webb).

• Locales such as Devil’s Den, the Wheatfield, and the Peach Orchard might not have any significance today were it not for his 2 July advance.

• He established the Gettysburg Park’s initial boundaries.

• Even the fence separating the National Cemetery and the local Evergreen Cemetery was the same that stood in Lafayette Square when Dan killed Barton Key.

Death

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]

Death & Burial

Sickles died of "cerebral hemorrhage" at New York City on May 3, 1914. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Cemetery: Arlington National Cemetery

Place: Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA

Plot: Section 3, Grave 1906^[14]

Headstone Inscription:^[9]

DANIEL E. SICKLES
Medal of Honor
Maj. Gen.
US Army

Sources

1. ↑ "Assassination of Philip Barton Key, by Daniel E. Sickles of New York". Hartford Daily Courant. March 1, 1959. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
2. ↑ "Who Was Who In The Civil War" by Stewart Sifakis
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Civil War Website: Daniel E Sickles Bio
4. ↑ Pinchon, Edgcumb, Dan Sickles: Hero of Gettysburg
5. ↑ Swanberg, W. A., Sickles the Incredible)
6. ↑ Encyclopedia.com: US History Biographies: Daniel Edgar Sickles
7. ↑ Essential Civil War Curriculum by James A. Hessler: Daniel Edgar Sickles: Bio
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Wikipedia Daniel E Sickles
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Sons of Union Veterans of The Civil War Department of New York
10. ↑ Encylopedia.com: Daniel Edgar Sickles
11. ↑ https://archive.org/stream/sicklestheincred001280mbp/sicklestheincred001280mbp_djvu.txt
12. ↑ https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Daniel_Sickles
13. ↑ Civil War History: Daniel Edgar Sickles
14. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7381/daniel-edgar-sickles : accessed 15 February 2022), memorial page for Daniel Edgar Sickles (20 Oct 1819–3 May 1914), Find A Grave: Memorial #7381 citing Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA ; Maintained by Find a Grave .

See also:

Acknowledgements

Created and researched by Vicki Norman