Episode 26: American Scoundrel - Notorious Politician and Union General Dan Sickles, Part II

 

Daniel Edger Sickles wasn't sure what he was going to do after being acquitted of murder and finishing his second term in the US House of Representatives so when the Civil War broke out, he quickly jumped at the chance to serve. When he raised an Infantry regiment, he was made it's colonel. He then raised an entire brigade and was made its brigadier general. He called it the Excelsior brigade after New York's state motto.

Excelsior Brigade Insignia

With very little professional military training, or even real battlefield experience, he was promoted to major general and given command of, first, a division in III Corps, and then of the entire Third Corps, consisting of about 10,000 soldiers. 

While leading the III Corps at Gettysburg, he made the controversial call to position his unit ahead of the Union battleline in and around the now famous-Peach Orchard. While mounted, a 12-pound cannon ball crushed his leg and leaving his horse unscathed. On the below map I have circled in orange where Sickles' III Corps was after pushing forward and indicated via an orange line more or less where he was supposed to be. Notice the arrow indicating Sykes' V Corps moving to occupy Little Round Top since Sickles wasn't there. III Corps had to receive reinforcements from Hancock's II Corps, Sykes' V Corps, and Sedgwick's VI Corps to avoid being completely overrun.

After his leg was amputated, the Third Corps surgeon sent Sickles' leg to the Army Medical Museum which had recently asked for specimens. Sickles would visit the leg every year on the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, and it is still the most popular exhibit at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland.

After the battle, and for the rest of his life, Sickles preferred to use crutches even though a prosthetic would be more comfortable. Cynics might say he wanted people to see his pant leg pinned up so they would all remember how he had been willing to place his body on the line for the Union cause.

After the war, sickles served in a variety of public position, including military governor of the Carolinas, US Ambassador to Spain, and a third term in the US House of Representatives. New York state asked him to serve of the head of its monuments commission which developed a passion in Sickles for battlefield preservation. He also oversaw the placement of monuments for several New York regiments and brigades, and III Corps.

Excelsior Brigade Monument at Gettysburg

When Sickles died in 1914 at age 94, he had outlived nearly senior military officer from both the North and South. His well attended funeral was held in Brooklyn, New York, and he transferred to Arlington National Cemetery, Section 3, Grave 1908.