Okla-homey
10/20/2008, 06:19 AM
October 20, 1819: Major General Daniel Sickles is born
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/5651/sickleshf7.th.jpg (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sickleshf7.jpg)http://img513.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)
189 years ago today, Dan Sickles, one of the most colorful generals in the US Army, is born.
Sickles was part of the famously corrupt Tammany Hall political machine in New York City and he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1857 to 1861. His political career was marked by scandal--the New York State Assembly censured him for escorting a known prostitute into its chambers, and he took the same woman on a trip to England while his pregnant wife remained in the states.
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/3140/dan200pxharpersmagazineky0.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dan200pxharpersmagazineky0.jpg)
Dan's hawt wife Teresa
While serving as a member of Congress in 1859, Sickles confronted Philip Barton Key, son of "Star Spangled Banner" author Francis Scott Key, when Key had an affair with his wife, Theresa Sickles. Sickles shot Key, Washington's district attorney, in Lafayatte Square, just across from the White House. "Is the damned scoundrel dead yet?" Sickles reportedly asked as he brandished his smoking pistol.
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/3999/danhomicidemo9.th.jpg (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=danhomicidemo9.jpg)http://img513.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)
Sickles' murder trial created sensational headlines. He assembled a defense team that included Edwin Stanton, who later became Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of War. Stanton employed the temporary insanity defense, and Sickles became the first defendant in the United States to be acquitted using that strategy. Sickles was then shunned by Washington society for taking Theresa back. Southern diarist Mary Chestnut observed him in the House chambers in 1860 and wrote that, "he was left to himself as if he had smallpox." Sickles left office in 1861.
When the Civil War erupted, Sickles raised a brigade from New York. The Republican governor, jealous of Sickles' success, ordered the Excelsior Brigade disbanded, but Sickles appealed to President Lincoln. Lincoln gave Sickles the rank of temporary commander and promised to help negotiate the New York political maze to commission the brigade. This took nearly a year, but Sickles and his command came to be part of General Joseph Hooker's corps during the Seven Days' Battles.
Sickles quickly moved up the ranks. By early 1863, he became commander of the Army of the Potomac's Third Corps. His troops fought well at the Battle of Chancellorsville, and Sickles played a major role in the Battle of Gettysburg. Sickles occupied a low portion of Cemetery Ridge on the battle's second day. He moved his troops forward against the wishes of Commander General George Meade in order to take a section of high ground in Sickles' front.
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/6849/danholemapui3.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=danholemapui3.jpg)
Between the US line and the Confederate line is Sickles' Line
From a Park guide sign at the Peach Orchard
The move left his corps and the Army of the Potomac in a highly vulnerable position. Confederates under General James Longstreet attacked, and Sickles' corps barely survived the day.
Sickles lost his leg during the battle, and he never regained another command. After the war, he was military governor of the Carolinas and served as U.S. minister to Spain. His time in Madrid was also marked by scandal--rumors spread of an affair between Sickles and Queen Isabella II.
After his return to the U.S. in 1874, Sickles spent much of his life defending his actions at Gettysburg and shaping the accounts of the Civil War. He died in 1914 at the age of 94. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, but the leg he lost at Gettysburg is on display at the Armed Forces Medical Museum in Washington, D.C.
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/6993/6a00d83451bd4469e200e54qt2.th.jpg (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=6a00d83451bd4469e200e54qt2.jpg)http://img513.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)
Dan's tib/fib
It is said that Sickles went to the museum annually to visit his leg on the anniversary of its loss until the year he died.
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/6689/danielsickles1912photo0hs3.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=danielsickles1912photo0hs3.jpg)
Old Dan in his wheeelchair
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/8088/danogfune2wk7.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=danogfune2wk7.jpg)
Dan's funeral procession
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/5651/sickleshf7.th.jpg (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sickleshf7.jpg)http://img513.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)
189 years ago today, Dan Sickles, one of the most colorful generals in the US Army, is born.
Sickles was part of the famously corrupt Tammany Hall political machine in New York City and he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1857 to 1861. His political career was marked by scandal--the New York State Assembly censured him for escorting a known prostitute into its chambers, and he took the same woman on a trip to England while his pregnant wife remained in the states.
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/3140/dan200pxharpersmagazineky0.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dan200pxharpersmagazineky0.jpg)
Dan's hawt wife Teresa
While serving as a member of Congress in 1859, Sickles confronted Philip Barton Key, son of "Star Spangled Banner" author Francis Scott Key, when Key had an affair with his wife, Theresa Sickles. Sickles shot Key, Washington's district attorney, in Lafayatte Square, just across from the White House. "Is the damned scoundrel dead yet?" Sickles reportedly asked as he brandished his smoking pistol.
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/3999/danhomicidemo9.th.jpg (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=danhomicidemo9.jpg)http://img513.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)
Sickles' murder trial created sensational headlines. He assembled a defense team that included Edwin Stanton, who later became Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of War. Stanton employed the temporary insanity defense, and Sickles became the first defendant in the United States to be acquitted using that strategy. Sickles was then shunned by Washington society for taking Theresa back. Southern diarist Mary Chestnut observed him in the House chambers in 1860 and wrote that, "he was left to himself as if he had smallpox." Sickles left office in 1861.
When the Civil War erupted, Sickles raised a brigade from New York. The Republican governor, jealous of Sickles' success, ordered the Excelsior Brigade disbanded, but Sickles appealed to President Lincoln. Lincoln gave Sickles the rank of temporary commander and promised to help negotiate the New York political maze to commission the brigade. This took nearly a year, but Sickles and his command came to be part of General Joseph Hooker's corps during the Seven Days' Battles.
Sickles quickly moved up the ranks. By early 1863, he became commander of the Army of the Potomac's Third Corps. His troops fought well at the Battle of Chancellorsville, and Sickles played a major role in the Battle of Gettysburg. Sickles occupied a low portion of Cemetery Ridge on the battle's second day. He moved his troops forward against the wishes of Commander General George Meade in order to take a section of high ground in Sickles' front.
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/6849/danholemapui3.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=danholemapui3.jpg)
Between the US line and the Confederate line is Sickles' Line
From a Park guide sign at the Peach Orchard
The move left his corps and the Army of the Potomac in a highly vulnerable position. Confederates under General James Longstreet attacked, and Sickles' corps barely survived the day.
Sickles lost his leg during the battle, and he never regained another command. After the war, he was military governor of the Carolinas and served as U.S. minister to Spain. His time in Madrid was also marked by scandal--rumors spread of an affair between Sickles and Queen Isabella II.
After his return to the U.S. in 1874, Sickles spent much of his life defending his actions at Gettysburg and shaping the accounts of the Civil War. He died in 1914 at the age of 94. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, but the leg he lost at Gettysburg is on display at the Armed Forces Medical Museum in Washington, D.C.
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/6993/6a00d83451bd4469e200e54qt2.th.jpg (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=6a00d83451bd4469e200e54qt2.jpg)http://img513.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)
Dan's tib/fib
It is said that Sickles went to the museum annually to visit his leg on the anniversary of its loss until the year he died.
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/6689/danielsickles1912photo0hs3.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=danielsickles1912photo0hs3.jpg)
Old Dan in his wheeelchair
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/8088/danogfune2wk7.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=danogfune2wk7.jpg)
Dan's funeral procession