This is the second of a two-part story about the 19th Century American named Daniel Sickles, a man’s whose scandalous life was especially peculiar.
March 1861: Two years after his sensational murder trial, Daniel Sickles, a newly retired Congressman, left Washington with his reputation in tatters.
Before departing, he made a speech in Congress denouncing the South.
April 1861: Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, SC, was attacked. That ignited the American Civil War.
Seizing on an opportunity to reclaim his good name, Sickles, now back in New York, formed a brigade of soldiers from his home district to fight against Southern aggression.
He called them the Excelsior Brigade, named after the state’s motto.
Because the disgraced Daniel Sickles was in command, the brigade was met with nothing but scorn. Even so, he formed a band of men ready to fight beside their new general - despite the fact that Sickles had no military experience whatsoever.
Thus began the rebirth of Sickles’ career, and he came to epitomize the concept of failing upward.
July 1861: After the First Bull Run, President Lincoln needed troops. Sickles’ Excelsiors were called to battle.
Their first action, however, didn’t commence until the following April 1862 in Virginia. The encounter was brief, and then Sickles departed for Washington.
While his Excelsiors perished in battles, Sickles was in the capital vying for a promotion. He got it and was named Brigadier General - despite having commanded troops in only one brief skirmish.
Upon returning to the Excelsiors, Sickles fought admirably and lost many men.
But he was then called upon to travel back to New York to recruit more Northerners to join the Union Army.
He was away from the Excelsiors until November. His men, who already regarded him as effete and elitist, were not pleased.
And then he got another promotion. Sickles became major general of Joe Hooker’s Second Division of the Third Corps.
The battles grew more intense and bloody. Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville were disasters for the Union Army, although Sickles was not entirely to blame. The latter conflict amounted to nothing more than a deadly stalemate.
Then came Gettysburg. That battle proved to be the turning point in the war.
And Sickles almost screwed it up for the Union.
July 1863: Although the Third Corps was exhausted from days of marching, General Meade ordered Sickles to have them enjoin the fight in Gettysburg.
On reaching the battlefield, Sickles encountered much confusion as to where to position his men. He was supposed to defend the cemetery near Little Round Top. Sickles disobeyed. He thought the Confederate assault would be directed at the Peach Orchards. So he told his men to seize that place first - against orders. The rest of the Union Army had to scramble to fortify Little Round Top.
Sickles was correct. The Rebel Army assaulted the orchards, and his men were severely outnumbered. The Third Corps suffered massive casualties. That might not have been the case if orders had been followed.
Sickles sat atop his horse as ordinance zipped across the battlefield in a constant, deafening roar. He initially didn’t realize a bullet had struck his leg. He was wounded but his horse was not. Upon dismounting, he discovered that his leg bones were shattered both above and below the knee.
A call went out for the ambulance, which was a horse-drawn cart. Sickles worried less about his limb and more about being taken prisoner by Confederates. He casually smoked a cigar as he was carted away.
As was commonly the case during the Civil War, Sickles’ damaged leg was not mended. He was anesthetized and then his leg was amputated.
Rather than tossing the severed leg onto a pile with all the other dead limbs, someone - it’s unclear who, although it might’ve been Sickles himself - placed the leg inside a wooden box and shipped it off to the new Army Medical Museum in Washington. An attached note read, “With the compliments of Major General D.E.S. (Daniel E. Sickles).”
Then, in order to save his life, men had to carry Sickles by stretcher miles away from the battle site. He was placed aboard a train and sent to Washington, all the while worrying that the Battle of Gettysburg was lost.
While recuperating, Lincoln paid Sickles a visit. The President told his wounded and doleful officer that Gettysburg was a success.
Afterward, defying doctor’s orders to recuperate in Washington, one-legged Daniel Sickles got on his crutches, hobbled to a train depot, and returned to his native New York.
He remained in the military, however, and served four more years. He was even sent on diplomatic missions to Central America and Spain.
Teresa died, and Sickles remarried.
His amputated leg was on display at the Washington museum, and he visited it annually throughout the rest of his life. He even took Mark Twain to see it.
Sickles ran for Congress again in 1892 - and won. He served one term.
Over the years, he often spoke publicly about his Civil War experiences with much embellishment, and his sordid reputation as an acquitted murderer was long behind him.
He lived to the age of 94.
To this day, the skeletal remains of Daniel Sickles’ severed leg resides in the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, DC.
For years, the leg has been one of the museum’s most viewed items.
Comments