July 30, 2024 • 19 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Gettysburg National Park Service Ranger Matt Atkinson tells the story of the Civil War general who created the "temporary insanity" plea, got his leg shot off by General Longstreet, and helped form the Gettysburg National Military Park—Dan Sickles.
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
And we returned to our American stories and up next
to the story of a truly unique general in American history,
Dan Sickles. Here to tell the story is Gettysburg. National
Military Ranger Matt Atkinson Take it away.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
So what we're gonna talk about tonight is Dan Sickles
and Old Dan Sickles. If you don't know anything about
Dan Sickles, you're in for a heck of a rott
He just he just defies description. It's truly, you know,
it's the side of a straight out of a movie
or something. So Uncle Dan is born on October nineteenth,
(00:49):
eighteen nineteen, in New York City. He attended New York
University and studied law under none other than the future
Union General Benjamin F. Butler. His early years were marked
already with graft. He was accused of stealing money from
another man, he embezzled money meant for a political pamphlet,
(01:11):
and he was accused of mortgage fraud. The connections made
though through Butler, opened a new world to Dan Sickles,
and that new world with politics. He quickly moved up
the plague Tammany Hall political machine, which he literally had
to fight in at different points with knife and gun
(01:33):
and so forth, and he became the Corporation Council to
the city at age twenty eight. Despite all those things
in his background, he later rode that political machine to
be a New York State Senator from eighteen fifty six
to eighteen fifty seven, and he served in Congress from
(01:55):
eighteen fifty seven to eighteen sixty one. To say, what
little life told you so far ought to give you
an indication of what type person he is. Dan Sickles
is impulsive. He is a moral He does not wait
on the whims of society whether he should be doing
(02:18):
something or not, and he definitely does not pay attention
to laws. As a lawyer once famously told me, Matt,
you cannot change the law, but you can certainly change
the facts. And Dan Sickles is going to be very
good at that right there. Sickles lived a fast life.
(02:39):
He went through the equivalent of several fortunes, and I
mean fortunes by today's standards, millions of dollars in the
eighteen hundreds. He blew through all that, and of course,
on the other side of it a lot of that money.
He also had a passionate side for the ladies. Her
name was Teresa BagleA. He had met her while she
(03:02):
was a little girl and he was studying law at
the home of her parents. When now she had grown up,
they were married by the Mayor of New York. But
what does Sickles do. He was married, and I think
he truly loved this lady. I believe he did. But Sickles,
it was just a formality to him. He's going to
(03:23):
be on the move. He would become the American and
this is really on the move. He would become the
American Legation secretary to James Buchanan at the Court of
Saint James in January of eighteen fifty three, that's the
year after he got married. But this is what Dan
Sickles plays well. Okay, this is what Dan Sickles plays well.
(03:44):
On July fourth of eighteen fifty four, sickles touchy sense
of patriotism bowled over when Native Bostonian George Peabody gave
a dinner to celebrate Anglo American relations. Sickles did not
like celebrating the Fourth of July with foreigners, and when
(04:08):
he arrived at the party, he found one hundred and
fifty guests mostly Englishmen. There were two life sized portraits there,
one of Queen Victoria and the King, and at the
end of the room with only a small portrait on
the opposite end of George Washington. And to top it
(04:29):
all off, the toast of Washington would be given by
an Englishman. The program for the evening had the star
spangled banner and Hell Columbia lyrics with all negative references
to England removed. And after the speech, with Dan Sickles
(04:49):
sitting there, it came time for the toast. That's the
way they used to do it. One hundred and fifty
people rose and then when they said they would place
their right foot upon their chair, and then somebody would
say to the Queen and everybody would echo that and
(05:12):
drink a toast. Out of one hundred and fifty people,
one hundred and forty nine stood up except for Daniel E. Sickles.
Sickles is going to basically get kicked out England for that,
because it's going to cause a royal mess because he's
insulted the Queen. But did he do that because he
(05:35):
really felt that strongly about the Knight's activities the program
or was it a political calculation because when he made
it back to New York, what did America think of him?
Anybody that tweaked the nose of John Bull was a hero.
Sickles is not finished. Sickles loved society, he loved public life,
(06:01):
and he loved both official and unofficial business. He had
made the acquaintance of a gentleman named Philip Barton Key.
Philip Barton Key, who's on the left right there was
the District Attorney of the District of Columbia and the
son of Francis Scott Key. Now with Sickles blessing Keys started.
(06:22):
Now Sickles knows about this. Keys started to escort Teresa
to various social functions, and Key was described as one
of the most handsomest men in Washington. And of course,
with Sickles not being around an absent tee husband, it
didn't take long for romance to blossom between these two,
(06:42):
Sickle's wife and mister Keys. Now, Key was known as
a poor lawyer, and Sickles interceded on his behalf and
saved his job as a congressman. A rumor came to
Sickles about the affair, and he confronted Key with it,
only to have it denied to his face, and you
(07:03):
know what Sickles did. He believed him. By this time,
with Sickles being gone so much, the affair had gotten
so serious. The Key had obtained a rental house a
few blocks from the Sickles home in Lafayette Square, right
across the street from the White House. Neighbors began to
see an elegant couple enter and leave the dwelling. The
(07:26):
two also had signals. One example is Key would walk
in front of the Sickles residents swinging a handkerchief as
a signal for a rendezvous. He would sometimes sit across
the square with a pair of opera glasses and stare
at the house's window, looking for a sign from Teresa.
(07:47):
On February twenty fourth, eighteen fifty nine, everything came crashing down.
Sickles received an anonymous note saying that an affair was
going on. Two days later, he extracted a written fashion
out of Teresa with all the tawdry details only a
Southerner can pronounce. The word Toldry, unaware of what had happened.
(08:10):
The next day, February twenty seventh, three days after he
received the note, Key approached the Sickles home waving a handkerchief,
and Sickles was upstairs and saw Key down below quote
that villain has just passed my house. My god, this
is horrible, and Sickles sent a friend outside to delay
(08:33):
Key while he went inside and concealed a revolver and
two derringers in his coat and went after Philip Barton.
Approaching Key, he exclaimed, Key, you scoundrel, you have dishonored
my house. You must die. And with that, Key reached
inside his coat pocket. Sickles fires the pistol and the
(08:55):
shot grazes Key. Key then rushed forward and grabbed Dan
and the two wrestled, and Sickles dropped the gun before
breaking free from the wrestling match. Sickles then produced another
gun from his pocket, and Key, reaching inside his coat,
retrieved some opera glasses and flung them at Sickles, exclaiming murder, murder,
(09:17):
don't shoot. Sickles pull the trigger and the shot hit
Key right below the growing. He fell to the pavement.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And you've been listening to the story of Dan Sickles
being told by Matt Atkinson, who's a ranger at the
Gettysburg National Park. And when we come back, we're going
to find out what happens at Dan Sickles trial here
on our American story, and we returned to our American
(10:11):
stories and the story of the colorful Civil War General
Dan Sickles. When we last left off, Sickles had shot
and killed his wife's quarter Philip Barton Key, Yes, the
son of Francis Scott Key, and he was about to
be placed on trial. Here again it's Gettysburg National military
Venger Matt Atkinson. Let's return to the story.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Sickles will be placed in the DC jail. He will
never stay in a cell. He will actually stay in
the jailor's quarters. It will be arguably, i mean, at
least for this region of the country, the most sensational
trial of the century. During the midst of this trial
(10:53):
by jury, none other than President Buchanan is going to
come in and shake Sickle's hand in front of the jury.
What does that tell the jury means he supports him.
Sickles will have the dream team defense lawyers, and for
the first time they will argue to the jury that
(11:16):
Sickles suffered from temporary insanity. And for the first time
an American jurisprudence history, Sickles will successfully use the defense
of temporary insanity. In other words, Sickles walks right out
of there, got away with murder. Of course, society did
(11:40):
what they condoned what Sickles had done. That's justifiable homicide.
Key should not have been doing that. They condemned Sickles
when he took his wife back. That's when Sickles gets
booted from Congress. Probably Dan, as I said earlier, probably
did really love her. And what did he have to
say about fidelity. Sickles's political career is basically over, although
(12:06):
he still has Tammany Hall behind him. But Sickles once
again right place, right time the war breaks out. Dan
Sickles comes from which party? Democrat? What party does Abraham
Lincoln come from? Republican? Every president of every war of
(12:27):
any era is going to want by partisan support. Because
of that, Sickles is going to be one of the
first Democrats to come out in favor of a Republican war.
And you know what else Dan does. He backs up
his patriotism with his own money, and he raises not
(12:51):
a regiment of troops but a whole brigade. And Lincoln
embraces both things, the support for the war and him
being a Democrat, and more importantly, Dan Sickles when he
gets his brigadier general commission, he becomes a general very
early in the war, and that's going to go into
(13:12):
his rise September third, eighteen sixty one, after he raises
what will become known as the New York Excelsior Brigade.
Now he was promoted to fast forward a little bit
here he was promoted to major general to rank from
November twenty ninth, eighteen sixty two. Sickles was assigned to
core command that winner sixty two sixty three. What you
(13:35):
need to know as far as us going into Gettysburg,
probably one of the more famous stories from the Battle
of Gettysburgh is actually the wounding of Dan Sickles. Dan
Sickles is going to be back at the Trossal farm
and he's going to be sitting astride as horse. It's
got to be a one in a million shot. And
you know when you're sitting in the saddle that when
(13:58):
you lean down you're sitting in this saddle, you know
your knees go out one in a million shot. Sickles
is gonna feel something warm. He's gonna take his hand,
He's gonna reach down to his leg, and he is
gonna pull back something warm. What is that warm? Blood?
A Confederate solid shot has come in and smashed or
(14:21):
piece of shrapnel has come in and smashed his leg.
You know the horse was unscathed. This is what Sickles wrote.
I never knew I was hit. I was riding the lines.
That was tremendously interested in the terrific fighting. I bet
he was. Suddenly I was conscious of dampness along the
lower part of my right leg, and I ran my
hand down the leg of my high top boots and
(14:44):
pulling it out. I was surprised to see it dripping
with blood. Soon I noticed the leg would not perform
its usual functions. Interesting, I lifted it carefully over my
horse's neck and slid to the ground. They found that
the knee he had been smashed, probably by a piece
of shell, and that the leg had been broken above
(15:04):
and also below the knee. But while all this damage
had been done, I had not been unhorsed. End of quote.
At first, Age wrapped a handkerchief around Sickle's leg. Then
a saddle strap was brought and used as a tourniquet,
and Sickles is carried off on a stretcher, and at
some point, as all Americans generals do, when the word
(15:29):
went around that he was dead, Sickles had himself propped
up on his shoulders and that lit cigar stuck into
his mouth, and that's the way he left the battlefield
smoking a cigar. Later that evening, his leg is amputated
on a farm located near the present day shopping outlets
(15:50):
on Baltimore Pike. Sickles will have the leg preserved in
a cask of alcohol and brought with him. Being a
politician and knowing the power and symbolism of a lost limb,
he donated the leg to the Army Medical Museum, and yes, you,
(16:12):
my fellow American taxpayers, still own it. It is true
that Sickles did visit the leg on probably his first
visit to the Army Medical Museum. The curator was leading
Sickles on a tour when the General uttered, oh, yes, yes,
but let us come to my leg. When the curator
(16:34):
led Sickles to the exhibit, the general retorted, where's my foot?
What have you done with my foot? They should have
been shown too. When the curator tried to explain that
the foot was not really necessary for the exhibit. Sickles
quote became very angry and anathematized the museum very freely.
(16:56):
In October of sixty three, Sickles is feeling much better,
and he met with his boss Mead at Fairfax Station,
Virginia to ask for his old command back. Mead refused.
Now after the war, Gettisburg continued to be a passionate
thing in Sickles's life. He made an impassion plea that
(17:16):
the sacred battlefield be preserved, and he vowed, in true
Sickles fashion, to do something about it. In eighteen ninety three,
he won reelection to Congress at the age of seventy
four for one term two years. While there, he pushed
through with irresistible energy, a bill to preserve the land
(17:39):
that made him famous or infamous, as the case may be. Today,
Sickles Avenue is actually the longest avenue within the military park.
I don't know if that was intentional, but I'm sure
Sickles would have agreed with it. On May third, nineteen fourteen,
Sickles is going to pass away in New York City.
(18:00):
He was ninety four years old. One thing was certain
the Gettysburg event was the defining moment in Dan Sickles's
life and alas, Dan Sickles, the general, out of seven
Union Corps commanders, one of only two that does not
have a monument here. Reportedly, and this is up for debate. Reportedly,
(18:24):
when Dan Sickles was asked why he didn't have a
statue on the battlefield, he retorted, that is because the
whole damn battlefield is my monument.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
And great job is always Tamanty for finding the story,
and a special thanks to Gettysburg National Park Service for
allowing us to use this audio. And what a storyteller
Matt Atkinson is. And by the way, that's a story
you will not hear in your history class. He was
a scoundrel, but in the end, look what he did.
He raised the money for a brigade. Scoundrels and naives
(19:02):
patriots and heroes. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference,
and in this case, a scoundrel does, in sound very
strange way, become a hero. The story of Dan Sickles
here on our American Stories
And we returned to our American stories and up next
to the story of a truly unique general in American history,
Dan Sickles. Here to tell the story is Gettysburg. National
Military Ranger Matt Atkinson Take it away.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
So what we're gonna talk about tonight is Dan Sickles
and Old Dan Sickles. If you don't know anything about
Dan Sickles, you're in for a heck of a rott
He just he just defies description. It's truly, you know,
it's the side of a straight out of a movie
or something. So Uncle Dan is born on October nineteenth,
(00:49):
eighteen nineteen, in New York City. He attended New York
University and studied law under none other than the future
Union General Benjamin F. Butler. His early years were marked
already with graft. He was accused of stealing money from
another man, he embezzled money meant for a political pamphlet,
(01:11):
and he was accused of mortgage fraud. The connections made
though through Butler, opened a new world to Dan Sickles,
and that new world with politics. He quickly moved up
the plague Tammany Hall political machine, which he literally had
to fight in at different points with knife and gun
(01:33):
and so forth, and he became the Corporation Council to
the city at age twenty eight. Despite all those things
in his background, he later rode that political machine to
be a New York State Senator from eighteen fifty six
to eighteen fifty seven, and he served in Congress from
(01:55):
eighteen fifty seven to eighteen sixty one. To say, what
little life told you so far ought to give you
an indication of what type person he is. Dan Sickles
is impulsive. He is a moral He does not wait
on the whims of society whether he should be doing
(02:18):
something or not, and he definitely does not pay attention
to laws. As a lawyer once famously told me, Matt,
you cannot change the law, but you can certainly change
the facts. And Dan Sickles is going to be very
good at that right there. Sickles lived a fast life.
(02:39):
He went through the equivalent of several fortunes, and I
mean fortunes by today's standards, millions of dollars in the
eighteen hundreds. He blew through all that, and of course,
on the other side of it a lot of that money.
He also had a passionate side for the ladies. Her
name was Teresa BagleA. He had met her while she
(03:02):
was a little girl and he was studying law at
the home of her parents. When now she had grown up,
they were married by the Mayor of New York. But
what does Sickles do. He was married, and I think
he truly loved this lady. I believe he did. But Sickles,
it was just a formality to him. He's going to
(03:23):
be on the move. He would become the American and
this is really on the move. He would become the
American Legation secretary to James Buchanan at the Court of
Saint James in January of eighteen fifty three, that's the
year after he got married. But this is what Dan
Sickles plays well. Okay, this is what Dan Sickles plays well.
(03:44):
On July fourth of eighteen fifty four, sickles touchy sense
of patriotism bowled over when Native Bostonian George Peabody gave
a dinner to celebrate Anglo American relations. Sickles did not
like celebrating the Fourth of July with foreigners, and when
(04:08):
he arrived at the party, he found one hundred and
fifty guests mostly Englishmen. There were two life sized portraits there,
one of Queen Victoria and the King, and at the
end of the room with only a small portrait on
the opposite end of George Washington. And to top it
(04:29):
all off, the toast of Washington would be given by
an Englishman. The program for the evening had the star
spangled banner and Hell Columbia lyrics with all negative references
to England removed. And after the speech, with Dan Sickles
(04:49):
sitting there, it came time for the toast. That's the
way they used to do it. One hundred and fifty
people rose and then when they said they would place
their right foot upon their chair, and then somebody would
say to the Queen and everybody would echo that and
(05:12):
drink a toast. Out of one hundred and fifty people,
one hundred and forty nine stood up except for Daniel E. Sickles.
Sickles is going to basically get kicked out England for that,
because it's going to cause a royal mess because he's
insulted the Queen. But did he do that because he
(05:35):
really felt that strongly about the Knight's activities the program
or was it a political calculation because when he made
it back to New York, what did America think of him?
Anybody that tweaked the nose of John Bull was a hero.
Sickles is not finished. Sickles loved society, he loved public life,
(06:01):
and he loved both official and unofficial business. He had
made the acquaintance of a gentleman named Philip Barton Key.
Philip Barton Key, who's on the left right there was
the District Attorney of the District of Columbia and the
son of Francis Scott Key. Now with Sickles blessing Keys started.
(06:22):
Now Sickles knows about this. Keys started to escort Teresa
to various social functions, and Key was described as one
of the most handsomest men in Washington. And of course,
with Sickles not being around an absent tee husband, it
didn't take long for romance to blossom between these two,
(06:42):
Sickle's wife and mister Keys. Now, Key was known as
a poor lawyer, and Sickles interceded on his behalf and
saved his job as a congressman. A rumor came to
Sickles about the affair, and he confronted Key with it,
only to have it denied to his face, and you
(07:03):
know what Sickles did. He believed him. By this time,
with Sickles being gone so much, the affair had gotten
so serious. The Key had obtained a rental house a
few blocks from the Sickles home in Lafayette Square, right
across the street from the White House. Neighbors began to
see an elegant couple enter and leave the dwelling. The
(07:26):
two also had signals. One example is Key would walk
in front of the Sickles residents swinging a handkerchief as
a signal for a rendezvous. He would sometimes sit across
the square with a pair of opera glasses and stare
at the house's window, looking for a sign from Teresa.
(07:47):
On February twenty fourth, eighteen fifty nine, everything came crashing down.
Sickles received an anonymous note saying that an affair was
going on. Two days later, he extracted a written fashion
out of Teresa with all the tawdry details only a
Southerner can pronounce. The word Toldry, unaware of what had happened.
(08:10):
The next day, February twenty seventh, three days after he
received the note, Key approached the Sickles home waving a handkerchief,
and Sickles was upstairs and saw Key down below quote
that villain has just passed my house. My god, this
is horrible, and Sickles sent a friend outside to delay
(08:33):
Key while he went inside and concealed a revolver and
two derringers in his coat and went after Philip Barton.
Approaching Key, he exclaimed, Key, you scoundrel, you have dishonored
my house. You must die. And with that, Key reached
inside his coat pocket. Sickles fires the pistol and the
(08:55):
shot grazes Key. Key then rushed forward and grabbed Dan
and the two wrestled, and Sickles dropped the gun before
breaking free from the wrestling match. Sickles then produced another
gun from his pocket, and Key, reaching inside his coat,
retrieved some opera glasses and flung them at Sickles, exclaiming murder, murder,
(09:17):
don't shoot. Sickles pull the trigger and the shot hit
Key right below the growing. He fell to the pavement.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And you've been listening to the story of Dan Sickles
being told by Matt Atkinson, who's a ranger at the
Gettysburg National Park. And when we come back, we're going
to find out what happens at Dan Sickles trial here
on our American story, and we returned to our American
(10:11):
stories and the story of the colorful Civil War General
Dan Sickles. When we last left off, Sickles had shot
and killed his wife's quarter Philip Barton Key, Yes, the
son of Francis Scott Key, and he was about to
be placed on trial. Here again it's Gettysburg National military
Venger Matt Atkinson. Let's return to the story.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Sickles will be placed in the DC jail. He will
never stay in a cell. He will actually stay in
the jailor's quarters. It will be arguably, i mean, at
least for this region of the country, the most sensational
trial of the century. During the midst of this trial
(10:53):
by jury, none other than President Buchanan is going to
come in and shake Sickle's hand in front of the jury.
What does that tell the jury means he supports him.
Sickles will have the dream team defense lawyers, and for
the first time they will argue to the jury that
(11:16):
Sickles suffered from temporary insanity. And for the first time
an American jurisprudence history, Sickles will successfully use the defense
of temporary insanity. In other words, Sickles walks right out
of there, got away with murder. Of course, society did
(11:40):
what they condoned what Sickles had done. That's justifiable homicide.
Key should not have been doing that. They condemned Sickles
when he took his wife back. That's when Sickles gets
booted from Congress. Probably Dan, as I said earlier, probably
did really love her. And what did he have to
say about fidelity. Sickles's political career is basically over, although
(12:06):
he still has Tammany Hall behind him. But Sickles once
again right place, right time the war breaks out. Dan
Sickles comes from which party? Democrat? What party does Abraham
Lincoln come from? Republican? Every president of every war of
(12:27):
any era is going to want by partisan support. Because
of that, Sickles is going to be one of the
first Democrats to come out in favor of a Republican war.
And you know what else Dan does. He backs up
his patriotism with his own money, and he raises not
(12:51):
a regiment of troops but a whole brigade. And Lincoln
embraces both things, the support for the war and him
being a Democrat, and more importantly, Dan Sickles when he
gets his brigadier general commission, he becomes a general very
early in the war, and that's going to go into
(13:12):
his rise September third, eighteen sixty one, after he raises
what will become known as the New York Excelsior Brigade.
Now he was promoted to fast forward a little bit
here he was promoted to major general to rank from
November twenty ninth, eighteen sixty two. Sickles was assigned to
core command that winner sixty two sixty three. What you
(13:35):
need to know as far as us going into Gettysburg,
probably one of the more famous stories from the Battle
of Gettysburgh is actually the wounding of Dan Sickles. Dan
Sickles is going to be back at the Trossal farm
and he's going to be sitting astride as horse. It's
got to be a one in a million shot. And
you know when you're sitting in the saddle that when
(13:58):
you lean down you're sitting in this saddle, you know
your knees go out one in a million shot. Sickles
is gonna feel something warm. He's gonna take his hand,
He's gonna reach down to his leg, and he is
gonna pull back something warm. What is that warm? Blood?
A Confederate solid shot has come in and smashed or
(14:21):
piece of shrapnel has come in and smashed his leg.
You know the horse was unscathed. This is what Sickles wrote.
I never knew I was hit. I was riding the lines.
That was tremendously interested in the terrific fighting. I bet
he was. Suddenly I was conscious of dampness along the
lower part of my right leg, and I ran my
hand down the leg of my high top boots and
(14:44):
pulling it out. I was surprised to see it dripping
with blood. Soon I noticed the leg would not perform
its usual functions. Interesting, I lifted it carefully over my
horse's neck and slid to the ground. They found that
the knee he had been smashed, probably by a piece
of shell, and that the leg had been broken above
(15:04):
and also below the knee. But while all this damage
had been done, I had not been unhorsed. End of quote.
At first, Age wrapped a handkerchief around Sickle's leg. Then
a saddle strap was brought and used as a tourniquet,
and Sickles is carried off on a stretcher, and at
some point, as all Americans generals do, when the word
(15:29):
went around that he was dead, Sickles had himself propped
up on his shoulders and that lit cigar stuck into
his mouth, and that's the way he left the battlefield
smoking a cigar. Later that evening, his leg is amputated
on a farm located near the present day shopping outlets
(15:50):
on Baltimore Pike. Sickles will have the leg preserved in
a cask of alcohol and brought with him. Being a
politician and knowing the power and symbolism of a lost limb,
he donated the leg to the Army Medical Museum, and yes, you,
(16:12):
my fellow American taxpayers, still own it. It is true
that Sickles did visit the leg on probably his first
visit to the Army Medical Museum. The curator was leading
Sickles on a tour when the General uttered, oh, yes, yes,
but let us come to my leg. When the curator
(16:34):
led Sickles to the exhibit, the general retorted, where's my foot?
What have you done with my foot? They should have
been shown too. When the curator tried to explain that
the foot was not really necessary for the exhibit. Sickles
quote became very angry and anathematized the museum very freely.
(16:56):
In October of sixty three, Sickles is feeling much better,
and he met with his boss Mead at Fairfax Station,
Virginia to ask for his old command back. Mead refused.
Now after the war, Gettisburg continued to be a passionate
thing in Sickles's life. He made an impassion plea that
(17:16):
the sacred battlefield be preserved, and he vowed, in true
Sickles fashion, to do something about it. In eighteen ninety three,
he won reelection to Congress at the age of seventy
four for one term two years. While there, he pushed
through with irresistible energy, a bill to preserve the land
(17:39):
that made him famous or infamous, as the case may be. Today,
Sickles Avenue is actually the longest avenue within the military park.
I don't know if that was intentional, but I'm sure
Sickles would have agreed with it. On May third, nineteen fourteen,
Sickles is going to pass away in New York City.
(18:00):
He was ninety four years old. One thing was certain
the Gettysburg event was the defining moment in Dan Sickles's
life and alas, Dan Sickles, the general, out of seven
Union Corps commanders, one of only two that does not
have a monument here. Reportedly, and this is up for debate. Reportedly,
(18:24):
when Dan Sickles was asked why he didn't have a
statue on the battlefield, he retorted, that is because the
whole damn battlefield is my monument.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
And great job is always Tamanty for finding the story,
and a special thanks to Gettysburg National Park Service for
allowing us to use this audio. And what a storyteller
Matt Atkinson is. And by the way, that's a story
you will not hear in your history class. He was
a scoundrel, but in the end, look what he did.
He raised the money for a brigade. Scoundrels and naives
(19:02):
patriots and heroes. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference,
and in this case, a scoundrel does, in sound very
strange way, become a hero. The story of Dan Sickles
here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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