Daniel Sickles(20 October 1819 – 3 May 1914) was a member of the US House of Representatives (D) from New York from 1857 to 1861 and from 1893 to 1895 and Minister to Spain from 1869 to 1874. Sickles was infamous for his incompetence as a political general of the Union during the American Civil War, his murder of Francis Scott Key's son, and his arrogance.
Biography[]
Daniel Sickles was born in New York City, New York on 20 October 1819 to a very wealthy family, and he worked as a lawyer and served in the State Assembly as a Democratic Party politician. On 27 February 1859, he killed Francis Scott Key's son Philip when he discovered that Key was having an affair with his wife, and he used "temporary insanity" as a legal defense for the first time in American history. In 1861, at the start of the American Civil War, the inexperienced Sickles was promoted to Brigadier-General of Volunteers, and he raised the Excelsior Brigade for the US Army. Sickles would become commander of the III Corps of the Army of the Potomac, and he unwisely decided to move his III Corps to the Peach Orchard at the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg without receiving orders to do so, leading to his corps being annihilated. Sickles lost a leg to cannon fire and was awarded the Medal of Honor, but he was removed from command. Sickles attempted to gain credit for "winning" the battle, denigrating the actions of General George Meade. After the war, he served as a military district commander in the American South, served as minister to Spain, and served in the US House of Representatives. He died in 1914 at the age of 94.
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