Daniel Sickles Daniel Edgar Sickles ( October 20 , 1819 – May 3 , 1914 ) was a colorful and controversial American politician , Union general in the American Civil War , and diplomat . " Harper ' s Weekly " described him as " loved more sincerely , and hated more heartily , than any man of his day . " As an antebellum New York politician , Sickles was involved in a number of public scandals , most notably the killing of his wife ' s lover , Philip Barton Key II , son of Francis Scott Key . He was acquitted with the first use of temporary insanity as a legal defense in U . S . history . He became one of the most prominent political general s of the Civil War . At the Battle of Gettysburg , he insubordinately moved his III Corps to a position in which it was virtually destroyed , an action that continues to generate controversy ; despite this , he would eventually be awarded the Medal of Honor in 1897 . His combat career ended at Gettysburg when his leg was struck by cannon fire . After the war , Sickles commanded military districts during Reconstruction , served as U . S . Minister to Spain , and eventually returned to the U . S . Congress , where he made important legislative contributions to the preservation of the Gettysburg Battlefield . Early life and politics . Sickles was born in New York City to Susan Marsh Sickles and George Garrett Sickles , a patent lawyer and politician . ( His year of birth is sometimes given as 1825 , and , in fact , Sickles himself was known to have claimed as such . Historians speculate that Sickles deliberately chose to appear younger when he married a woman half his age . ) He learned the printer ' s trade and studied at the University of the City of New York ( now New York University ) . He studied law in the office of Benjamin Butler , was admitted to the bar in 1846 , and was a member of the New York State Assembly ( New York Co . ) in 1847 . On September 27 , 1852 , Sickles married Teresa Bagioli against the wishes of both families — he was 33 , she about 15 or 16 , although she was sophisticated for her age , speaking five languages . In 1853 he became corporation counsel of New York City , but resigned soon afterward to become secretary of the U . S . legation in London , under James Buchanan , by appointment of President Franklin Pierce . He returned to America in 1855 , and was a member of the New York State Senate ( 3rd D . ) in 1856 and 1857 . He was elected as a Democrat to the 35th and 36th United States Congresses , holding office from March 4 , 1857 , to March 3 , 1861 . Murder of Key . Sickles ' s career was replete with personal scandals . He was censured by the New York State Assembly for escorting a known prostitute , Fanny White , into its chambers . He also reportedly took her to England , leaving his pregnant wife at home , and presented White to Queen Victoria , using as her alias the surname of a New York political opponent . In 1859 , in Lafayette Square , across the street from the White House , Sickles shot and killed the district attorney of the District of Columbia , Philip Barton Key II , son of Francis Scott Key , who Sickles had discovered was having an affair with his young wife . Trial . Sickles surrendered at Attorney General Jeremiah Black ' s house , a few blocks away on Franklin Square , and confessed to the murder . After a visit to his home , accompanied by a constable , Sickles was taken to jail . He was able to receive visitors , and so many came that he was granted the use of the head jailer ' s apartment to receive them . This was one of several odd features of his confinement . He was also allowed to retain his personal weapon , unusual even for the time . The press reported heavy visitor traffic , including many representatives , senators , and other leading members of Washington society . President James Buchanan sent Sickles a personal note . Most painful for Sickles , according to " Harper ' s Magazine " , were the visits of his wife ' s mother and her clergyman . Both told him that Teresa was distracted with grief , shame , and sorrow , and that the loss of her wedding ring ( which Sickles had taken on visiting his home ) was more than Teresa could bear . Sickles was charged with murder . He secured several leading politicians as his defense attorneys , among them Edwin M . Stanton , later to become Secretary of War , and Chief Counsel James T . Brady , like Sickles a product of Tammany Hall . In a historic strategy , Sickles pled insanity — the first use of a temporary insanity defense in the United States . Before the jury , Stanton argued that Sickles had been driven insane by his wife ' s infidelity , and thus was out of his mind when he shot Key . The papers soon trumpeted that Sickles was a hero for " saving all the ladies of Washington from this rogue named Key " . The graphic confession that Sickles had obtained from Teresa on Saturday proved pivotal . It was ruled inadmissible in court , but , leaked by Sickles to the press , was printed in the newspapers in full . The defense strategy ensured that the trial was the main topic of conversations in Washington for weeks , and the extensive coverage of national papers was sympathetic to Sickles . In the courtroom , the strategy brought drama , controversy , and , ultimately , an acquittal for Sickles . Sickles then publicly forgave Teresa , and " withdrew " briefly from public life , although he did not resign from Congress . The public was apparently more outraged by Sickles ' forgiveness and reconciliation with his wife , whom he had publicly branded a harlot and adulteress , than by the murder and his unorthodox acquittal . Civil War . At the outbreak of the Civil War , Sickles desired to repair his public image and was active in raising volunteers in New York . He was appointed colonel of one of the four regiments he organized . He was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers in September 1861 , becoming one of the most famous political general s in the Union Army . In March 1862 , he was forced to relinquish his command when the U . S . Congress refused to confirm his commission , but he worked diligently to lobby among his Washington political contacts and reclaimed both his rank and his command on May 24 , 1862 , in time to rejoin the Army in the Peninsula Campaign . Because of this interruption , he missed his brigade ' s significant actions at the Battle of Williamsburg . Despite his complete lack of previous military experience , he did a competent job commanding the " Excelsior Brigade " of the Army of the Potomac in the Battle of Seven Pines and the Seven Days Battles . He was absent for the Second Battle of Bull Run , having used his political influences to obtain leave to go to New York City to recruit new troops . He also missed the Battle of Antietam because the III Corps , to which he was assigned as a division commander , was stationed on the lower Potomac , protecting the capital . Sickles was a close ally of Major General Joseph Hooker , who was his original division commander and eventually commanded the Army of the Potomac . Both men had notorious reputations as political climbers and as hard - drinking ladies ' men . Accounts at the time compared their army headquarters to a rowdy bar and bordello . Sickles ' s division was in reserve at the Battle of Fredericksburg . On January 16 , 1863 , President Abraham Lincoln nominated Sickles for promotion to the grade of major general to rank from November 29 , 1862 . Although the U . S . Senate did not confirm the promotion until March 9 , 1863 and the President did not formally appoint Sickles until March 11 , 1863 , Hooker , now commanding the Army of the Potomac , gave Sickles command of the III Corps in February 1863 , a controversial move in the army because he became the only corps commander without a West Point education . His energy and ability were conspicuous in the Battle of Chancellorsville . He aggressively recommended pursuing troops he saw in his sector on May 2 , 1863 . Sickles thought the Confederates were retreating , but these turned out to be elements of Thomas J . " Stonewall " Jackson ' s corps , stealthily marching around the Union flank . He also vigorously opposed Hooker ' s orders moving him off good defensive terrain in Hazel Grove . In both of these cases , it is easy to imagine the disastrous battle turning out very differently for the Union if Hooker had heeded his advice . Gettysburg . The Battle of Gettysburg marked the most famous incident in , and the effective end of , Sickles ' military career . On July 2 , 1863 , Army of the Potomac commander Major General George G . Meade ordered Sickles ' corps to take up defensive positions on the southern end of Cemetery Ridge , anchored in the north to the II Corps and to the south , the hill known as Little Round Top . Sickles was unhappy to see a slightly higher terrain feature to his front , the " Peach Orchard " . Perhaps remembering the beating his corps had taken from Confederate artillery at Hazel Grove during the Battle of Chancellorsville , he violated orders by marching his corps almost a mile in front of Cemetery Ridge . This had two effects : it greatly diluted the concentrated defensive posture of his corps by stretching it too thin , and it created a salient that could be bombarded and attacked from multiple sides . About this time ( 3 : 00 p . m . ) , Meade called a meeting of his corps commanders . Sickles did not appear . An aide to Brigadier General Gouverneur K . Warren soon reported the situation . Meade and Warren rode to Sickles position and Meade demanded an explanation from Sickles . Though agitated , Meade refused Sickles offer to withdraw because he realized it was too late and the Confederates would soon attack , putting a retreating force in even greater peril . In fact , the Confederates did attack at about the time the meeting finished and Meade returned to his headquarters . The Confederate assault by Lieutenant General James Longstreet ' s corps , primarily by the division of Major General Lafayette McLaws , smashed the III Corps and rendered it useless for further combat . Gettysburg campaign historian Edwin B . Coddington assigns " much of the blame for the near disaster " in the center of the Union line to Sickles . Stephen W . Sears wrote that " Dan Sickles , in not obeying Meade ' s explicit orders , risked both his Third Corps and the army ' s defensive plan on July 2 . However , Sickles ' maneuver has recently been credited by John Keegan with blunting the whole Confederate offensive that was intended to cause the collapse of the Union line . Similarly , James M . McPherson wrote that " Sickles ' s unwise move may have unwittingly foiled Lee ' s hopes . " During the height of the Confederate attack , Sickles fell victim to a cannonball that mangled his right leg . He was carried by a detail of soldiers to the shade of the Trostle farmhouse , where a saddle strap was applied as a tourniquet . He ordered his aide , Major Harry Tremain , " Tell General Birney he must take command . " As he was carried by stretcher to the III Corps hospital on the Taneytown Road , he bravely attempted to raise his soldiers ' spirits by grinning and puffing on a cigar along the way . His leg was amputated that afternoon . He insisted on being transported back to Washington , D . C . , which he reached on July 4 , 1863 , bringing some of the first news of the great Union victory , and starting a public relations campaign to ensure his version of the battle prevailed . On the afternoon of July 5 , President Lincoln and his son , Tad , visited General Sickles , as he was recovering in Washington . Sickles had recent knowledge of a new directive from the Army Surgeon General to collect and forward " specimens of morbid anatomy . . . together with projectiles and foreign bodies removed " to the newly founded Army Medical Museum in Washington , D . C . He preserved the bones from his leg and donated them to the museum in a small coffin - shaped box , along with a visiting card marked , " With the compliments of Major General D . E . S . " For several years thereafter , he reportedly visited the limb on the anniversary of the amputation . The museum , now known as the National Museum of Health and Medicine , features the artifact on display still today . ( Other Civil War - era specimens of note on display include the hip of General Henry Barnum , and in the collection but not on display include the vertebrae from assassin John Wilkes Booth and President James A . Garfield . ) Sickles was not court - martial ed for insubordination after Gettysburg because he had been wounded , and it was assumed he would stay out of trouble . Furthermore , he was a powerful , politically connected man who would not accept being disciplined without protest and retribution . Sickles ran a vicious campaign against General Meade ' s character after the Civil War . Sickles felt that Meade had wronged him at Gettysburg and that credit for winning the battle belonged to him . In anonymous newspaper articles and in testimony before a congressional committee , Sickles maintained that Meade had secretly planned to retreat from Gettysburg on the first day . While his movement away from Cemetery Ridge may have violated orders , Sickles always asserted that it was the correct move because it disrupted the Confederate attack , redirecting its thrust , effectively shielding their real objectives , Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill . Sickles ' redeployment did in fact take Confederate commanders by surprise , and historians have argued about the real ramifications ever since . Sickles eventually received the Medal of Honor for his actions , although it took him 34 years to get it . The official citation that accompanied his medal recorded that Sickles " displayed most conspicuous gallantry on the field , vigorously contesting the advance of the enemy and continuing to encourage his troops after being himself severely wounded . " Postbellum career . Despite his one - legged disability , Sickles remained in the army until the end of the war and was disgusted that Lieutenant General Ulysses S . Grant would not allow him to return to a combat command . In 1867 , he received appointments as brevet brigadier general and major general in the regular army for his services at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg , respectively . Soon after the close of the Civil War , in 1865 , he was sent on a confidential mission to Colombia ( the " special mission to the South American Republics " ) to secure its compliance with a treaty agreement of 1846 permitting the United States to convey troops across the Isthmus of Panama . From 1865 to 1867 , he commanded the Department of South Carolina , the Department of the Carolinas , the Department of the South , and the Second Military District . In 1866 , he was appointed colonel of the 42nd U . S . Infantry ( Veteran Reserve Corps ) , and in 1869 he was retired with the rank of major general . Sickles served as U . S . Minister to Spain from 1869 to 1874 , after the Senate failed to confirm Henry Shelton Sanford to the post , and took part in the negotiations growing out of the Virginius Affair . His inaccurate and emotional messages to Washington promoted war , until he was overruled by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish and the war scare died out . Sickles maintained his reputation as a ladies ' man in the Spanish royal court and was rumored to have had an affair with the deposed Queen Isabella II . Following the death of Teresa in 1867 , in 1871 , he married Senorita Carmina Creagh , the daughter of Chevalier de Creagh of Madrid , a Spanish Councillor of State . They had two children . Sickles was president of the New York State Board of Civil Service Commissioners from 1888 to 1889 , sheriff of New York in 1890 , and again a representative in the 53rd Congress from 1893 to 1895 . For most of his postwar life , he was the chairman of the New York Monuments Commission , but he was forced out when $ 27 , 000 was found to have been embezzled . He had an important part in efforts to preserve the Gettysburg Battlefield , sponsoring legislation to form the Gettysburg National Military Park , buy up private lands , and erect monuments . One of his contributions was procuring the original fencing used on East Cemetery Hill to mark the park ' s borders . This fencing came directly from Lafayette Square in Washington , D . C . ( site of the Key shooting ) . Of the principal senior generals who fought at Gettysburg , virtually all , with the conspicuous exception of Sickles , have been memorialized with statues at Gettysburg . When asked why there was no memorial to him , Sickles supposedly said , " The entire battlefield is a memorial to Dan Sickles . " However , there was , in fact , a memorial commissioned to include a bust of Sickles , the monument to the New York Excelsior Brigade . It was rumored that the money appropriated for the bust was stolen by Sickles himself ; the monument is displayed in the Peach Orchard with a figure of an eagle instead of Sickles ' likeness . Death . Sickles lived out the remainder of his life in New York City , dying on May 3 , 1914 at the age of 94 . His funeral was held at St . Patrick ' s Cathedral in Manhattan on May 8 , 1914 . He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery . In popular media . Sickles appears prominently in the books " " and " Grant Comes East " , the first two books of the alternate history Civil War trilogy by Newt Gingrich and William R . Forstchen . In Stephen L . Carter ' s 2012 alternate history novel " The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln " , Sickles is one of the defense counsel in Lincoln ' s trial before the United States Senate . Depictions of severed leg . During a scene in the 2012 film " Lincoln " , Sickles ' s severed leg is shown in a display case . However , the leg appears to be fully covered by skin , except for the region of impact . This is a sign that the leg is not far along in the decomposition process , an accurate visual note of the era in which the film takes place . Medal of Honor citation . Citation :