James A. Hessler
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2. Edgcumb Pinchon to William Hobart Royce, December 5, 1941, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS.& Archives Section, NYPL.; “Gen. Daniel E. Sickles,” New York Times, February 6, 1898; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 17–19; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 77–80; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 107; Byrne and Weaver, Haskell of Gettysburg, 84–85; “Antonio Bagioli,” New York Times, February 12, 1871.
3. Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 19–20; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 81.
4. Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 20–21, 25; “Gen. Daniel E. Sickles,” New York Times, February 6, 1898; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 81–82; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 107; George Sickles Law License, November 19, 1845, Daniel E. Sickles Papers, LOC. When did Sickles pass the bar? As is often the case with his early career, one finds potentially conflicting dates. Swanberg (81) says Dan passed the bar in 1843. The New York State Auxiliary Monument dedication biography (107) says Dan was “called to the bar when twenty-three years of age.” But since this same biography lists his date of birth as 1825, this would imply 1848 as the year Dan obtained his law license. George Sickles’ law license was dated 1845, and in it he stated that he studied in his son’s law office since September 1842. See Brandt, 223 (n. 40).The 1848 estimate seems too late, but whatever the exact year, Dan was clearly a practicing lawyer by the early 1840s.
5. Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 22–25; “Gen. Daniel E. Sickles,” New York Times, February 6, 1898; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 107; New York at Gettysburg, 1:341.
6. Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 107; “Gen. Daniel E. Sickles,” New York Times, February 6, 1898; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 22–23; Life and Death of Fanny White, 7; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 83.
7. Life and Death of Fanny White, 8; New York Times, March 15, 1859; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 25–26; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 86; “Says He’s Sickles’ Son,” New York Times, August 31, 1913; “Sickles’ Son?,” Adams County News, September 6, 1913. The James Gordon Bennett Jr. rumor is in William Hobart Royce to Edgcumb Pinchon, December 6, 1941, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS. & Archives Section, NYPL. The Sickles’ marriage license (which erroneously lists Dan’s middle name as Egbert) is dated March 2, 1853, representing the second ceremony. The Sickles biography in the Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument (116) says that they married in 1853 and Laura was born in 1854 “at the old Sickles estate in Bloomingdale” while Sickles was abroad in London.
8. William Hobart Royce to Edgcumb Pinchon, August 31, 1942, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS.& Archives Section, NYPL; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 26–28, 224 (n. 63).
9. Pinchon’s researcher thought Sickles quickly realized that that he had married into a “rather low, common Italian family,” see William Hobart Royce to Edgcumb Pinchon, August 31, 1942, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS.& Archives Section, NYPL; “Gen. Daniel E. Sickles,” New York Times, February 6, 1898; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 26–28; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 90–91; Klein, President James Buchanan, 226–227; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 107.
10. Edgcumb Pinchon to William Hobart Royce, October 22, 1941, also Royce to Pinchon, August 31 and September 3, 1942, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS.& Archives Section, NYPL; Klein, President James Buchanan, 236, 238, 242, 453 (n.4); Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 30–31; Life and Death of Fanny White, 8; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 91–96, 397 (n.14). Sickles said that his militia rank was captain at the time he went to London. See New York at Gettysburg, 1: 341.
11. “The Founder of Central Park, in New York,” Daniel E. Sickles Papers, LOC; “Gen. Daniel E. Sickles,” New York Times, February 6, 1898; National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Central Park, NPS; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 31–33; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 99–100; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 107; Warner, Generals in Blue, 179.
12. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 5; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away with Murder, 34–36; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 107; “Buchanan and Breckinridge Meeting,” New York Times, July 9, 1856.
13. Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 53–54; Tagg, The Generals of Gettysburg, 67–68; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 10–13; “Application for a warrant for Libel against the Editor of the Herald,” New York Times, October 14, 1857.
14. Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 59–68; “Entertainment to Hon. Daniel E. Sickles,” New York Times, December 3, 1858.
15. New York Times, March 15 and April 13, 1859; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 13–17; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 3–17.
16. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 20–32, 34–36, 39–40; New York Times, April 13 and April 19, 1859; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 76; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 107. See Desjardin, These Honored Dead, 62, for an excellent example of the sentiment against Sickles in Gettysburg literature. When Sickles eventually killed Key: “He [Sickles] murdered, in cold blood…. Finding his ego too traumatized to ignore the affair and his courage insufficient to settle the matter in the proper manner of the day—a duel—Sickles simply walked up to Key and fired three times….” While entertaining, it ignores the fact that Sickles had given Key the opportunity to confess, and it was Key who lacked the courage to admit it.
17. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 41–43.
18. Ibid., 44–49.
19. Ibid., 49–51.
20. Edgcumb Pinchon to William Hobart Royce, October 22, 1941, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS.& Archives Section, NYPL; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away with Murder, 113–118; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 52–53.
21. Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 118–119, 121; New York Times, April 9, 1859; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 126.
22. New York Times, April 9, 1859; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 121–122; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, l 54–55.
23. New York Times, April 9, 1859; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 122–124, 131; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 55–58; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 129.
24. New York Times, March 5, 1859; Gettysburg Compiler, March 7, March 28, and May 2, 1859; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 126.
25. New York Times, March 15 and April 5, 1859; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 55–58.
26. The United States vs. Daniel E. Sickles; New York Times, April 5, 1859; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 62–63; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 165; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 78, 150–151; Woodward, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 92 (n.7); Rezneck, “It Didn’t Start With O.J.,” Washington Post, July 24, 1994.
27. The United States vs. Daniel E. Sickles; New York Times, April 5, 1859; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 168.
28. Ibid., 164–165, 169–171.
29. The United States vs. Daniel E. Sickles; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 170–173; New York Times, April 12, 1859; Fleming, “A Husband’s Revenge,” in American Heritage, 69. The insanity defense had increasingly gained American acceptance following the British establishment in 1843 of the M’Naghten Rule. The rule held that persons could not be convicted if they were laboring under such a defect of reason that they did not know what they were doing. In other words, that they could not tell right from wrong. But this was the first time that someone had raised the notion of a defendant being only temporarily mad. See Brandt. 170–172.
30. New York Times, April 13 through April 19, 1859; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 174–176.
31. New York Times, April 16 and April 18, 1859; Brandt, The Congressman Who
Got Away With Murder, 176–177; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 59–62.
32. Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 176–177; New York Times, April 18, 1859; The United States vs. Daniel E. Sickles.
33. Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 177–180; The United States vs. Daniel E. Sickles.
34. Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 181–182; The United States vs. Daniel E. Sickles.)
35. New York Times, April 27, 1859; Gettysburg Compiler, May 2, 1859; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 182–187; The United States vs. Daniel E. Sickles; Woodward, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 186. Fifty-two years later, Sickles’ friend John Nicholson credited the acquittal to “the unwritten law [which] was summoned to his defense.” It seems that few considered the temporary insanity defense to be significant, even half a century later. See “Loyal Legion Bars Gen. Sickles Again,” New York Times, November 2, 1911.
36. Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 188–189, 240 (n. 80); Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 67; “In Lafayette Square,” New York Times, May 18, 1884.
37. Gettysburg Compiler, June 27, 1859.
38. Ibid., June 27 and July 18, 1859; New York Times, July 21, 1859; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 190–191; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 70–72.
39. New York Times, July 21, 1859; Gettysburg Compiler, July 18, 1859; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 190–193.
40. Ibid., 194–195; Gettysburg Compiler, July 25, 1859.
41. Gettysburg Compiler, July 25, 1859; Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 195–197.
42. Ibid., 198–199; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 107; Woodward, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 379–380.
Chapter 2: The Making of a First Class Soldier
1. De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 134; Sickles, Oration Delivered … At Fredericksburg, 23; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 19, 36; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 252–253; Gettysburg Star and Sentinel, March 18, 1888.
2. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 109–116; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 427; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 107; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 214–215.
3. Sickles, “Leaves From My Diary,” 1–4, NYPL; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 107–108; The National Tribune, March 31, 1910; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 114–117; Strong, Diary of the War, 122, 135; Styple, Generals in Bronze, 100; McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 266, 324; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 147.
4. Stevenson, History of the Excelsior or Sickles’ Brigade, 5, 7; Dedication of New York State Auxiliary Monument, 108; Oates, “Excelsior!,” America’s Civil War, 42–45.
5. Stevenson, History of the Excelsior or Sickles’ Brigade, 8.
6. Ibid., 7–9; Sickles, “Leaves From My Diary,” 3, NYPL; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 114–117; Warner, Generals in Blue, 179; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 108; New York at Gettysburg, 2: 600; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 1, 2, 10, 20.
7. Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 23. The widow of New York Governor William Sulzer said Sickles and Nelson Miles were “among the founders of a violent anti-Catholic organization called the American Protective Association.” See William Hobart Royce to Edgcumb Pinchon, December 25, 1941, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS.& Archives Section, NYPL.
8. Ibid., 23–24.
9. “The Old Excelsior Brigade,” Daniel E. Sickles Papers, LOC; Sickles, “Leaves From My Diary,” 4–5, NYPL; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 116–119; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 25–26. Swanberg (117) wrote that this was the first meeting between Sickles and Lincoln, but Sickles stated that he had first met Lincoln during his last few weeks in Congress.
10. “The Sickles Brigade—Another Disaffected Company,” New York Times, July 1, 1861; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 25–26, 38–39, 54; Sickles, “Leaves From My Diary.” 7–8, 10–11; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 119–123; Stevenson, History of the Excelsior or Sickles’ Brigade, 8–9.
11. United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, series 1, vol. 2, 745. (Hereafter cited as OR (all subsequent citations are from Series 1 unless otherwise noted); Daniel E. Sickles Military Records, copy at GNMP, Box B-36; “The Old Excelsior Brigade.” Daniel E. Sickles Papers, LOC; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 119–123; Stevenson, History of the Excelsior or Sickles’ Brigade, 8–9; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 108; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 20–26, 54–55; Oates, “Excelsior!,” America’s Civil War, 47.
12. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 124–125; Sickles, “Leaves From My Diary,” 10; “Gen. Sickles Sued for Money Advanced in 1861,” New York Times, February 9, 1877.
13. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 328–329; Warner, Generals in Blue, 35–37, 60–61, 281–283, 293–294, 317–318, 426–428, 447–448.
14. De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 89; Warner, Generals in Blue, 121–122.
15. OR 5: 372–374, 387–388, 609–610; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 108–109; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 134–137; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 254–257.
16. Warner, Generals in Blue, 227–228, 233–235; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 126–131, 135; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 108; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 102–106; Styple, Generals in Bronze, 41.
17. General Order No. 6, April 6, 1862, Daniel E. Sickles Papers, LOC; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 139–141; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 99–100; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 109; Stevenson, History of the Excelsior or Sickles’ Brigade, 16–17.
18. Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 109; “Gen. Sickles Makes a Reconnoissance [sic] to Stafford Court House,” Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, April 7, 1862.
19. General Order No. 6, April 6, 1862, Daniel E. Sickles Papers, LOC; OR 11/1: 450, 467, 480; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 108–109, 111, 123–124; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 109; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 140–141.
20. OR 11/3: 190–191; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 135, 142–146; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 120–121, 128–130; Stevenson, History of the Excelsior or Sickles’ Brigade, 22–24.
21. OR 11/1: 749, 759, 817, 820, 822–823; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 131; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 149; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 110–111.
22. OR 11/2: 26, 109–110, 117, 134–136; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument 110; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 145, 149.
23. Sickles, Oration Delivered … At Fredericksburg, 9–11.
24. Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 110; OR 11/3: 325, 19/1: 170, 215–216, 270–271; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 167, 169, 182–183; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 156–157, 160; Warner, Generals in Blue, 234; Sears, Landscape Turned Red, 23, 215, 359. For examples of Sickles’ recruiting ads, see the New York Times of August 18, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29, 1862. Warner, Generals in Blue, (446) erroneously states that Sickles fought at Antietam. This error has been repeated elsewhere.
25. Oates, “Excelsior!,” America’s Civil War, 47; OR 21/1:1, 53–54, 354; Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, 231–32; Stackpole, The Fredericksburg Campaign, 75; Warner, Generals in Blue, 57, 481.
26. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 162–163; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Mon
ument, 110; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 253; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 147.
27. De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 426–427.
28. Styple, Generals in Bronze, 177–178; Twain, Mark Twain’s Autobiography, 1:337–338; W.H. Bullard to Dan Sickles, September 13, 1897, Misc. Mss. Daniel Sickles, courtesy of New York Historical Society.
29. Styple, Generals in Bronze, 99, 177–178.
30. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 328–332; Warner, Generals in Blue, 290–292, 322–323; Stackpole, The Fredericksburg Campaign, 57.
31. OR 21/1: 53–54; Stackpole, The Fredericksburg Campaign, 279; Davis, Life of David Bell Birney, 1–11, 13, 16, 18, 25, 27, 30–31, 44–45, 73; Warner, Generals in Blue, 34–35, 554.
32. Davis, Life of David Bell Birney, 28–29; Pfanz, Gettysburg: The Second Day, 84–85; Tagg, The Generals of Gettysburg, 65; Styple, Generals in Bronze, 88; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 316–317.