9. CCW, LV; Hyde, The Union Generals Speak, 352–354; Tap, Over Lincoln’s Shoulder, 192.
10. CCCW, LXI; Hyde, The Union Generals Speak, 361.
11. CCW, LXI-LXVI, LXXV; Hyde, The Union Generals Speak, 361–370, 372–373, 378–379.
12. Desjardin, These Honored Dead, 76; Hyde, The Union Generals Speak, 55–56, 380–381; Sauers, Gettysburg: The Meade-Sickles Controversy, 66.
13. Daniel E. Sickles Military Records, copy in Box B-36, GNMP; “Major-Gen. Daniel E. Sickles in Boston,” New York Times, August 20, 1865; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 113; Sickles, Oration Delivered … At Fredericksburg, 15; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 275–280; O’Connor, Sheridan, 286–287. The other Military Districts were: First (Virginia) under John Schofield, Third (Georgia, Alabama, and Florida) under John Pope, Fourth (Arkansas, Mississippi) under Edward Ord, and Fifth (Louisiana, Texas) under Phil Sheridan.
14. De Peyster, Gen. H. Edwin Tremain, 6–8; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 275, 282–283; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 324: Knoop, I Follow the Course, 117.
15. Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 207–209, Pinchon, Dan Sickles, 224–225; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 284–286; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 327–329; Knoop, I Follow the Course, 118.
16. Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 207–209, Pinchon, Dan Sickles, 224–225; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 284–286; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 327–329; Knoop, I Follow the Course, 118. As an example of biographer treatment, Edgcumb Pinchon speculated in 1945 that “in his heart he doubted if she [Laura] ever would cease to blame him for her mother’s desolation, her own blighted childhood.” See Pinchon, 224–225. More recently, biographer Jeanne Knoop may have come closer to the mark when she speculated that Dan had neither the time nor experience to adjust as a father: “Dan was not used to dealing with an adolescent and the time it would take away from his busy schedule.… ” See Knoop, 120.
17. Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 113; Daniel E. Sickles Military Record, Box B-36, GNMP; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 286.
18. Sickles, Oration Delivered … At Fredericksburg, VA, 15; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 113; Sickles, “Leaves From My Diary,” 22–24, NYPL; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 278–281, 287–292; “Progress of Reconstruction in South Carolina,” New York Times, September 24, 1867; “The Conflict Between the Civil and Military Powers. Gen. Sickles’ Defence of His Administration,” New York Times, September 6, 1867; “Removal of Gen. Sickles,” New York Times, September 2, 1867. Not that Sickles was an enlightened crusader for racial equality by modern standards. During a 1900 speech in Fredericksburg, Sickles frequently referred to blacks as “Sambo,” and mimicked speech patterns that would be considered insensitive to modern ears. Sickles was a product of the time he lived in and such talk was, nevertheless, perfectly acceptable to 1900 audiences. See Sickles, Oration Delivered … At Fredericksburg, 5–6.
19. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 296, 298, 302–306; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 113–114; “Serenade to Gen. Sickles,” New York Times, September 14, 1867.
20. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 306–312; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 114; General Orders # 54, June 18, 1869, Sickles Papers, LOC. A significant portion of Sickles’ Library of Congress papers consist of correspondence concerning Spain and Cuba. See Daniel E. Sickles Papers, Container 2.
21. “Chancellorsville,” New York Times, June 3, 1867. For Meade and Pfanz’s thoughts on the Tremain-Historicus connections, see Pfanz, Gettysburg: The Second Day, 143, 484 (n.30).
22. Sauers, Gettysburg: The Meade-Sickles Controversy, 67–69.
23. Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, 340–341; Piston, Lee’s Tarnished Lieutenant, 96, 104–105, Wert, General James Longstreet, 413, 422. A full accounting of Longstreet’s postwar controversies is beyond the scope of this work. Much of Longstreet’s battles were fought in the pages of the Southern Historical Society Papers. See “Causes Of The Defeat Of General Lee’s Army At The Battle Of Gettysburg — Opinions Of Leading Confederate Soldiers,” in SHSP Vol. IV, No. 2–6, August through December 1877 for examples.
24. Meade, Life and Letters, 2: 300–306; Cleaves, Meade of Gettysburg, 340, 346–351; Jordan, Winfield Scott Hancock, 229.
25. Hempel, “Gone and Nearly Forgotten,” Gettysburg Magazine 34, 86–89, 92; Platt, This is Holy Ground, 3,5; Harrison, “A Fitting and Expressive Memorial,” 1–2; Smith and Adelman, Devil’s Den, 73–74.
26. Cole and Frampton, Lincoln and the Human Interest Stories of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, 7–9, 14–16; Georg, “This Grand National Enterprise,” GNMP, 1–10; Hempel, “Gone and Nearly Forgotten,” Gettysburg Magazine 34, 89–91; Everett’s speech quoted from http://douglassarchives.org/ever_b21.htm; Hawthorne, Gettysburg: Stories of Men and Monuments, 7, 131.
27. Ladd, The Bachelder Papers, 1:9–10; Platt, This is Holy Ground, 5–6; Platt, This is Holy Ground, 5; Vanderslice, Gettysburg: Then and Now, 360; Smith and Adelman, Devil’s Den, 73–74; Cole and Frampton, Lincoln and the Human Interest Stories, 17.
28. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 326.
29. Ibid., 320–321, 325, 328, 331; William Hobart Royce to Edgcumb Pinchon, December 25, 1941 and July 26, 1942, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS. & Archives Section, NYPL; “Minister Sickles’ Marriage and Trip to New York,” New York Herald, November 28, 1871; “Minister Sickles’ Marriage and Tour from Madrid,” New York Herald, November 30, 1871; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 114; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 335. Swanberg placed his salary at $16,800 but Sickles later said that his pay was only $12,000. See Swanberg, 325 and “Gen. Sickles’ Latchstring,” New York Times, October 28, 1892.
30. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 333–338, 340–341; “Alleged Difficulty Between General Sickles and Secretary Fish,” New York Herald, February 6, 1872; “General Sickles as a Mediator,” New York Herald, February 14, 1872; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 337.
31. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 341, 343–345; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 335–337.
32. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 345–351; Gettysburg Compiler, December 21, 1873; The Dixon Telegraph, December 3, 1873; “Gen. Sickles’ Latchstring,” New York Times, October 28, 1892.
33. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 323, 351–358; Keneally, American Scoundrel, 338–339.
34. Vanderslice, Gettysburg: Then and Now, 363–364, 367; Hempel, “Gone and Nearly Forgotten,” Gettysburg Magazine 34, 96; Platt, This is Holy Ground, 7; Smith and Adelman, Devil’s Den, 74; Weeks, Gettysburg, 59.
Chapter 17: Some Strange Perversion of History
1. Pinchon, Dan Sickles, 263–264; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 358–359; William Hobart Royce to Edgcumb Pinchon, December 6, 1941, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS. & Archives Section, NYPL, Sauers, Gettysburg: The Meade-Sickles Controversy, 69; GAR Citizens Auxiliary Committee telegram to Sickles, May 31, 1882, Daniel E. Sickles Papers, LOC (copy in Reel #1 USAMHI); Crecy, “Personal Recollections of Old Medical Officers.,” in Military Surgeon 60, 73–74. Special thanks to Michael Rhode, Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, for directing the author to the Sickles/Otis story.
2. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 359; “Congressional Nominations,” New York Times, October 26, 1876; “A Grand Grant Meeting,” New York Times, June 1, 1880; The Mountain Democrat, October 9, 1880; The Helena Independent, October 29, 1880; Jordan, Winfield Scott Hancock, 280, 283, 306, 313–315.
3. Jordan, Winfield Scott Hancock, 283, 306, 313–315; Styple, Generals in Bronze, 68–70; Hancock, Reminiscences of Winfield Scott Hancock, 250–251; “Tributes From Two Comrades,” New York Times, February 10, 1886. Although Hancock had publicly repudiated his claims that Meade wanted to retreat, Kelly claimed that Hancock admitted that the statement was true during a
meeting in April 1885, only a few months before Hancock’s death. Regarding the July 2 War Council, Doubleday wrote in his book that Meade was “displeased with the result…and said angrily, ‘Have it your own way, gentlemen, but Gettysburg is no place to fight a battle in.’ Although Doubleday offered a number of reasons why a retreat was justified, he added that there was “no question in my mind” that Meade “did desire to retreat.” See Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 184–185.
4. Wert Scrapbook, Volume 3, #34, 7–8, ACHS.
5. Ibid.
6. “At Gettysburg,” Chester Times, June 8, 1882.
7. Wert Scrapbook, Volume 3, #34, 4–5, ACHS.
8. Rafferty, “Gettysburg,” In Personal Recollections of the War of the Rebellion, 1:16–19, 23–24, 28–29, 31–32. Rafferty blamed Meade’s staff, not Meade himself, for deceiving the new commander into thinking an attack would hit the Federal right.
9. Ibid., 1:20–21. Rafferty also claimed, inaccurately, “The fact remains that the Fifth Corps did not move till Hood’s flank attack had broken and rolled up Sickles’ line.”
10. New York at Gettysburg, 1: 1–6; Pinchon, Dan Sickles, 263–264.
11. New York at Gettysburg, 1: 1–6, 32–68. New York’s sacrifice was certainly worthy of commemoration. Approximately 23,105 New York soldiers served at Gettysburg and sustained total casualties of 6,700 (29%). New York suffered the highest numeric casualties of any state at Gettysburg. See Busey and Martin, Regimental Strengths and Losses at Gettysburg, 275.
12. Sauers, Gettysburg: The Meade-Sickles Controversy, 70.
13. Ibid.; “Sickles at Gettysburg,” press clipping, June 29, 1886, GNMP.
14. “Sickles at Gettysburg,” press clipping, June 29, 1886, GNMP.
15. Foster to Bachelder, March 5, 1886, in Ladd, The Bachelder Papers, 3: 1951–1952.
16. “Third Corps Reunion,” Undated newspaper clipping, GNMP Vertical File 4–10K.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.; Washington Post, July 3, 1886.
19. Sauers, Gettysburg: The Meade-Sickles Controversy, 72–73.
20. Meade, Life and Letters, 2: 350–351.
21. Ibid., 2: 352. Meade wrote that he actually agreed with James Longstreet’s criticism of Lee’s battle plan. “Longstreet’s advice to Lee was sound military sense; it was the step I feared Lee would take, and to meet which, and be prepared for which was the object of my instructions to Butterfield, which he so misrepresented.” In referring to the Pipe Creek order, Meade correctly called it for what is was: a contingency that supposed “a part of my army, overwhelmed by superior numbers, compelled to fall back.” See Life and Letters, 2: 352–353.
22. Ibid., 2: 353.
23. Ibid, 2: 354.
24. Ibid. The National Park Service quotes from this letter in its existing Peach Orchard wayside exhibit, ensuring that modern visitors will be swayed to Meade’s version of the controversy.
25. “Gen Sickles Speaks Out,” New York Times, August 14, 1886.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid. For the Times interview, Sickles read Meade’s 3:00 Halleck telegram as: “If satisfied the enemy is endeavoring to move to my rear I shall fall back to my supplies at Westminster.” Meade’s actual wording was: “If not attacked, and I can get any positive information of the position of the enemy which will justify me in so doing, I shall attack. If I find it hazardous to do so, or am satisfied the enemy is endeavoring to move to my rear and interpose between me and Washington, I shall fall back to my supplies at Westminster.” See OR 27/1: 72.
29. “Sickles at Gettysburg,” reprinted in Philadelphia Weekly Times, August 16, 1886. Copy on file at GNMP; Sauers, Gettysburg: The Meade-Sickles Controversy, 174 (n. 15). Sauers notes that McClellan was living in Minnesota at that time. Humphreys refers to Captain McClellan specifically in his report as “my special aide.” See OR 27/1: 535.
30. McLaws, “The Federal Disaster on the Left,” Philadelphia Weekly Press, August 4, 1886. Copy on file GNMP vertical files, Gettysburg Newspaper Clippings, 6: 117–119.
31. Vanderslice, Gettysburg: Then and Now, 379–380.
32. “It’s Again a Tented Field,” New York Times, July 1, 1888; Undated newspaper article, Folder #190, Battle of Gettysburg: 25th Anniversary, ACHS; Wert Scrapbook, #34, Vol. 3, 146; Gettysburg Star and Sentinel, July 17, 1888.
33. “It’s Again a Tented Field,” New York Times, July 1, 1888.
34. New York World, July 4, 1888. Copy in ACHS, Folder #190, Battle of Gettysburg 25th Anniversary.
35. Ibid.; Wert, Gettysburg Battlefield Scrap Book, ACHS, #34, Vol. 3, 149.
36. New York at Gettysburg, 2: 575, 698.
37. Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 147; Tagg, The Generals of Gettysburg, 69; “Funeral of Gen. Charles K. Graham,” New York Times, April 20, 1889; Vanderslice, Gettysburg: Then and Now, 392; Warner, Generals in Blue, 180.
38. Smith, A Famous Battery and Its Campaigns, 14 9; Ladd, The Bachelder Papers, 3: 1600, 1756, 1766–1767, 1793, 1803; Hawthorne, Gettysburg: Stories of Men and Monuments, 12.
39. Vanderslice, Gettysburg: Then and Now, 376; Ladd, The Bachelder Papers, 3: 1601, 1673.
40. Ladd, The Bachelder Papers, 3: 1961–1962.
41. “Pennsylvania Day,” Gettysburg Star and Sentinel, September 17, 1889.
42. New York at Gettysburg, 2: 814–820; Ladd, The Bachelder Papers, 3: 1757.
43. Ladd, The Bachelder Papers, 3: 1905–1907. Bachelder’s comments would seem to prove that he had no involvement with Historicus.
44. Ladd, The Bachelder Papers, 3: 1905–1907. Lt. Col Richard N. Batchelder (Quartermaster General’s Office) also wrote to Bachelder on September 29, 1890: “I directed Col. Hudington to write you about Gen. Sickles attempt to get the high point in the Cem. as a site for the N.Y. Monument. Gov. Beaver has since filed a protest with the Sec. and I think the New Yorkers will have to seek a new location.” See Ladd, The Bachelder Papers, 3:1964. For speculation on Bachelder’s influence on Sickles’ lack of statue, see Ladd, The Bachelder Papers, 3:1837 (n. 73). The dates of monuments to other Union Corps commanders are: Hancock (1896), Howard (1932), Reynolds (1871 and 1899), Sedgwick (1913), and Slocum (1902). Meade’s was erected in 1896. A few statues, Buford and Warren, do pre-date these. See Harrison, The Location of the Monuments, Markers, and Tablets on Gettysburg Battlefield, 41–42.
45. “Visit of the Count of Paris,” Gettysburg Star and Sentinel, October 21, 1890. Copy in ACHS.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid.
48. Sickles, “Further Recollections of Gettysburg,” in North American Review, 258–259.
49. Ibid., 260–267.
50. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 364; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary Monument, 114; Colorado Spring Gazette, April 3, 1890; Morning Oregonian, April 6, 1890; Freeborn County Standard, April 10, 1890.
51. Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 114; “The Third Army Corps Union,” New York Times, May 4, 1890.
52. Hawthorne, Gettysburg: Stories of Men and Monuments, 113–114; Styple, Generals in Bronze, 99.
53. Gettysburg Star and Sentinel, September 29, 1891; Wert Scrapbook, #33, Vol. 2, 203–204, ACHS. The GBMA had ruled that monuments were to be placed where regiments had formed in a line of battle. This would have placed the 72nd’s monument near present Hancock Avenue, where several monuments such as the 42nd New York are located. During the battle, the men of the 72nd had hesitated to advance from this line to the stone wall when ordered to do so by their new brigade commander, Alexander Webb. However, as “Pickett’s Charge” increased in post-war popularity, the men of the 72nd insisted on placing their monument near the stone wall. They were ultimately allowed to place their monument in this position after carrying their case to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. See Hawthorne, Gettysburg: Stories of Men and Monuments, 119.
54. Sickles Correspondence, November 22, 1883, Daniel E. Sickles Papers, LOC (copy in Reel #1 of Sickles
Papers, USAMHI). When did Laura Sickles die? Swanberg (365), Keneally (343), and Brandt (209) all say 1891, and Brandt provides a date of December 10. The Green-Wood Cemetery records indicate, however, that she died May 23, 1892 and was buried on May 26. Thanks to Jane Cuccurullo at The Green-Wood Cemetery and Licensed Battlefield Guide Ellen Pratt for providing this information. William Hobart Royce was also told by a Sickles acquaintance (admittedly many years after the fact) that it occurred in 1892, although December 10, 1891 would be close enough. See Royce to Edgcumb Pinchon, December 6, 1941, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS. & Archives Section, NYPL.
55. Sickles, “Introduction,” in Lee and Longstreet at High Tide, 1 8–19; “Ninth’s Veterans Swap War Yarns,” New York Times, May 28, 1911.
56. Sickles, “Introduction,” Lee and Longstreet at High Tide, 18–19; “Ninth’s Veterans Swap War Yarns,” New York Times, May 28, 1911; Sawyer, Before Manassas & After Appomattox, 104.
57. Last Will and Testament of George Sickles, Anthony Jerome Griffin Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, NYPL; “General Sickles’ Latchstring,” New York Times, October 28, 1892; “Sale of the Sickles Property at Auction Yesterday,” New York Times, October 9, 1895; “The Sickles Estate Sold at New Rochelle Yesterday,” New York Times, October 15, 1895; “Mrs. Mary S. Sickles’ Will,” New York Times, July 16, 1893; NYC Police Department to Sickles, December 17, 1884; “The Veteran Congressman Sickles,” The Marion Daily Star, June 14, 1894. Robert L. Wensley to Dan Sickles, July 16, 1898, Sickles Papers, LOC, shows that Dan was receiving money as trustee for Stanton and as General Guardian of Eda. Thanks to John Shaud for providing access to George Sickles’ will.
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