James A. Hessler
Page 64
42. “To Pay Big Debt,” Adams County News,December 28, 1912; “Wife Makes Appeal,” Adams County News,February 8, 1913; William Hobart Royce to Edgcumb Pinchon, December 18, 1941, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS. & Archives Section, NYPL; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 384.
43. “Missouri Won’t Aid Sickles,” New York Times, January 30, 1913.
44. “Helen Longstreet’s Offer,” New York Times,January 28, 1913; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 385.
45. “Mrs. Longstreet to Aid Sickles,” Adams County News,February 1, 1913; “Denies Sickles Aided Her,” New York Times, January 29, 1913.
46. “Must Ignore Sickles’ Work,” Adams Country News, February 1, 1913.
47. “Sickles to Prison To-day, But Gently,” New York Times,January 27, 1913; “Sickles in Custody for a Minute Only,” New York Times,January 28, 1913; “Mrs. Longstreet to Aid Sickles,” Adams County News, February 1, 1913; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 386–387.
48. “Mrs. Longstreet to Aid Sickles,” Adams County News,February 1, 1913; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 387.
49. “More Executions,” Adams County News,February 8, 1913; “Sickles Saved Again, Adams County News, March 15, 1913; “Sickles Safe,” Adams County News, May 3, 1913.
50. William Hobart Royce to Edgcumb Pinchon, December 25, 1941, and “Personal Research,” William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS. & Archives Section, NYPL; “Sickles Not Scared,” Adams County News, May 31, 1913.
51. Warner, Generals in Blue, 447; Gettysburg Compiler,January 5, 1910; “Sickles May Come,” Adams County News, June 21, 1913.
52. “Old Soldiers Defy Heat at Gettysburg,” New York Times,July 2, 1913; The Public Ledger, July 7, 1913; Reardon, Pickett’s Charge in History and Memory,192–195; “Lincoln Abused; 7 Men Are Stabbed,” Raleigh News and Observer,July 3, 1913; The Philadelphia Inquirer,July 4 and July 5, 1913; “Gettysburg to Honor Girls of 63,” New York Times,July 1, 1913; Cohen, Hands Across the Wall, 13; “After 50 Years,” Untitled newspaper clipping, July 19, 1913, GNMP 11–61.
53. Sickles to General Louis Wagner, November 10 and 23, 1910, PA State Archives; Sickles again mentioned a memorial to the 50th anniversary in the Philadelphia Inquirer,July 5, 1913; The Baltimore Sun,July 2, 1913; “Gettysburg To Honor Girls of 63,” New York Times,July 1, 1913; “Will Dedicate New Monument,” Gettysburg Times,June 28, 1913; Philadelphia Record,July 1, 1913; The North American,July 3, 1913; Pinchon, Dan Sickles,270. Although Sickles was unique as the last surviving corps commander, he was not the oldest vet in attendance, as one man reportedly topped out at 112. The senior surviving Confederate general, Evander Law, was also in attendance at the relatively young age of seventy-seven. See Cohen, Hands Across the Wall,13.
54. The North American,July 1, 1913; The Philadelphia Inquirer,July 2 and 3, 1913. Sickles’ accounts from the 50th Anniversary can be found in the large scrapbooks on file at the Pennsylvania State Archives (Harrisburg, PA).
55. The Public Ledger,July 1, 1913; “After 50 Years,” Untitled newspaper clipping, July 19, 1913, GNMP 11–61.
56. Ibid.
57. “Old Soldiers Defy Heat,” New York Times,July 2, 1913, GNMP 11–61; The Baltimore Sun,July 2, 1913; “Son and Grandsons of Gen. Longstreet,” Atlanta Constitution,June 30, 1913; Cohen, Hands Across the Wall, 13, 36; Pinchon, Dan Sickles, 271.
58. “Sickles Denies Death,” The Public Ledger,July 5, 1913; “Will Never Meet Again,” The Baltimore American, July 5, 1913.
59. Journal of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, June 27 – July 9, 1913, Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument,4, 114–115; Pinchon, Dan Sickles,271; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible,390. Swanberg’s end notes (418, n. 23–24) suggest that he used Twichell’s diary as a source. For another example of how the “battlefield is my monument” quote is treated, Knoop (151) paraphrased Swanberg, “Sickles replied that the whole damned battlefield was his memorial, and so it is.”
60. It should be noted that New York actually dedicated few individual commander monuments during Sickles’ lifetime. Gouverneur Warren’s 1888 monument was the first, but was erected without state aid. Slocum’s monument followed in 1902, and then George Greene’s in
1907. The pace accelerated after Sickles’ death: James Wadsworth in 1914, Alexander Webb in 1915, Doubleday and John Robinson in 1917, and Francis Barlow in 1922. In 1923, the New York Monument Commission, which continued after Sickles’ death, requested an appropriation for the Auxiliary State Monument “for the purpose of erecting a memorial at Gettysburg to the corps, division or brigade commanders from this state engaged in the battle or who were in charge of New York troops there to whose memory no individual memorial on the field had been provided.” Given Sickles’ expulsion from the commission, and his inclusion on the Auxiliary monument, it seems unlikely that serious thought was given to him after the Auxiliary dedication in 1925. See Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument,2–4, 114 and Harrison, The Location of the Monuments, Markers, and Tablets, 40–42.
61. “Miss Wilmerding Dead,” New York Times,February 11, 1914; New York Times,May 4, 1914; William Hobart Royce to Edgcumb Pinchon, December 25, 1941, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS. & Archives Section, NYPL. There were conflicting reports over the location of Wilmerding’s death and the length of her illness. The Timessaid that she had been ill about three weeks and died at Dan’s home. The Reno Evening Gazetteof February 11 passed along a New York wire report: “Miss Eleanor Earl Wilmerding, for many years the housekeeper for Gen. Daniel Sickles, died yesterday at the home of her sister, with whom she lived. She had been ill about three months.”
62. New York Times,May 4, 1914; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 390;Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, 17.
63. New York Times,May 4, 1914.
64. New York Times, May 5, 1914.
65. “Objection to Bo-Bo’s Grave,” New York Times, August 27, 1905; “George G. Sickles Buried,” New York Times, March 21, 1887.
66. “Mrs. Sickles Wins Plea,” New York Times,May 5, 1914. Thanks to Richard “Red” Davis for providing this author with a copy of Nicholson’s May 4, 1914 response to the burial request.
67. “Bury Sickles at Arlington,” New York Times, May 6, 1914.
68. “Comrades in Arms Mourn Gen. Sickles,” New York Times,May 8, 1914; Email from John Shaud to author, August 22, 2008.
69. Ibid.
70. Ibid.; William Hobart Royce to Edgcumb Pinchon, December 25, 1941, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS. & Archives Section, NYPL; “Bury Sickles at Arlington,” New York Times, May 10, 1914; Journal of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, May 8, 1914 entry, Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
71. “Gen. Sickles Dead,” Gettysburg Star and Sentinel, May 5, 1914.
72. “Gen. Sickles’ Will Filed,” New York Times,November 8, 1914; “Sickles Left Only $500,” New York Times,November 10, 1914; “Gen. Sickles’ Son Seeks Lost Million,” New York Times, September 4, 1915.
Epilogue: That Damn Fool Sickles
1. New York Times, May 5, 1914; Wert, A Complete Hand-Book, 121.
2. “Sickles at Gettysburg,” The Nation,May 1893, copy in Robert L. Brake Collection, USAMHI.
3. Ibid.
4. Pfanz, Gettysburg: The Second Day,431; Coddington, The Gettysburg Campaign,442; Letters on the Successful Movements of the 3rd Army Corps, Daniel E. Sickles Papers, LOC.
5. Jorgensen, “John Haley’s Personal Recollections …,” Gettysburg Magazine27, 73.
6. Ladd, The Bachelder Papers, 2:995.
7. Jorgensen, “John Haley’s Personal Recollections …,” Gettysburg Magazine27, 75–77.
8. Moran, “About Gettysburg,” National Tribune,November 12, 1891. Moran argued that Warren was the day’s true hero for having the foresight to occupy Little Round Top.
9. Undated letter from Felix Brannigan to father, copy on file ALBG, original in Library of C
ongress.
10. As retired U.S. Army officer and Licensed Battlefield Guide Kavin Coughenour wrote: “These divergent opinions represent the gulf in understanding the proper use of terrain in battle between the amateur citizen-soldier [Birney] and the professional, West Point trained Regular Army officer.” Coughenour, “Assessing the Generalship of George G. Meade During the Gettysburg Campaign,” Gettysburg Magazine28, 35.
11. Styple, Generals in Bronze, 90, 98, 99, 177, 194, 215, 225–226.
12. De Trobriand, Four Years with the Army of the Potomac, 507, 510.
13. Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg,163–164, 167; Byrne and Weaver, Haskell of Gettysburg,245, 248. Sanitizing documents for posterity was a relatively common practice. George Meade’s Life and Lettersas edited for publication omitted criticism of contemporaries such as John Reynolds and even David Birney. For a full summary of mixed accounts that appeared between the 1860s and early 1900s, see Sauers, Gettysburg: The Meade-Sickles Controversy, 85–94.
14. Tremain, Two Days of War, 12.
15. Alexander, Military Memoirs, 392–393.
16. Bigelow, The Peach Orchard, 36–37.
17. Ibid.
18. Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 318–319.
19. “Sickles Line,” undated statement, GNMP Vertical Files 4–10K.
20. Pinchon, Dan Sickles,3, 187–202; Edgcumb Pinchon to William Hobart Royce, October 22, 1941, and Royce to Pinchon, July 16, 1942, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS. & Archives Section, NYPL; Email from John Shaud to author, August 17, 2008.
21. Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 210–211, 390.
22. Ibid., 211.
23. Stackpole, They Met at Gettysburg, 190, 192–199, 216, 219–220.
24. Tucker, High Tide at Gettysburg, 236–237, 238, 240, 242, 244, 245.
25. Coddington, The Gettysburg Campaign, 445–447.
26. See Shaara, The Killer Angels, 175, 208–209.
27. Pfanz, Gettysburg, The Second Day, 431.
28. Ibid., 425.
29. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 657–660.
30. Robertson, “The Peach Orchard Revisited,” in The Second Day at Gettysburg, 53–56.
31. Raver, “Deception and the Citizen-General,” in Gettysburg Magazine31, 59; Rollins, “George Gordon Meade and the Defense of Cemetery Ridge,” in Gettysburg Magazine19, 59; Peatman, “General Sickles, President Lincoln, and the Aftermath …,” in Gettysburg Magazine28, 120, 123.
32. Coughenour, “Assessing the Generalship of George G. Meade During the Gettysburg Campaign,” Gettysburg Magazine28, 34.
33. Ibid.
34. Keneally, American Scoundrel, 277, 356.
35. Trudeau, Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage, 367.
36. Hyde, The Union Generals Speak, 28–31.
37. Sauers, Gettysburg: The Meade-Sickles Controversy, xi, 153–159.
38. Sears, Chancellorsville, 65; Sears, Gettysburg, 35, 146, 190, 250–251, 269, 301.
39. Platt, This is Holy Ground,38; Weeks, Gettysburg,60–61; Martin, Introduction to Vanderslice, Gettysburg Then and Now, II.
40. Campbell, “An Interpreter’s View of Munshower Field,” The Gettysburg Quarterly, Spring 2005, 1, 3; “Replanting Gettysburg’s Historic Orchards,” The Gettysburg Quarterly,Fall 2004, 1.
41. “Will Sickles Return to Gettysburg?,” Gettysburg Times,January 16, 1993; “Sickles’ descendant would like to see ‘Uncle Dan’ transferred to Gettysburg,” Gettysburg Times,January 23, 1993; “National cemetery historic section is closed to Sickles,” Gettysburg Times,March 12, 1993; “Park: Why Sickles won’t be re-buried with his men,” Gettysburg Times,March 20, 1993; Email from John Shaud to author, August 15, 2008. In addition to the cemetery being closed, the desire to re-bury Sickles with his men was further complicated by the fact that the original semi-circle was intended for those who had fallen in battle.
42. “If he wished it, allow Sickles to return to Gettysburg,” Gettysburg Times,January 27, 1993; “Sickles should be buried at Gettysburg,” Gettysburg Times, February 26, 1993.
43. “Gen. Sickles: Gettysburg or Arlington?,” Gettysburg Times, March 9, 1993.
44. “Local Park officials think not,” Gettysburg Times,January 16, 1993; Dr. John Latschar to Richard H. Davis, March 8, 1995; “It’s Official and Final: Sickles Won’t Be Moved,” Civil War News,February/ March 2007; www.arlingtoncemetery.net/dsickles.htm. Thanks to Richard Davis for providing copies of his personal correspondence and background on Pettigrew v. Pettigrew.
45. Emails from Tim Smith to author, February 10 and 14, 2008; “Bury Sickles at Arlington,” New York Times,May 6, 1914; “The Sickles Burial Dispute Solved…By The General Himself!,” The Battlefield Dispatch,April 1993; “NPS says Gen. Sickles favored Virginia burial,” Gettysburg Times,April 8, 1993; “Would like Sickles’ to be buried here,” Gettysburg Times, February 13, 2001; “It’s Official and Final: Sickles Won’t Be Moved,” Civil War News,February/ March 2007. The author would like to thank Tim Smith, Red Davis, and John Shaud for providing their viewpoints on this episode. Although the Pettigrew case gives preference to the spouse’s wishes, it is not definitive, and each case is weighed on its own merits. There is also a heavier burden of proof when someone wants to “undo” something, such as reinterring a corpse. Thanks to Marianne Drummond for providing Legal perspective on Pettigrew v. Pettigrew.
46. Email from Michael Bennett to author, August 10, 2008.
Bibliography
Abbreviations
ACHS Adams County Historical Society
ALBG Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides
CCW Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War
GNMP Gettysburg National Military Park
HSP Historical Society of Pennsylvania
NYHS New York Historical Society
NYPL New York Public Library: Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations OR Official Records
SHSP Southern Historical Society Papers
USAMHI United States Army Military History Institute (Carlisle, PA)
Archival Sources
Adams County Historical Society
Gettysburg College Musselman Library Special Collections
Gettysburg National Military Park
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
George Gordon Meade Collection
Library of Congress, Manuscripts Division
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New York Historical Society
Misc. Mss. Sickles, Daniel
New York Public Library: Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
Ezra A. Carman Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division
Anthony Jerome Griffin Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division
William Hobart Royce Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division
Daniel Edgar Sickles Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division
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Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg Collection
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Robert L. Brake Collection
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Diary of Lewis Schaeffer
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The Adams Sentinel and General Advertiser
Army Navy Journal
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Baltimore American
Baltimore Sun
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Civil War News
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Detroit Free Press
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Gettysburg Star and Sentinel
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Herald and Torch Light (Hagerstown, MD)
Hornellsville Tribune
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Morning Oregonian (Portland, OR)
The Mountain Democrat (Placerville, CA)
The National Tribune
Newark (OH) Daily Advocate
New York Herald
New York Times
New York World
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Philadelphia Weekly Times
The Public Ledger
Raleigh News and Observer
Salem (OH) Daily News
Trenton (NJ) Times
Waikesha (WI) Freeman
Washington Post
Weekly Standard (Raleigh N.C.)
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United States Census, for the Years: 1820, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910.
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901.
Campbell, Eric. “An Interpreter’s View of Munshower Field.” The Gettysburg Quarterly (Spring 2005):1,3.