Thursday - October 01, 2009

New Sickles Biography

• corrupt politician, part of the NY Democrat Machine


• free spending party boy who wasted a fortune


• misappropriating funds early in his political career


• knocked up an underage girl


• murderer who entered the first “temporary insanity” plea and got away with it


• war hero most famous for his screw up, which nearly lost the most important battle of the war


• lied about his military record for the next 50 years


• multiple affairs while married


• two term Congressman most famous for creating a national park that honors him


• misappropriating funds late in his political career


• moved out on his wife and son and had a long term affair with his housekeeper late in life


• died penniless


• remembered mainly as a hero, mourned by tens of thousands

That morning, Meade ordered Sickles to anchor the left end of Cemetery Ridge which included Little Round Top. Meade and the Union high command were centering their line on Cemetery Hill (the hook in the fish hook), but were concerned that their flanks were vulnerable. For that reason, it was Hancock on the evening of July 1 who had ordered part of Henry Slocum’s 12th Corps to occupy Little Round Top. The morning of July 2, Meade wanted the 12th Corps reunited on the Federal right at Culp’s Hill. So he ordered Sickles to take the position occupied by the 12th Corps and hold down the left end of Cemetery Ridge, including Little Round Top. Meade sent his son and aide, Captain George Meade, out to ensure that Sickles was in position. But Sickles would not come out of his tent to talk to George Jr. and instead had the Third Corps artillery chief tell Captain Meade that Sickles was confused over his position. Trouble was brewing on the Federal left.

Sickles made several efforts to communicate his uncertainty.  At 11:00, Sickles went to Meade’s headquarters and requests assistance in posting his troops. Meade declined to go, but gave Henry Hunt permission to accompany Sickles on a review of the terrain. Meade later claimed that he had absolutely no idea that Sickles harbored doubts about his position. Sickles then informed Hunt that he wanted to move his corps forward to a line that is, at its peak, was nearly ½ mile in front of Cemetery Ridge, running from Devils Den to the Peach Orchard and Emmitsburg Road.

The primary disadvantage of Sickles’ position was that the Third Corps was too far in advance of Meade’s army to receive support. Meade’s reinforcements had to cover ½ mile of open ground and Sickles negated Meade’s interior lines. The essentially straight line along Cemetery Ridge, which Meade intended Sickles to occupy, was approximately 1,600 yards in length. Sickles’s Third Corps had roughly 10,675 effectives and he would later claim that he lacked sufficient strength to man Meade’s front. Yet the new position covered a front that was nearly twice as long; approximately 3,500 yards. Despite his efforts to refuse them, his flanks were in the air.

One of the biggest criticisms directed at Sickles was that by moving forward he abandoned Little Round Top--- viewed by many as the key to the Union left because it was the highest defensible point in the immediate vicinity. Not a problem for Sickles because over the next 50 years he would repeatedly lie and say that he did occupy Little Round Top and supervised the placement of reinforcements up there!

Historian James Hessler has a new book out, the first new biography on Dan Sickles in over 50 years. Love the title too; it’s so 19th century:

Sickles at Gettysburg: The Controversial Civil War General Who Committed Murder, Abandoned Little Round Top, and Declared Himself the Hero of Gettysburg, by licensed battlefield guide James Hessler, is the most deeply-researched, full-length biography to appear on this remarkable American icon. And it is long overdue.

No individual who fought at Gettysburg was more controversial, both personally and professionally, than Major General Daniel E. Sickles. By 1863, Sickles was notorious as a disgraced former Congressman who murdered his wife’s lover on the streets of Washington and used America’s first temporary insanity defense to escape justice. With his political career in ruins, Sickles used his connections with President Lincoln to obtain a prominent command in the Army of the Potomac’s Third Corps-despite having no military experience. At Gettysburg, he openly disobeyed orders in one of the most controversial decisions in military history.

No single action dictated the battlefield strategies of George Meade and Robert E. Lee more than Sickles’ unauthorized advance to the Peach Orchard, and the mythic defense of Little Round Top might have occurred quite differently were it not for General Sickles. Fighting heroically, Sickles lost his leg on the field and thereafter worked to remove General Meade from command of the army. Sickles spent the remainder of his checkered life declaring himself the true hero of Gettysburg.

Although he nearly lost the battle, Sickles was one of the earliest guardians of the battlefield when he returned to Congress, created Gettysburg National Military Park, and helped preserve the field for future generations. But Dan Sickles was never far from scandal. He was eventually removed from the New York Monument Commission and nearly went to jail for misappropriation of funds.

Hessler’s book is a balanced and entertaining account of Sickles’ colorful life. Civil War enthusiasts who want to understand General Sickles’ scandalous life, Gettysburg’s battlefield strategies, the in-fighting within the Army of the Potomac, and the development of today’s National Park will find Sickles at Gettysburg a must-read.

This looks like a great read. And an excellent gift for anyone interested in military history.

Posted by Drew458     on 10/01/2009 at 11:30 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • War-Stories •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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