Life span: 10/20/1819 to 05/03/1914TabsLife SummaryFull name: Daniel Edgar SicklesPlace of Birth: New York, NYBurial Place: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VABirth Date Certainty: ExactDeath Date Certainty: ExactGender: MaleRace: WhiteSectional choice: NorthOrigins: Free StateFamily: George Garrett Sickles (father), Susan Marsh (mother), Teresa Bagioli (wife, 1852)Education: OtherOther Education: New York UniversityOccupation: PoliticianMilitaryDiplomatAttorney or JudgeRelation to Slavery: White non-slaveholderPolitical Parties: DemocraticRepublicanGovernment: Pierce Administration (1853-57)Grant Administration (1869-77)DiplomatUS House of RepresentativesState legislatureLocal governmentMilitary: Union Army Note Cards Daniel Edgar Sickles (Congressional Biographical Directory) ReferenceSICKLES, Daniel Edgar, a Representative from New York; born in New York City October 20, 1819; attended New York University; apprenticed as a printer; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1846 and commenced practice in New York City; member of the State assembly in 1847; corporation attorney in 1853; secretary of the legation at London by appointment of President Franklin Pierce 1853-1855; member of the State senate in 1856 and 1857; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1861); was not a candidate for renomination in 1860; served in the Civil War as colonel of the Seventeenth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, and brigadier general and major general of Volunteers; retired with rank of major general April 14, 1869; awarded the Medal of Honor October 30, 1897, for action at the Battle of Gettysburg; intrusted with a special mission to the South American Republics in 1865; chairman of the New York State Civil Service Commission in 1888 and 1889; sheriff of New York City in 1890; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-third Congress (March 4, 1893-March 3, 1895); unsuccessful for reelection in 1894 to the Fifty-fourth Congress; resided in New York City until his death there May 3, 1914; interment in Arlington National Cemetery. “Sickles, Daniel Edgar,” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000402. Daniel Edgar Sickles (American National Biography) ScholarshipIn 1847 Sickles won election to the New York State Assembly. Six years later, in January 1853 he was appointed corporation counsel of New York City, but he resigned after eight months to become secretary of the American legation in London. While serving under Ambassador James Buchanan, Sickles had a hand in drawing up the notorious Ostend Manifesto, the document that claimed America's right to seize Cuba, thereby embarrassing the Franklin Pierce administration. While attending a U.S. Independence Day dinner in Richmond on the Thames in 1854, in a spate of nationalistic fervor, Sickles refused to rise from his seat when a toast was offered to Queen Victoria; this affront to British dignity caused an outcry on both sides of the Atlantic. Sickles returned to New York later in 1854 and resumed his law practice. After winning a seat in the New York Senate (1855-1857), the rising Democrat won election to the U.S. House of Representatives (1857-1861). It was during his stay in Washington, D.C., that Sickles first attracted widespread national fame. Although he had married sixteen-year-old Teresa Bagioli in 1852 and fathered a child, Sickles was widely known for his infidelity and womanizing. Teresa started an extramarital affair of her own with Philip Barton Key, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and son of "Star-Spangled Banner" author Francis Scott Key. Once Sickles was informed of his wife's affair, he took matters into his own hands. On 27 February 1859, as Key loitered near Sickles's house on Lafayette Square, Sickles confronted Key and shot him dead. Richard A. Sauers, "Sickles, Daniel Edgar," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/05/05-00714.html. Events Date span begin Life span End Event 02/27/1859 02/27/1859 Congressman Daniel Sickles of New York murders Philip Barton Key in the street in Washington D.C. 03/24/1859 03/24/1859 Congressman Daniel Sickles is indicted for murder in Washington D.C. in the shooting of Philip Barton Key 04/04/1859 04/04/1859 The trial of Congressman Daniel Sickles for the murder of Philip Barton Key begins in Washington D.C. 04/05/1859 04/09/1859 The murder trial of Congressman Daniel Sickles of New York continues in Washington D.C. 04/11/1859 04/16/1859 The murder trial of Congressman Daniel Sickles of New York continues in Washington D.C. 04/18/1859 04/23/1859 The trial of Daniel Sickles for the murder of Philip Barton Key continues in Washington D.C. 04/24/1859 04/24/1859 The trial of Daniel Sickles for the murder of Philip Barton Key continues in Washington D.C. 04/25/1859 04/25/1859 Congressman Daniel Sickles is acquitted in his trial for the murder of Philip Barton Key 11/10/1861 11/10/1861 On the Potomac, Thaddeus Lowe's balloon carrier is towed into position off Mattawoman Creek 11/11/1861 11/11/1861 On the Potomac, Thaddeus Lowe launches the first balloon observation flight from a naval craft 04/27/1863 04/30/1863 The Army of the Potomac concentrates on Chancellorsville in preparation for an attack on Lee 05/01/1863 05/01/1863 Union and Confederate armies collide near Chancellorsville in Spotsylvania County, Virginia 05/02/1863 05/02/1863 "Stonewall" Jackson's flanking movement seizes the initiative in the Battle of Chancellorsville 05/03/1863 05/03/1863 Lee's Army of Northern Virginia forces back entrenched Union forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville 05/05/1863 05/06/1863 The beaten Union Army retreats across the Rappahannock, ending the Battle of Chancellorsville 05/15/1863 05/15/1863 Court martial convicts General Joseph Revere, grandson of the patriot, for his retreat at Chancellorsville 07/01/1863 07/03/1863 Battle of Gettysburg 07/02/1863 07/02/1863 At Gettysburg, Union General Daniel Sickles disregards orders and loses much of his III Corps and his right leg 01/06/1866 01/06/1866 As Chile and Peru face Spain, a large public meeting is held in New York in support of the Monroe Doctrine 02/14/1867 02/14/1867 In North Carolina, a white, male mob viciously beats a young African-American woman named Phillis Ruffin. 03/11/1867 03/11/1867 President Johnson appoints the commanders of the five new military reconstruction districts. 04/27/1867 04/27/1867 Union commander in Charleston, South Carolina, demands a firemen's parade march with a United States flag. 06/16/1867 06/16/1867 In Plymouth, North Carolina, ten men from a white mob who viciously beat Phillis Ruffin go on military trial. 08/17/1867 08/17/1867 Second District commander David Sickles confirms the convictions in the Phillis Ruffin beating case. Major TopicsGettysburg Campaign Documents Author Docs Date Title 08/17/1867 Daniel Sickles, Confirmation of sentences in the case of the whipping of Phillis Ruffin, Charleston, South Carolina, August 17, 1867, 01/17/1866 General Daniel E. Sickles, General Order Number One, Headquarters, Department of South Carolina, January 17, 1866 Subject Docs Date Title 06/08/1858 New York Times, "Private Armed Vessels," June 8, 1858 03/02/1859 Newark (OH) Advocate, “The Late Domestic Tragedy in Washington,” March 2, 1859 03/12/1859 New York Herald, “The Sickles Tragedy,” March 12, 1859 04/17/1859 New York Herald, “The Sickles Case,” April 17, 1859 04/19/1859 New York Times, “Philadelphia Jealousy,” April 19, 1859 06/19/1859 Memphis (TN) Appeal, “Sickles,” June 19, 1859 07/13/1859 Lowell (MA) Citizen & News, “Daniel E. Sickles,” July 13, 1859 02/17/1860 Greensboro (NC) Patriot, "Chairman of the Committee on Elections," February 17, 1860 07/23/1861 Edwin D. Morgan to Abraham Lincoln, July 23, 1861 08/18/1861 Thurlow Weed to Abraham Lincoln, August 18, 1861 12/19/1865 Edward McPherson, Description of "An Act to Amend the Criminal Law of South Carolina," December 19, 1865 Images Daniel Sickles Daniel Sickles, detail Daniel Sickles murders Philip Barton Key in Washington DC, February 27, 1859 Daniel Sickles shoots Philip Barton Key on the street in Washington, DC, February, 1859 Trial of Daniel Sickles for the murder of Philip Barton Key in Washington, DC, April 1859 Teresa Baglioli Sickles, 1859 Teresa Baglioli Sickles, 1859, detail Bibliography Chicago Style Entry Link Brandt, Nat. The Congressman Who Got Away with Murder. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1991. View Record Keneally, Thomas. American Scoundrel: The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles. New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2002. View Record Pinchon, Edgcumb. Dan Sickles, Hero of Gettysburg and “Yankee King of Spain.” Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1945. View Record Fontaine, Felix G. Trial of the Hon. Daniel E. Sickles for the Shooting of Philip Barton Key, Esq., U.S. District Attorney of Washington, D.C., February 27, 1859. New York: R.M. De Witt, 1859. View Record Sauers, Richard Allen. Gettysburg: The Meade-Sickles Controversy. Washington, DC: Brassey's, 2003. View Record Swanberg, W. A. Sickles the Incredible. New York: Scribner, 1956. View Record
Daniel Edgar Sickles (Congressional Biographical Directory) ReferenceSICKLES, Daniel Edgar, a Representative from New York; born in New York City October 20, 1819; attended New York University; apprenticed as a printer; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1846 and commenced practice in New York City; member of the State assembly in 1847; corporation attorney in 1853; secretary of the legation at London by appointment of President Franklin Pierce 1853-1855; member of the State senate in 1856 and 1857; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1861); was not a candidate for renomination in 1860; served in the Civil War as colonel of the Seventeenth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, and brigadier general and major general of Volunteers; retired with rank of major general April 14, 1869; awarded the Medal of Honor October 30, 1897, for action at the Battle of Gettysburg; intrusted with a special mission to the South American Republics in 1865; chairman of the New York State Civil Service Commission in 1888 and 1889; sheriff of New York City in 1890; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-third Congress (March 4, 1893-March 3, 1895); unsuccessful for reelection in 1894 to the Fifty-fourth Congress; resided in New York City until his death there May 3, 1914; interment in Arlington National Cemetery. “Sickles, Daniel Edgar,” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000402.
Daniel Edgar Sickles (American National Biography) ScholarshipIn 1847 Sickles won election to the New York State Assembly. Six years later, in January 1853 he was appointed corporation counsel of New York City, but he resigned after eight months to become secretary of the American legation in London. While serving under Ambassador James Buchanan, Sickles had a hand in drawing up the notorious Ostend Manifesto, the document that claimed America's right to seize Cuba, thereby embarrassing the Franklin Pierce administration. While attending a U.S. Independence Day dinner in Richmond on the Thames in 1854, in a spate of nationalistic fervor, Sickles refused to rise from his seat when a toast was offered to Queen Victoria; this affront to British dignity caused an outcry on both sides of the Atlantic. Sickles returned to New York later in 1854 and resumed his law practice. After winning a seat in the New York Senate (1855-1857), the rising Democrat won election to the U.S. House of Representatives (1857-1861). It was during his stay in Washington, D.C., that Sickles first attracted widespread national fame. Although he had married sixteen-year-old Teresa Bagioli in 1852 and fathered a child, Sickles was widely known for his infidelity and womanizing. Teresa started an extramarital affair of her own with Philip Barton Key, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and son of "Star-Spangled Banner" author Francis Scott Key. Once Sickles was informed of his wife's affair, he took matters into his own hands. On 27 February 1859, as Key loitered near Sickles's house on Lafayette Square, Sickles confronted Key and shot him dead. Richard A. Sauers, "Sickles, Daniel Edgar," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/05/05-00714.html.
