Sickles, Daniel Edgar

Life Span
to
Full name
Daniel Edgar Sickles
Place of Birth
Birth Date Certainty
Exact
Death Date Certainty
Exact
Gender
Male
Race
White
Sectional choice
North
Origins
Free State
Family
George Garrett Sickles (father), Susan Marsh (mother), Teresa Bagioli (wife, 1852)
Education
Other
Other Education
New York University
Occupation
Politician
Military
Diplomat
Attorney or Judge
Relation to Slavery
White non-slaveholder
Political Parties
Democratic
Republican
Government
Pierce Administration (1853-57)
Grant Administration (1869-77)
Diplomat
US House of Representatives
State legislature
Local government
Military
Union Army

Daniel Edgar Sickles (Congressional Biographical Directory)

Reference
SICKLES, 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)

Scholarship
In 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.
Date Event
Congressman Daniel Sickles of New York murders Philip Barton Key in the street in Washington D.C.
Congressman Daniel Sickles is indicted for murder in Washington D.C. in the shooting of Philip Barton Key
The trial of Congressman Daniel Sickles for the murder of Philip Barton Key begins in Washington D.C.
- The murder trial of Congressman Daniel Sickles of New York continues in Washington D.C.
- The murder trial of Congressman Daniel Sickles of New York continues in Washington D.C.
- The trial of Daniel Sickles for the murder of Philip Barton Key continues in Washington D.C.
The trial of Daniel Sickles for the murder of Philip Barton Key continues in Washington D.C.
Congressman Daniel Sickles is acquitted in his trial for the murder of Philip Barton Key
On the Potomac, Thaddeus Lowe's balloon carrier is towed into position off Mattawoman Creek
On the Potomac, Thaddeus Lowe launches the first balloon observation flight from a naval craft
- The Army of the Potomac concentrates on Chancellorsville in preparation for an attack on Lee
Union and Confederate armies collide near Chancellorsville in Spotsylvania County, Virginia
"Stonewall" Jackson's flanking movement seizes the initiative in the Battle of Chancellorsville
Lee's Army of Northern Virginia forces back entrenched Union forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville
- The beaten Union Army retreats across the Rappahannock, ending the Battle of Chancellorsville
Court martial convicts General Joseph Revere, grandson of the patriot, for his retreat at Chancellorsville
- Battle of Gettysburg
At Gettysburg, Union General Daniel Sickles disregards orders and loses much of his III Corps and his right leg
As Chile and Peru face Spain, a large public meeting is held in New York in support of the Monroe Doctrine
In North Carolina, a white, male mob viciously beats a young African-American woman named Phillis Ruffin.
President Johnson appoints the commanders of the five new military reconstruction districts.
Union commander in Charleston, South Carolina, demands a firemen's parade march with a United States flag.
In Plymouth, North Carolina, ten men from a white mob who viciously beat Phillis Ruffin go on military trial.
Second District commander David Sickles confirms the convictions in the Phillis Ruffin beating case.
Chicago Style Entry Link
Brandt, Nat. The Congressman Who Got Away with Murder. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1991. 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
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
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
How to Cite This Page: "Sickles, Daniel Edgar," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/12206.