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Dan Sickles, American Scoundrel
Thomas Keneally Examines the Life of a Rakish Civil War Hero
 Listen to Lynn Neary's interview with writer Thomas
Keneally
Keneally talks about Sickles' adventures at Gettysburg
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Dan Sickles' leg
Photo: U.S. Army Center of Military History
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June 9, 2002 -- Dan Sickles was a roguish rapscallion who as a congressman beat a murder rap for killing his wife's lover, and went on to lose his leg as a general in the Civil War and emerge as a hero.
Thomas Keneally's book American Scoundrel: The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles covers the wide swath of this curious character's life, from his séances with Mary Todd Lincoln to his affair with Spain's Queen Isabella.
This week on Weekend Edition Sunday, host Lynn Neary talks with Keneally about his latest project. Most of that discussion centers on Sickles' life before the war... and after.
But his performance at Gettysburg, where he suffered his wound, paints a similar picture of a born rebel -- even if he was fighting on the Union side.
Author Keneally says Sickles was despised by his commander, General George Meade. "...Meade was a God-fearing man and a cautious man and Dan was entirely the opposite," Keneally says.
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The Battle of Gettysburg, Day 2. Confederate troops are in red, Union troops in blue.
Map: Courtesy Military History Online
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On July 2, 1863, Sickles tried all day to get Meade's permission to advance his men to prevent the Confederates from setting up their artillery on a ridge above his troops. Finally, at 2 p.m., tired of waiting for Meade, he went ahead with his plans. "But that took them out of line with the rest of the Union troops," says Keneally. "So some people say he opened up a near-fatal gap."
Others say it forced Meade to support the gap and occupy the Round Tops -- two hills near the line "which turned out to be very strategic points in the battle," Keneally says.
Civil War buffs argue the point to this day.
In the midst of it all, Sickles' leg was crushed by a cannonball. That turned him into something of a hero in many people's eyes, and may actually have saved him for being court-martialed.
Losing his leg didn't slow Sickles down much, either. After the limb was put on display in a museum as a sort of relic of the war, Sickles would take women there to impress them.
Other Resources
The Discovery Channel offers a highly interactive Web site on the Battle of Gettysburg.
Military History Online features several in-depth articles on the battle.
A Chicago Sun-Times review of Keneally's book calls Sickles "The O.J. of the post-Civil War era."
More on Thomas Keneally
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