The Flamboyant Daniel Sickles

His battle performance during the first two years of the War was mediocre at best. During the Seven Days Battle of Oak Grove, his brigade had a chance to prove itself, but fell behind a neighboring brigade allowing it to take severe fire. Part of his outfit broke quickly to the rear at the battle's outset, and Sickles could not do anything to rally them. Though his front eventually stabilized and his men fought aggressively, he and his men showed very poorly in their first major engagement.

But no losses or embarrassments were going to curb this man's enthusiasm and urge to gain higher command. After skipping both Second Manassas and Antietam (political connections with Stanton and others proved highly lucrative for Sickles), he came back to take command of a III Corps division just prior to Fredericksburg. But during that December battle, his men were held in reserve and did not fight. Soon after he departed for Washington (something he did after nearly every battle) and sought the higher rank of Major General. He got the promotion, and the command of Joseph Hooker's old III Corps after Hooker took command of the Army.

The man's lack of battle experience caught up with him at Chancellorsville. He confused Jackson's famous flanking maneuver as a full Confederate retreat. But despite his revelation, he neglected to act with his troops, despite receiving reinforcements he requested. And that wasn't the worst of what happened. Sears (1999) explains:

That night...Sickles found himself...only tenuously connected with the rest of the army. With his usual impulsiveness, he determined on a night march to regain his old lines. He set off without reconnaissance, without knowing where either friend or foe might be in the darkness, and without fully informing the rest of the army that he was coming. When Sickles' stumbling column brushed against pickets of both armies, the result was chaos. ...(After a repeated exchange of fire), they fell back to their starting point, licking their wounds. ...Sickles' casualties must have exceeded 500, with many of those caused by friendly fire (p. 208).

At Gettysburg, Sickles took it upon himself to redeem his debacle at Chancellorsville and prove that he was an able commander. Unfortunately his zeal blinded him from reality. On day 2 of the fighting at Gettysburg, Sickles was ordered by General Meade to position his corps next to Hancock's II Corps with his left flank anchored at the base

The copyright of the article The Flamboyant Daniel Sickles in American Civil War is owned by Michael J. Swogger. Permission to republish The Flamboyant Daniel Sickles in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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