Fort Sumter saved Dan Sickles. How it did is one of the more incredible stories in American history.

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Daniel Edgar Sickles occupied a central place in the politics and gossip of antebellum New York and Washington. Born in 1819 to an old Knickerbocker family, Sickles' career rose rapidly from his beginnings as a printer's apprentice. He opened a law practice, joined the Democratic political machine Tammany Hall, which controlled New York City, received an appointment to the American Legation in London, won a seat in the New York State Senate in 1855, and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1856 and 1858.

As Sickles himself rose in prominence, so did the scandals he attracted. His law practice was opened before he passed the bar. Well known for his affairs and affection for prostitutes, Sickles in 1853 married the daughter of a close friend. At the time, Sickles was 33. The girl, Teresa Bagioli, was 15 and pregnant. Sickles was censured by the New York State Assembly for bringing a prostitute onto the Senate floor. He also brought the same prostitute with him on a trip to England, presenting her to Queen Victoria under the surname of a political opponent.

Notwithstanding his own unseemly past, Sickles and his wife were welcomed into Washington's highest social circles after his election to the House. He was a consummate politician able to charm anyone he met. She was a beautiful young sophisticate, able to speak five languages. One of their closest friends was Philip Barton Key, a United States attorney and the son of the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Sickles often asked Key to escort his wife to social events whenever the congressman had to work late or was occupied with other women.

Key's affection for Teresa Sickles soon became more than amicable. In the winter of 1858-59, following Sickles' reelection to the House, Key's affair with Sickles' spouse was the best-known secret in the Capital. Sickles was ignorant of the rumors, he claimed, until February, when he was given an anonymous note detailing the affair. Distraught over his wife's infidelity, he confronted Teresa and forced her to write a detailed confession, which she signed with her maiden name. When he spied Key signaling her from outside his house the next day, Sickles erupted.

Grabbing two derringers and a revolver, he chased the frantic Key to Lafayette Park, directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. There he shot Key in the groin. As one adulterer begged for mercy, the other fired at point-blank range. Key was struck in the chest and fatally wounded. Sickles, regaining his composure and realizing he had just committed murder before dozens of witnesses, walked to the attorney general's office and turned himself in.

The ensuing trial played out in newspapers across the country. Sickles pleaded not guilty by reason of temporary insanity, a first in American jurisprudence. His lawyer, Edwin Stanton, later Lincoln's secretary of war, turned the trial onto the dead Key. Sickles, Stanton argued, was the true victim. He was an honorable husband deceived by a good friend. The lecherous Key had corrupted Sickles' 23-year old wife, and his death—or Sickles' insanity, which caused it—was completely justified. The spin worked. The verdict—not guilty, of course—was read to thunderous applause in the courtroom. Newspapers around the country proclaimed justice had been done.

But Sickles soon made a costly misstep in the court of public opinion. He forgave Teresa after the trial. The press turned on Sickles. His wife had betrayed him, deceived him and caused the death of a man through her adultery. How could an honorable man ever take her back? Sickles' popularity, so recently never higher, plummeted, and he did not seek reelection in 1860. In March of 1861, he returned to New York. He was an unpopular politician, he was unemployed and many of his former friends ignored him. He was, in short thoroughly disgraced.

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