Union General Daniel Sickles

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When Meade confronted Sickles, he was furious. Sickles’ right was nowhere near Hancock’s left, nor was it anchored on Little Round Top. It was open on both ends and isolated from the rest of the army. Sickles, seeking to avoid a repeat of Howard’s Chancellorsville debacle, ironically had placed himself in an identical situation. Meade chided Sickles for his action and made it clear that Sickles had upset his plans. Sickles offered to withdraw to Meade’s designated position, but it was too late. Enemy infantrymen made a vigorous assault, and the III Corps sustained the shock.

The dangers of Sickles’ salient quickly became apparent. If the Confederates could get around Devil’s Den, they could encircle and destroy Birney’s division. If they could penetrate Birney’s line at the Peach Orchard, they would also be behind Humphreys’ division, rendering his position untenable. Humphreys’ line was itself open to encirclement from the north, which would in turn render Birney’s position untenable. Finally, Sickles’ absence on Cemetery Ridge placed Hancock’s left flank in jeopardy should the Rebels succeed in occupying Little Round Top or getting around Devil’s Den. Once again, Sickles had managed to endanger his own corps, other Union units and the entire army itself.

After several hours of fierce combat, Sickles’ troops began to crumble. Hammered from two directions by two of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet’s divisions, the Peach Orchard, Rose’s Woods and the Wheat Field were overrun, and Birney’s division was shattered and driven back. With Rebels pouring through the Peach Orchard, Humphreys’ line, now attacked from the west and south, was doomed. Meade, with Hancock’s assistance, struggled to rush reinforcements from three other corps to bolster Sickles’ divisions, but the III Corps was knocked out of the fight and sent into disordered retreat. There was a gaping hole all along the left of Meade’s line.

In the end, however, the Confederates were not able to achieve their goals. Lee’s plan called for an oblique, echelon attack against Cemetery Ridge, beginning in the south and moving gradually northward along the Emmitsburg Road. But the 11-brigade attack was uncoordinated and disjointed. Lee’s commanders failed to advance on schedule and were unable to exploit their gains. Eventually, as darkness fell, the Confederate attack sputtered and dissipated in confusion. A Union disaster was narrowly averted.

As his salient collapsed around him, Sickles was struck in the right leg by shrapnel and carried from the field. The wound, which resulted in amputation, probably saved him from being court-martialed for his rash and perilous action. Meade was at first willing to concede that perhaps Sickles had somehow misinterpreted his orders, but Sickles said there had been no misunderstanding. He had made a decision and acted on his own responsibility, abandoning the position ordered by Meade for one that he believed to be better. He defended his decision until his dying day and insisted that he had made no error.

Sickles was an aggressive and combative general, but his weakness as a leader was his inability to take advice or consider other points of view. He had powerful friends in the Army and in Washington whom he manipulated to his own advantage, thus avoiding censure or prosecution for disobeying Meade’s orders and wrecking his corps. By an artful blending of fact, fancy and innuendo, he conjured up his own version of the battle. There is strong evidence that Sickles arranged for the printing of a fanciful account in the New York Herald on March 12, 1864, under the pseudonym Historicus, purporting to be the true story of what happened at Gettysburg. The account glorified Sickles’ foresight and initiative and stressed Meade’s incompetence. According to Historicus, Meade had advocated inglorious retreat. In a heroic effort to save the day, Sickles moved out to meet the enemy, precipitated a battle Meade was afraid to fight, and brought victory to Union arms. In essence, the article claimed, Sickles won the Battle of Gettysburg.

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Tags: 19th Century, America's Civil War, American Civil War, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures

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