Daniel Edgar Sickles was a Union general in the American Civil War. He was a rogue, a scoundrel, and an important figure in history. He was a politician attached to the Tammany Hall Democratic Club in New York City. Just before the Civil War, he was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives when he killed the son of Francis Scott Key in a duel. He had a great battery of lawyers, and for the first time in U. S. legal history, they used the defense of temporary insanity since Sickles shot Key who was having an affair with Sickles' young wife. The jury bought it and Sickles was acquitted. Sickles raised troops in New York when the Civil War began and became one of the political generals. His service up to Gettysburg was competent, however. At Gettysburg, he was commanding the III Corps and moved his command out in front from the line on Cemetary Ridge. This almost lead to disaster, and the line was only re-established by the sacrifice of the gallant 1st Minnesota. Sickles was wounded and lost a leg at the battle, but Meade, the Union commander, removed him from command and this ended Sickles' military career. Sickles became in effect ambassador to Spain after the Civil War. He always was a ladies' man, and used this to good effect the Spanish royal court. He was rumored to have had an affair with Queen Isabella II, who was also rumored to be a nymphomaniac, and who was later deposed. By the end of the Century, Sickles was back in Congress, was instrumental in the preservation and acquistion of the Gettysburg Battlefield. I recommend The Congressman Who Got Away With Murder, by Nat Brandt, for the story of the Key killing, the trial and the background.