“Sickles at Gettysburg:  The Battlefield is His Monument:” is the first comprehensive and full-length biography of Daniel Sickles published in more than fifty years.

Dan Sickles was Gettysburg’s most controversial general. His career was noted for its scandals and controversies. No individual action dictated the flow of fighting at Gettysburg more than Sickles’s disobedience of orders on July 2.

This new biography will cover:

• Sickles’s murder of Philip Barton Key and the myth of his temporary insanity defense.

• His friendships with notables such as Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, Joe Hooker, Dan Butterfield, James Longstreet, and others.

• Sickles’s lack of military experience and how he used political influence to receive promotions well above his levels of competence.

• The battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Pre-cursors to Gettysburg, these Union disasters seriously damaged Sickles’s relationship with George Meade.

• His controversial and influential performance at Gettysburg. It began with his late arrival on July 1, continued with his unauthorized advance to the Peach Orchard, and ended with a Confederate shell shattering his leg.

• Sickles’s post-battle attempts to discredit General Meade and declare himself the true hero of Gettysburg!

• His substantial role in developing Gettysburg National Military Park and his expulsion from the New York Monument Commission for misappropriation of funds.

• And Much More!

When one considers his battlefield and post-battle accomplishments, for better or worse, no single individual has had a greater impact on Gettysburg’s “history” than General Dan Sickles!