Free Downloads Sickles At Gettysburg: The Controversial Civil War General Who Committed Murder, Abandoned Little Round Top, And Declared Himself The Hero Of Gettysburg
Sickles at Gettysburg: The Controversial Civil War General Who Committed Murder, Abandoned Little Round Top, and Declared Himself the Hero of Gettysburg, by licensed battlefield guide James Hessler, is the most deeply-researched, full-length biography to appear on this remarkable American icon. And it is long overdue.No individual who fought at Gettysburg was more controversial, both personally and professionally, than Major General Daniel E. Sickles. By 1863, Sickles was notorious as a disgraced former Congressman who murdered his wife’s lover on the streets of Washington and used America’s first temporary insanity defense to escape justice. With his political career in ruins, Sickles used his connections with President Lincoln to obtain a prominent command in the Army of the Potomac’s Third Corps―despite having no military experience. At Gettysburg, he openly disobeyed orders in one of the most controversial decisions in military history.No single action dictated the battlefield strategies of George Meade and Robert E. Lee more than Sickles’ unauthorized advance to the Peach Orchard, and the mythic defense of Little Round Top might have occurred quite differently were it not for General Sickles. Fighting heroically, Sickles lost his leg on the field and thereafter worked to remove General Meade from command of the army. Sickles spent the remainder of his checkered life declaring himself the true hero of Gettysburg.Although he nearly lost the battle, Sickles was one of the earliest guardians of the battlefield when he returned to Congress, created Gettysburg National Military Park, and helped preserve the field for future generations. But Dan Sickles was never far from scandal. He was eventually removed from the New York Monument Commission and nearly went to jail for misappropriation of funds.Hessler’s book is a balanced and entertaining account of Sickles’ colorful life. Civil War enthusiasts who want to understand General Sickles’ scandalous life, Gettysburg’s battlefield strategies, the in-fighting within the Army of the Potomac, and the development of today’s National Park will find Sickles at Gettysburg a must-read.About the Author: James A. Hessler works in the financial services industry and is a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg National Military Park. He has taught Sickles and Gettysburg-related courses for Harrisburg Area Community College and the Gettysburg Foundation. In addition to writing articles for publication, Hessler speaks regularly at Civil War Round Tables. A native of Buffalo, NY, he resides in Gettysburg with his wife and children.FINALIST, 2009, ARMY HISTORICAL FOUNDATION DISTINGUISHED BOOK AWARDWINNER, 2009, THE BACHELDER-CODDINGTON LITERARY AWARD, GIVEN BY THE ROBERT E. LEE CIVIL WAR ROUND TABLE OF CENTRAL NEW JERSEYWINNER, 2009, GETTYSBURG ROUND TABLE’S DISTINGUISHED BOOK AWARD
Paperback: 504 pages
Publisher: Savas Beatie; First Paperback Edition edition (March 15, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1932714847
ISBN-13: 978-1932714845
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1 x 9.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #644,884 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #168 in Books > History > Americas > United States > Civil War > Campaigns & Battlefields > Gettysburg #731 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > United States > Civil War #5007 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Military
I picked up James Hessler's Sickles at Gettysburg last week and have had a hard time since putting it down. Even when I finished this excellent book, I was somewhat disappointed: I wanted to read more. I have met Mr. Hessler on several occasions (he lives right down the road from me), and when I see him again I will be sure to congratulate him on a job well done. Although this is his first book-length study, Hessler writes with all the skill and clarity of a seasoned professional in bringing the remarkable story of General Sickles to life. Easily one of the most colorful and controversial figures of the Civil War, Dan Sickles continues to capture our interest, earning the veneration of some, the vehemence of most others. He was (is) one of those polarizing figures: most works have either portrayed him as the villainous scoundrel or, less commonly, as the man who saved the Union at Gettysburg but who suffered the discrimination of the army's West Pointers and professional soldiers. At last, Dan Sickles and his advancement of the Third Corps at Gettysburg receive fair historical treatment in Hessler's work; the author does not set out to prove that Sickles was either wholly this or wholly that, a villain or a hero. Focusing on Sickles's still controversial move on the afternoon of July 2, Hessler instead presents both sides of the story, and leaves much of the final determination up to the reader. There is much to admire about Sickles: his resiliency, his bravery, his patriotism and love for his troops, and his efforts at helping establish Gettysburg and other important sites as National Parks.
"Colorful" is scarcely an adequate adjective to describe the tumultuous life of Daniel Sickles - soldier, politician, diplomat, lawyer and, according to his enemies, a lying, thieving, womanizing scoundrel. At best he exhibited a casual carelessness towards other people's monies that several time resulted in charges of misappropriation of funds. George Templeton Strong, the acid-tongued Brahmin diarist and fellow lawyer characterized Sickles as belonging "to the filthy sediment of the profession, and lying somewhere in its lower strata, Perhaps better to say that he's one of the bigger bubbles of the scum of the profession, swollen and windy, and puffed out with fetid gas." Although a notorious skirt-chaser himself, Congressman Sickles in 1859 shot and killed his wife's lover and then after a spectacular trial was acquitted through the novel defense of "temporary insanity". In later years Sickles, by then a diplomat in Europe, reportedly romanced the deposed Queen of Spain and gained a nickname as being the "Yankee King of Spain". Even in his old age, confined to a wheelchair, rumors still had Sickles avidly chasing women, but he was the kind of character that magnetically drew colorful and scandalous stories.After the outbreak of the American Civil War Sickles, based on his prewar militia experience and especially his strong Tammany Hall political connections and his recent acquittal on homicide charges notwithstanding, won appointment as a general of volunteers. Within less than two years, Sickles was named as the commander of the Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac. It was in that role on July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg that he achieved his greatest fame, or infamy.
Sickles at Gettysburg: The Controversial Civil War General Who Committed Murder, Abandoned Little Round Top, and Declared Himself the Hero of Gettysburg Top Secret Files: The Civil War: Spies, Secret Missions, and Hidden Facts from the Civil War (Top Secret Files of History) Sons of Privilege: The Charleston Light Dragoons in the Civil War (Civil War Sesquicentennial Edition) (Civil War Sesquicentennial Edition (University of South Carolina Press)) Marvel Super Hero Coloring Book: Super hero, Hero, book, Wolverine, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-men, Defenders, Illuminati, Fantastic Four, ... Comic, Captain America, Groot, DC Comics McGraw-Hill Education: Top 50 ACT English, Reading, and Science Skills for a Top Score, Second Edition (Mcgraw-Hill Education Top 50 Skills for a Top Score) McGraw-Hill Education: Top 50 ACT Math Skills for a Top Score, Second Edition (Mcgraw-Hill Education Top 50 Skills for a Top Score) Murder Most Vile Volume 10: 18 Shocking True Crime Murder Cases (True Crime Murder Books) 'Round and 'Round the Garden: Music in My First Year! (First Steps CDs and Cassettes) Round and Round the Money Goes: What Money is and How We Use It (Discovery Readers) A Super-Sneaky, Double-Crossing, Up, Down, Round & Round Maze Book Union Cavalry in the Civil War, Vol. 2: The War in the East, from Gettysburg to Appomattox, 1863-1865 Storming Little Round Top: The 15th Alabama And Their Fight For The High Ground, July 2, 1863 Struggle for the Round Tops: Law's Alabama Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 2-3, 1863 This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (Vintage Civil War Library) The First Republican Army: The Army of Virginia and the Radicalization of the Civil War (A Nation Divided: Studies in the Civil War Era) Citizen-officers: The Union and Confederate Volunteer Junior Officer Corps in the American Civil War (Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War) Behind the Blue and Gray: The Soldier's Life in the Civil War (Young Readers' History of the Civil War) Army at Home: Women and the Civil War on the Northern Home Front (Civil War America) Growing Up with Conference: Practical Ways to Make General Conference Fun Year-round Mister Dog: The Dog Who Belonged to Himself (A Little Golden Book)
