Nov 18, 2008 - Sale 2163

Sale 2163 - Lot 76

Price Realized: $ 10,200
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 25,000
CONGRESSMAN, KILLER, GENERAL (CIVIL WAR.) Archive of the personal correspondence and writings of Gen. Daniel E. Sickles. 1.5 linear feet, including more than 1000 leaves of original manuscript and typescript material, various sizes and formats; condition generally sound, though a small number of documents are burned at the edges. Vp, 1842, 1853-1918
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Daniel Edgar Sickles (1819-1914) was a larger-than-life figure best known as a Union general in the Civil War. Before the war, he served as a United States Congressman from New York, and killed a man who was having an affair with his wife. In the subsequent trial, he was acquitted by pleading temporary insanity, the first defendant in America to successfully use that defense. When the Civil War began, he was soon appointed as Brigadier General despite a lack of previous military experience. He lost a leg at the Battle of Gettysburg. After the war, his diverse resume included stints as Minister to Spain and Sheriff of New York, as well as another congressional term.
This lot is a wide-ranging archive of Sickles's personal papers, most of them dated 1853 to 1917 and covering the key periods of the general's career. His turbulent marriage to Teresa Bagioli is represented by her brief note sending him flowers just weeks after he had murdered her lover, 9 April 1859 and 3 Autograph Letters Signed from Sickles to Teresa, 1853 and 1860. The collection also includes 34 letters and documents from the Civil War period. Robert B. Roosevelt (Teddy's uncle) wrote in 1863 to request help in inspiring New Yorkers to support the draft. Noted activist Mattie Griffith wrote on behalf of the Women's Loyal National League in 1863, asking him to publicly support their emancipation petition. Also included is a draft circular letter dated February 1864 in which Sickles endorses the National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company (now MetLife). Many of the letters relate to veterans' affairs, or to Sickles's role at the Battle of Gettysburg. One chilling 1867 letter signed only "Andersonville Avengers" demands that Sickles be merciless in hunting down Confederate war criminals: "We poor prisoners half starved were fed upon maggotty meat . . . If you catch Capt Bogue hang him, it will not be safe for those fellows to trifle with the people north any longer." Later correspondents include General Alfred Pleasanton and Admiral D.G. Farragut.
This collection also includes partial drafts of the General's reminiscences, more than 150 leaves, mostly free-standing anecdotes in Autograph Manuscript form or typed with annotations by Sickles. These memoirs include a chapter titled "Gen. Sickles First Law Case," in which he refuses to file a suit against telegraph inventor Samuel Morse; a lengthy description of his efforts to free a slave in 1858; and his crucial role in convincing President Buchanan to hold firm at Fort Sumter in December 1860. The reminiscences are rich in Lincoln anecdotes, all of which tend to glorify Sickles. When Lincoln reviewed the Third Army Corps in 1863, Lincoln confided at great length to Sickles about his war worries, but was greatly cheered by a rousing reception by the troops, and said afterwards "Sickles, I can never thank you enough for this day--I feel like another man." Shortly after Sickles had his leg amputated at Gettysburg, Lincoln paid a personal visit to the hospital and pronounced "Sickles, I am told, as you have been told, perhaps, that your condition is serious. I am in a prophetic mood to-day. You will get well." The material in these reminiscences is not generally known to historians, as Sickles only published them in occasional scattered articles.
Sickles was estranged from his children and second wife later in life, which contributed to his serious financial difficulties. Included in the collection is an important 1913 letter from his housekeeper and mistress Eleanor Wilmerding, explaining that the General has agreed to make support payments to avoid foreclosure; the related foreclosure auction poster is enclosed.
A rich and wide-ranging archive on an important Civil War figure. no biography of sickles can be considered complete without recourse to these papers. A more detailed inventory of the contents is available upon request.