Thursday, October 17, 2013

October 18, 1863---Meade repays Sickles for Devil's Den



OCTOBER 18, 1863:            

General Dan Sickles U.S.A., the “goat” of Gettysburg, having been released from the hospital after losing a leg in the battle, returns to the Army of The Potomac. Although his men of the Third Corps give him a rousing welcome, General George Meade refuses to restore him to command until he is “completely healed of his wounds.” Sickles, not an amoeba, cannot grow another leg, and so, with this clumsy excuse, his career as a commander comes to an ignominious end. Sickles spends the rest of his life besmirching General Meade for his “treachery”.