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”.
