MAJOR GENERAL DANIEL E. SICKLES - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 09/17/1862 - HFSID 217929

MAJOR GENERAL DANIEL E. SICKLES
Letter to the New York City volunteer depot, handwritten and signed in 1862 by the first man to ever be acquitted by the "Temporary insanity" defense
Autograph letter signed "DE Sickles" as Brigadier General. 3 pages (1 sheet folded, front and verso), 7¾x9¾. Albany, NY, September 17, 1862. To Brigadier General Thomas Hillhouse. In full: "General: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this date in which I am informed that the state bounty will be paid to recruits enrolled in this state for the Excelsior Brigade. The roster of officers now serving will be forwarded to you without delay. I believe that Copies of the Brigade Muster rolls have already been sent to your office; if not, they will be transmitted whenever you desire them. The arrangement [illegible] with reference to the form of Commissions, as well as the manner of filling vacancies, is satisfactory to me. There are I am told many companies and fragments of companies not yet assigned to regiments, nor subject to the order of the Commander in Chief. I would be glad to have authority to accept & receive such of them as are willing to join my Bri-gade, & respectfully submit the request for the considera-tion of your department. I beg you will convey to his Excellency the Governor my thanks for the facilities he has extended to the recruiting service for my Brigade, & believe me General [illegible]". Sickles commanded the 2nd or "Excelsior" Brigade in General Joseph Hooker's division in the Union's Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. Hillhouse was adjutant general of the New York City volunteers depot during the Civil War. Daniele E. Sickles (1825-1914), born in New York City, had gained notoriety before the Civil War when he shot Philip Barton Key, the son of Francis Scott Key, because he believed Key and his wife were lovers. (Sickles was tried for murder but acquitted, the first successful "temporary insanity" defense in U.S. history.) During the American Civil War, he rose from colonel to major general in command of a brigade at Gettysburg. Sickles, thinking that his position was vulnerable, moved his 3rd Corps from Cemetery Ridge to the battlefield's Peach Orchard without orders. His action drew criticism, but he was later credited with staving off disaster by blocking a surprise attack led by General James Longstreet against the Union Army's left flank at Little Round Top. Sickles lost a leg in the fighting, but won the respect of General Winfield Scott Hancock, in command at Little Round Top. Sickles' brigade, however, had the fifth most killed and wounded of all brigades in the war. He represented New York in the U.S. Congress (1857-1861, 1893-1895) and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1897. Docketed on verso of integral leaf. Lightly creased. Light stain on first page touches 1 word, ink smudged at 1 word on third page. Lightly browned at folds of docket page. Otherwise, fine condition.