Can You Answer This?
By Chris Rowan
Which U.S. General has a street named after him in New York City and has his right leg bone on display in Washington D.C.? Where is the street and where is his leg?
Answer: Daniel Edgar Sickles. (1819 – 1914). The street is in the Inwood section of northern Manhattan and his right leg bone is on display at the National Museum of Health and Medicine at the Walter Reed Medical center.
Background: Daniel Sickles was a prominent figure in New York City politics, and served as a Congressman in the 1850’s. When the Civil War began, he supported the Union and volunteered for military service. The future General, who would lead tens of thousands of men and boys into battle at Gettysburg was an unusual—and to put it mildly—controversial choice to command troops. In 1859, Sickles murdered Philip Barton Key (son of Francis Scott Key) one block away from the White House after he discovered that Key was having an affair with his wife. A jury found Sickles not guilty on grounds of “temporary insanity,” making Sickles one of the first men to be acquitted on those grounds. On July 2, 1863 Sickles lost his leg while commanding troops at Gettysburg. Although Sickles would eventually receive the Medal of Honor for this battlefield heroism, controversy continued to surround him in his later years. At the age of 93, he was arrested on a charge of embezzling funds from the New York State Monuments Commission.#
