Daniel Sickles: The Colorful and Controversial Commander of Gettysburg - Ranger Matt Atkinson 

Matt Atkinson is one of my favorite rangers at Gettysburg. And I'm very glad he posted information on Sickles. Endlessly fascinating character!

This ranger was our guide on a tour of Little Round Top last September. Great guy, very funny! I had on a Tom Petty shirt and he kept working Tom Petty songs into the tour, haha.

What a fun story, and a credit to Ranger Atkinson for the excellent presentation

Best Civil War Education you can get with Ranger Matt, Thanks

I actually clicked on this video because Matt told me about Dan Sickles. I look up more vids about Dan. Clicks on this not realizing who is performing the lecture. Surprise! Matt is here to oblige my curiosity some more :) One of my favs.

We’ll never have another politician like Dan Sickle!?! ..they’re all like Dan Sickle.

NPR Matt Atkinson holds my attention during any battlefield tours or lectures by the quality of his presentations. Great videos

Until now I hadn't connected Sickle's forward movement at Gettysburg with his mauling at Chancellorsville caused by leaving unoccupied a potential artillery position in his front. Context can be enlightening.

I love these videos! Keep em com”n!!!! Great job to all the talented people producing them and performing them!

I've got a real marital crisis going on. My wife has been watching these videos with Matt, so last night she asks when these programs run. I told her during the summer. She says "I have vacation time in August." I asked, "are you wanting to visit Gettysburg again?" Insolent witch looks me straight in the eyes and says, "if Matt's there, yes." Now, I'd love to visit Gettysburg again myself, but now I'm afraid it'll cost me my marriage!

Enjoyed this Very Much, Dan S was Quite a Character..

What an engaging presentation. I thought I knew much about Sickles up to this point, but I sure didn’t. Well done, sir! Thank you!

Queen Victoria's husband Albert was the Prince Consort, not the King.

Wow! This was fantastic. Very enjoyable, I have always wondered about Sickles. I still do, Foote kinda leaves it up in the air, which is the fairest treatment.

Sickles made the right move....ultimately the problem with the Union left is that Meade REALLY didn't allocate enough troops there...if Sickles had kept the position as ordered (whatever THAT EXACT position was supposed to be) he STILL would have been POUNDED by Confederate artillery and then in addition, have been subject to coordinated Confederate infantry attacks on his position. Sickles move DID break up the Confederate's coordinated attack....as well as the serious possibility of a flanking attack at the main line of defense. Meade didn't allocate enough troops to his left to start with then was LATE in moving more reinforcements down that way. If you are defending a city or a hill, you usually do Not sit ON that site.... you take positions Out from that site the way Reynolds did day 1 He recognized what a great position Cemetery ridge was AND THEN TOOK UP DEFENSIVE POSITIONS FAR TO THE NORTH WEST And look....it would SEEM the Union Loses on day 1...and tactically they do.... but in a grand tactical sense it worked out Perfectly because the army retreated to and reinforced Cemetery Ridge having Broken the Confederate momentum If you use the "logic" to say Gen Sickles made the wrong move on day 2 then you Must criticize Reynolds for the day 1 debacle because it is the Exact same situation.... 1. A general takes up a forward and exposed position in order to deny the enemy the ability to move on the intended main line of defense. 2. Said general burns up TIME and slows/stops the enemies advance but is beaten and forced to retreat to the main defensive line 3. Which can ONLY be held with massive infusion of reinforcements Sickles made the Right move and should have had troops assigned to his left flank and had reinforcements sent in an actual Timely manner Hell, if Meade had any sand, he might have tried outflanking the rebs around Big Round top....but he probably had too keen a knowledge of his limitations as a general to try and pull that off

Outstanding Presentation !

Sickles understood that a tree line was a defense pivot point. I agree with his decisions based on current information and intelligence available.

They should make a movie about this man. Love him or hate him it would be really interesting.

What a treat! Thanks.

Great video. Thank you

I was working in a shop in Wichita Kansas and a lady came in to pick up her order for "Mrs Sickles" I looked up in surprise and said, "Sickles, of Gettysburg fame?!?" And she looked surprised and said YES! We talked about the old general for maybe half an hour. It was a nice surprise like history walking out of the fog and slapping you in the face....... I happen to agree with Dan's move that day.

I really wish the NPR would post more of these winter lecture series. You can subscribe to them but without any notification as to when they are online. I have no way to be able to attend the lectures so I consider of the service when they are available on RU-vid.I know they are from an edited by volunteers and probably that is the reason some of them are not posted online. However all of them are extremely interesting

I guess Dan could be called a 'lovable scoundrel'. His men seemed to like him-being that they cheered as he was carried off on the stretcher.

Great example of how easily one can bumble their way into glory if they try.

I'm a direct descendant of Daniel Sickles, and I was surprised to find so much information on him.

This Ranger could do a perfect impersonation of Senator Lindsey Graham !! :)

"Prostrate" is the word he meant around 16:15, not "prostate".

Good presentation, right there

Love this dude! this is 2nd video I've watched with him speaking, first one was about Nathan Bedford Forrest, and it was great too.

Fascinating perspective on the complexity of Sickles! Very balanced approach to the details you shared about communication between Sickles and Meade!

I wish I lived near Gettysburg so I could come to these. So jealous of the people that live there.

He's my ancestor, and we're somewhat proud of him. He wrote a letter on the occasion of my great-grandfather's birth, Daniel Edgar Sickles, in the early 1900's.

Awesome video.

I love it! I am his great great great granddaughter. I've had my family traced back to him.

When do they hold these nighttime event lectures

He may have been all those things but... by sticking his corps so far in front of Cemetery Ridge, the Confederates had to get past his men before they could take the Devil's Den and Little Round Top. By exhausting the rebels before they reached their objectives, he may have saved the Union lines.

Shout out to the camera operator for panning at 27:25 in conjunction with Ranger Atkinsons description of said direction. This was done just for us folks and I for one, appreciate it.

I also read once that he was instrumental in creating Central Park.

Sickles made the rebs split their brigade battle lines on many fronts of his defensive line because of the contrasts in landscape, risky yes, effective yes!!

Dan's greatest achievement in his life was living to the age of 94 in a time before antibiotics were invented

June 19, 1865 - Galveston, TX better known as "Juneteenth", was the 1st official shots fired in the Spanish America War. Freeing Israelite Slaves would be a long bloody affair.

This guy is one of my ancestors (mother's maiden name is Sickles). I don't know what to do with this information.

He is my great great great grandpa. (I don’t use my real name online) (only on Facebook)

I love this ranger

The poor men of 3rd corps had the misfortune of having diabolical danny as their C.O

Love Matt

A positive thing that Sickles did , for the city of New York, He built Central Park.

Fascinating. But can't say I like the sound of Sickles....

That’s my great great grampa my name is Brady sickles

My husband's great great uncle.

Sickles was a scroundel. I know a few Generals who would fit that bill as well.

This was a good presentation. I think Sickles' sleazy side makes it too difficult to judge him fairly for what he did here. The III corps was reinforced with all of the V corps, 5 brigades from the II corps, parts of the VI corps, and some of the XII corps. You didn't mention the artillery. Ground for artillery deployment is the biggest weakness in Sickles' assigned position. Even after the line was corrected during and after the III corps retreat, very little artillery was deployed south of the McGilvery line. Hazlet's battery on Little Round Top was positioned there more for the morale of the infantry than strategic effect. Those guns were only good for long distance targets. They could not defend LRT itself because when gun barrels are depressed any more than 10 degrees below horizontal, the recoil tends to dismount them. The area between LRT and the McGilvery line is too rocky and swampy for artillery, and has a forest blocking the view in front of it. Geary's men were never in position. they were bivouacked. So we can be sure that they weren't sleeping in that swamp. Finally, Meade didn't send any reinforcements until after the attack began, and it was because of Sickles "blunder" that he happened to have been there to see the need. If Sickles hadn't done that, the III corps would have been hit with all of Longstreet's corps and Alexander's artillery. They would have been alone and without much artillery south of the McGilvery line. LRT was a good infantry position, but the swamp between it and the McGilvery line wasn't good for anything. It is clearly the weak point in the fish hook. Barksdale could easily have done what he did at the Peach Orchard, and Hood could have sent his whole division against LRT, before any of those reinforcements are likely to have been deployed. This of course, is just speculation, but it;s the kind of speculation that Meade should have done. Who could have guessed that Lee might have hit him on the flank? Anybody! Meade completely neglected his left flank. Sickles' move obscures that, and the fact that Meade got caught with his pants down.

I think ol' Dan Sickles may have saved the day for the Yankee's by his move out from the line...not by design but by circumstance seeing that he slowed and disrupted the Reb attack force coming at the main Federal line. It cost the confederates precious time and ammunition...his corp acted as a sort of burst-plate taking much of the steam and determination out of the attacking force...being that after they got through Sickles they then faced a fresh union line which they were unable to break due to fatigue and loss of momentum. Sickles lost a leg and his corp got chewed up pretty badly but the line held and the South was forced to concede the second day with no real gains. So General Sickles some have negative opinions of your performance, but I say you did just fine. Ps...General Robert E. Lee made the HUGE mistake of 'Pickets Charge' yet he gets little criticism for that War losing blunder.

This is my wife's great great uncle. Crazy bastard! Runs in the family

Just found out he's my uncle ad a few greats

Another account of the incident had Sickles shooting Key multiple times...up CLOSE! He should NEVER have gotten off the hook for that crime, but he had friends in HIGH places! His poor wife. I feel sorry for her...but NOT "Dan the Man." I can see how Mary Todd Lincoln and Sickles would be great friends...they were both crazy.

I would know nothing of unckle Da-a-a-an If it wasn’t for ranger Atkinson.

I am definitely not a fan of Sickles, I'm Minnesotan and I believe his disregard of orders from high command, in his move from his assigned position to the Peach orchard area created the situation that necessitated the sacrifice of the 1st Minnesota to buy time in filling the gap created by Sickles salient. The 'Wheatfield', the 'Whirlpool of Death' was also a direct result of Sickles move. Sickles was definitely NOT the 'hero of Gettysburg' as he himself may have fancied....but I do believe he is a 'hero' of the "Gettysburg National Battlefield Park", due to his efforts in creating a national park there.

A Dan Sickles can be described as crude brash pretentious and the list could go but one thing that cant be denied and with all his many flaws and considerable limitations was profoundly patriotic and fearless .. and medal of honor recipient!

Matt...... Brill

Damned Yankee.

im dans 5th generation great grandson 😊

I would bet Danny boy is NOT in heaven

"We'll probably never have another CHARACTER in American politics like Dan Sickles. Then came TRUMP". -Bill Howes.

Dan Sickles is a Human Meme. That is all

Yea my grandad was nuts...lol

Just a small point the portraits were of queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert of SAXE COBURG AND GOTHA. HE WAS NOT HER KING!,,,,,

Sickle was right battle would have played out completely different if he did not deploy foreword

Key was my 4X Great uncle.

Wasn't Sickles also the unfaithful type as well? Way before his wife had an affair.

LMAO

the north wins

until I read the comments I wasn't going to do this... the confederacy lost the war, but was allowed to win the peace, and the country is paying for that mistake to this day and will, into the future, until that mistake is corrected

Sickles was kind of an asshole, but I can't help but think that he's kind of cool.

Old Dan going to come out of the grave and shoot ranger Matt for accusing him of stealing that money. haha Great story at the end with him and Longstreet having some drinks and rippin on each other. Love it!

Because Sickles was only a political general, it seems to me that he and his men were the equivalent of militia during the Revolutionary War. Militia were considered helpful, supportive but generally unreliable by Army regulars, for obvious reasons, and used as sparingly as possible, when possible. The fact Sickles was allowed to have a 10,000 man Army and fight with the Union without military training as a general over 10,000 men means the onus for leniency is with the regular Army which Gen Meade appropriately showed at the time and after the war. The fault for the situation is squarely on Meade, who should have kept him and his men in reserve because of his known lack of character, or at least made sure had more experienced generals on either side of him always to keep on eye on him on the front line. Instead Meade left him cover the extreme Left flank , his weakest position on the entire line with the worst ground, like the Devil's Den in the late morning of July 2. Considering his experience at Chancellorsville, falling back to lower ground when ordered to and then being pummeled with artillery from the ground he gave up he did the right thing tactically, not morally, to get to higher ground in the Peach Orchard. His decision forced more men into field which strengthened the Union line. His own men paid the price for his decision. I have yet to hear any grievances from them after studying this battle for 55 years. But, I may just not have read accounts to that effect yet. There were 90,000 men available in the small fish hook or U formation in the less than 2 mile line that was established on the morning of 2 July. The Confederates only had 70,000 men that were spread out farther, 6-8 miles conforming to the union positions 300 yards away. Army/Marine regulars are expected to die without question following orders going into harm's way, as on D-Day. Leniency for non trained military commanders at that time has to be considered because such resources as Dan Sickles gave freely were rare and valuable. Officers and soldiers need to follow their own calm, wordless, intuitive common sense judgement on the battlefield to get the best result under changing circumstances, and High Command must stand behind the decisions of those men. I'm glad he was not persecuted, except by useless, pretentious people with far inferior contributions to our military, or prosecuted for his actions. But it is the responsibility of High Command in a moral, advancing civilization to make sure that only men with calm, common sense, and good character like Buford that intuitively could extrapolate events that made him defend the high ground for Union positioning of troops are placed on their field to begin with, especially those with rank. Sickles was by all accounts, unstable, criminal, impulsive, and the typical narcissistic, sociopathic Democrat politician. He should not have been allowed to serve. But the Union probably was in no position to reject a free, 10,000 man army willing to go to the front of Civil War era battle line and actually fight. He deserved the leniency he got and paid the price for his disobedience to Meade with his leg and his men's lives/injuries. Fair enough. He should be maligned for the womanizer/lecher, murderer, criminal and Democrat sociopathic politician he was, not for his military service to the Union. His service to the Union Army was a fine contribution to the advancing civilization., and a very rare thing , for any/every unstable Democrat sociopath that usually destroys everything they touch, are on the wrong side of everything and contribute nothing. That is what makes Dan Sickles such an unusual character in my eyes. Most Democrat heathen barbarians like Sickles can't do anything right, be graceful about any loss, show real courage in a dangerous situation, show any honest forgiveness to anyone, be on the right side of any argument, honestly appreciate anything and/or remain un-resentful about any difficult circumstances. Dan Sickles did. He didn't try to go to the back of the Union line, he moved forward into an incredibly large and deadly force, with exposed flanks, hoping that the proper help would come in time if/when needed. He must have still had a tiny flickering light of humanity left in him to serve the way he did. Shame on everyone that mocks and diminishes his military service and contribution to the Union cause, like the person who gave this talk on the video to try to elevate their rotten selves. I salute Sickles for all he gave to the Union cause and hope that God has mercy on his poor soul for his lack of character and heathen behavior in other areas of his life. He, President Truman and Allen Dershowicz are the only 3 Democrats I know of that are/were any good. And I think pretty highly of President Truman and Mr Dershowicz. Dan Sickles was the only decent Democrat during the Civil War I know of.

Wow ...who does this remind you of ? (Hint current POTUS)

Too bad Sickles survived the war.

Dan Sickles sounds like a perfect present day democrat. Corrupt

Queen Victoria was the "Last official" Negro/Israelite Queen of England/Scotland and Ireland, she died in 1902. She was the offspring of the Stuart Family Line of (Negro) King James 1 of England and King James IV of Scotland.

dan sicles the anti-Roosevelt dan bad Roosevelt good dan democrate Roosevelt republican , bidden like dan, trump like Roosevelt