Name/Title
Major General Daniel Sickles' amputationDescription
Before the war on February 27, 1859, Daniel Sickles had shot and killed the son of Francis Scott Key, Philip Barton Key, because Key had been having an affair with his wife. Sickles pleaded temporary insanity and was the first person to successfully use that defense for murder in a US court. Sickles was later appointed general in the Union Army.
General Sickles' leg was amputated on July 2, 1863 during the battle of Gettysburg by Dr. James Calhoon in Camp Letterman - photograph below. General Sickles presented his amputated leg to the newly established Army Medical Museum in Washington, DC, where he later visited it and where it now resides at the museum in Maryland and can be seen by visitors.
Note a piece of the bloody floorboard from the Shaeffer Farm where the amputation was performed along with an image of his leg now on exhibit at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Maryland.Create Date
August 6, 2026Update Date
September 13, 2026
