Daniel Sickles

Daniel Edgar Sickles was an American politician, diplomat and Union Army major general. Before the Civil War he served in Congress; during the war he commanded III Corps of the Army of the Potomac. At Gettysburg on 2 July 1863 he advanced his corps from its assigned position to the Peach Orchard salient, where it suffered heavy losses and Sickles was severely wounded.

After the war Sickles returned to public life, served as United States minister to Spain and became an energetic advocate for preserving the Gettysburg battlefield. His controversial Gettysburg decisions made him one of the best-known and most debated Union commanders of the campaign.