19. Daniel Sickles, Philip Barton Key, and Teresa Bagioli
Daniel Sickles was a noted attorney and politician in New York and Washington, married to Teresa Bagioli. While married, Sickles drew censure from the State Assembly when he brought into its chambers a known prostitute. Sickles later took the same woman with him on a trip to London, when he was assigned to the American legation there. Meanwhile, his wife, Teresa, entered into an extramarital affair with Philip Barton Key, another attorney of note. He was the son of Francis Scott Key, the writer of what later became America’s national anthem. When Sickles learned of the affair he accosted Key, in broad daylight in Lafayette Square, in sight of the White House, and shot him dead.
His defense at his trial was extreme emotional distress. He was acquitted. It was the first successful use of the temporary insanity defense in American legal history. Sickles obtained a signed confession from Teresa with details of the affair, which he leaked to the press, creating considerable scandal and public outrage. After his acquittal, Sickles and Teresa briefly reconciled, though their marriage was effectively over. On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, Sickles lost a leg while leading his corps into a position forward of the Union line. His corps took heavy casualties as a result, rendering it ineffective for the rest of the battle. After the war and the death of Teresa in 1867, he remarried, though he continued for the rest of his life to promote his reputation as a ladies’ man.
