Daniel Sickles Trial: 1859 - Public Opinion Turns Against Sickles

Some segments of society and the legal profession were sickened by the verdict and even more by the way the defense had secured it. The mud thrown at the deceased's name, the public humiliation of Teresa Sickles, the manipulation of the press and, perhaps most of all, the cynical appeal to Old Testament morality in defense of a notorious Don Juan made the trial a farce and a travesty of justice in the eyes of many.

What little social standing and political aspirations Sickles retained were utterly destroyed when he and Teresa effected a public reconciliation only three months after the acquittal. The move flabbergasted his political cronies, scandalized society, and called down upon the couple the wrath and ridicule of the press.

Although Sickles partially redeemed his reputation in 1863 by losing a leg to a Confederate cannonball at the Battle of Gettysburg, public distrust was too deep for his political career to regain its early momentum. When Sickles died in 1914, he was remembered as the first accused murderer to escape punishment by pleading temporary insanity.