American Scoundrel American Scoundrel American Scoundrel

by Thomas Keneally

  18. Swanberg, p. 84; Nat Brandt, The Congressman Who Got Away with Murder, p. 22; Stephen Fiske, Off-Hand Portraits of Prominent New Yorkers, p. 284; Irving Katz, August Belmont: A Political Biography, p. 42; Fiske, pp. 27–29.

  19. Swanberg, p. 84; Forney, pp. 68–69, 317–318; McCabe, pp. 475, 476.

  20. J. L. Carpentier to Sickles, March 19, 1852, NYPL; Richard Schell to Sickles, July 23, 1853, NYPL.

  21. Hill, pp. 102, 103, 395; Strong, Vol. 2, pp. 440–441; George Sickles to Sickles, April 14, 1862, NYPL; New York Times (hereafter NYT), March 15, 1859.

  22. Harper’s Weekly, April 9, 1859; Jane McCerren to Miss T. Bagioli, December 15, 1852, NYPL; Teresa Sickles to Florence, May 3, 1856, NYPL.

  23. Harper’s Weekly, April 9, 1859; Strong, Vol. 2, pp. 440–441.

  24. New York World, June 30, 1869; NYH, March 1, 1859; New York Sun, March 15, 1853; H. C. Banks to Sickles, March 16, 1853, NYPL.

  25. McPherson, pp. 118–119; L. A. Gobright, Recollection of Men and Things at Washington During the Third of a Century, pp. 134–135; President Pierce from Sickles, March 13, 1853, NYPL.

  26. Harper’s Weekly, April 9, 1859; NYH, March 1 and March 2, 1853; Swanberg, p. 85; Brandt, p. 19; New York Post (hereafter NYP), March 1 and March 17, 1859.

  27. Fiske, pp. 285, 286; NYT, March 15, 1859; Teresa Sickles to Sickles, August 1853, NYPL; Edgcumb Pinchon, Dan Sickles, Hero of Gettysburg and “Yankee King of Spain,” pp. 134–135; Forney, p. 318.

  28. Undated Sickles essay, “The Founder of Central Park, in New York,” D. E. Sickles Papers, Library of Congress (hereafter LC).

  29. Notes on a cross travel system, Manhattan, Daniel E. Sickles Papers, NYHS.

  30. Sickles to Robert Dillon, March 14, 1853, NYPL.

  31. Sickles to George Sickles from Gadsby’s Hotel, February 1853, NYPL; undated letter, Gandicini to Sickles, NYPL; George Sickles to Sickles, April 11, 1853, NYPL.

  32. Gobright, pp. 135–136.

  CHAPTER II

  1. Klein, pp. 117, 118, 130–132.

  2. Forney, pp. 317–318; Fiske, p. 29.

  3. Edmund Porter to Sickles, July 23, 1853, NYPL; Teresa Sickles to Sickles, August 1853, NYPL.

  4. Sickles’s notes, December 3, 1852, to August 4, 1853, NYPL; signed note in favor of Antonio Bagioli, August 18, 1853, NYHS; Ernst, pp. 79, 80; Mary Ellwill to Sickles, April 14, 1853, NYPL.

  5. Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. 10, pp. 197–198.

  6. Swanberg, pp. 90–91; Brandt, p. 29.

  7. Hill, pp. 160–162.

  8. Swanberg, p. 91; New York World, June 30, 1869; Pinchon, p. 34.

  9. Forney, pp. 318–319.

  10. Keneally, pp. 251, 262–263.

  11. McPherson, p. 110; Katz, p. 42; Don Carolos Seitz, The James Gordon Bennetts, Father and Son, p. 130; Swanberg, pp. 93–95.

  12. Swanberg, p. 94; Benjamin Perley Poore, Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis, Vol. 1, p. 444.

  13. McPherson, pp. 105–110; Swanberg, pp. 98, 99.

  14. NYH, November 4, 1854.

  15. NYH, July 25, August 7, and November 8, 1854.

  16. Harper’s Weekly, April 9, 1859.

  17. Harper’s Weekly, April 9, 1859.

  18. Strong, Vol. 2, p. 441; Pinchon, p. 53.

  19. McPherson, pp. 107, 108; Fiske, pp. 26–31; Katz, p. 42; Swanberg, p. 99.

  20. Swanberg, pp. 99, 100; Fiske, p. 286; New York World, June 30, 1869; Harper’s Weekly, April 9, 1859.

  21. Hill, pp. 101, 282, 387, 397.

  22. Swanberg, p. 99; undated Sickles essay, “The Founder of Central Park, in New York,” LC.

  23. D. Wemyss Jobson, The Allan Trials, pp. 31, 56, 57.

  24. Swanberg, pp. 102–103; Harper’s Weekly, April 9, 1859; Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. 3, p. 102.

  25. Teresa Sickles to Florence, May 3, 1856, NYPL; Swanberg, pp. 102–103; New York World, June 30, 1869.

  26. Undated Sickles essay, “The Founder of Central Park, in New York,” LC.

  27. D. E. Sickles, Remarks of Hon. Daniel E. Sickles in the Senate of the State of New York on the Bill “to Prevent Illegal Voting in the City of New York,” Commonly Known as the Registry Bill.

  28. Swanberg, p. 104; Ernst, p. 20; Hopper Striker Mott, The New York of Yesterday: A Descriptive Narrative of Old Bloomingdale, pp. 17, 18; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Paper, March 26, 1859.

  29. Ellen E. Plante, The Victorian Home, passim; Teresa Sickles to Sickles, April 20, 1861, NYHS; Teresa Sickles to Florence, July 9, 1861, NYPL.

  30. Teresa Sickles to Florence, late 1856, NYPL.

  31. Klein, p. 220; Swanberg, p. 103.

  32. McPherson, pp. 106–109.

  33. McPherson, pp. 156–162; Swanberg, p. 105.

  34. Jean A. Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography, p. 137; Teresa Sickles to Florence, late 1856, NYPL.

  CHAPTER III

  1. Swanberg, p. 2; Baker, pp. 137, 138; McPherson, p. 123.

  2. Charles Dickens, American Notes, pp. 149, 152, 153.

  3. Mary S. C. Logan, Thirty Years in Washington; Or, Life and Scenes in Our National Capital, p. 63; Sara Agnes Pryor, Reminiscences of Peace and War, p. 3.

  4. Brandt, pp. 37–38; Pinchon, p. 69.

  5. Swanberg, pp. 5, 6.

  6. Swanberg, pp. 4, 5.

  7. Virginia Clay-Clopton, A Belle of the Fifties: Memoirs of Mrs. Clay of Alabama, pp. 95–97; Swanberg, pp. 3–4; Gobright, pp. 160–162.

  8. NYH, March 1, 1859; NYT, March 2, 1859; New York Tribune, March 2 and March 3, 1859.

  9. Harper’s Weekly, March 12, 1859.

  10. McPherson, pp. 170, 171, 174–176.

  11. Fontaine, Haskin and Hoover evidence, pp. 38, 39; Swanberg, pp. 10–13; Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. 4, p. 471.

  12. Clay-Clopton, pp. 43–45, 56, 115; Pryor, p. 53; Poore, p. 111; Ishbel Ross, Rebel Rose: Life of Rose O’Neal Greenhow, Confederate Spy, p. 72.

  13. NYT, May 9 and May 12, 1857; NYP, May 13, 1857.

  14. Daniel Edgar Sickles, The Court of Common Pleas in the Matter of Charles Devlin Street Commissioner, Argument of Daniel Sickles, p. 42.

  15. Brandt, pp. 61–67; NYP, March 1, 1859; NYH, March 1, 1859; Harper’s Weekly, March 12, 1859; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 26, 1859; Fontaine, Hoover evidence, p. 40; Keneally, p. 285.

  16. Brandt, pp. 61–67.

  17. Isaac Frederick Marcosson, “Marse Henry”: A Biography of Henry Watterson, p. 63; Clay-Clopton, p. 47; Swanberg, pp. 19, 21; Fontaine, pp. 36, 37; Harper’s Weekly, March 12, 1859.

  18. Poore, p. 25; NYH, March 1, 1859; NYP, March 1, 1859; Brandt, p. 63; Clay-Clopton, p. 86.

  19. McPherson, pp. 164–167.

  20. McPherson, pp. 165–167.

  21. Brandt, pp. 44–46; Pryor, p. 51.

  22. Clay-Clopton, pp. 88–89.

  23. Fontaine, Thompson’s evidence, pp. 70–71; Clay-Clopton, pp. 96–97; NYH, March 1, 1859; Harper’s Weekly, March 12, 1859; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Paper, March 19, 1859.

  24. Clay-Clopton, p. 47; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 26, 1859; Fontaine, pp. 36, 37.

  25. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Paper, March 19, 1859; Teresa Sickles to Florence, July 9, 1861, NYPL.

  26. Fontaine, p. 48; undated letter (in folder of letters from first half of 1850s), anonymous woman to Sickles, NYPL.

  27. Fontaine, Haskin evidence, p. 70.

  28. Fontaine, Haskin evidence, pp. 36, 37; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 26, 1859.

  29. Clay-Clopton, pp. 98, 128–134; McPherson, p. 168; John von Sonntag de Havilland, A Metrical Description of a Fancy Ball Given at Washington, 9th April, 1858, pp. 5–6, 10, 13, 15, 17, 20, 39.

  30. Ernst, pp. 66–68; Bayor and Meagher, pp. 93, 95, 96; Hill, pp. 82, 83; Fontaine, Thompson evidence, pp. 70–71.

  31. Swanberg, p. 33; Fontaine, Dougherty’s evidence, pp. 38, 39; NYH, June 13, 1858; Daniel E. Sickles, Speech of the Hon. Daniel Sickles of New
York on the Neutrality Laws, Delivered in the House of Representatives, January 6, 1858; McKay, p. 3.

  32. NYH, September 1, 1859; Fontaine, Dougherty evidence, pp. 38, 39; Harper’s Weekly, March 12, 1859; New York Tribune, March 3, 1859; NYP, March 5, 1859.

  33. NYT, November 20, 1858.

  34. Lawrence O’Brien Branch, “Letters, 1856–1860,” North Carolina Historical Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 1 (January 1933), pp. 49, 64.

  35. Teresa Sickles to Florence, undated but internal evidence indicates February 1859, NYPL.

  36. Fontaine, Mrs. Brown evidence, pp. 53, 66, 67, Miss Seeley evidence, p. 70, Wooldridge evidence, pp. 48, 49.

  37. NYT, February 28, 1859; NYH, February 28, 1859; Fontaine, Cooney evidence, p. 72.

  38. Fontaine, arguments of counsel, pp. 35, 75, 76; NYT, February 28, 1859.

  39. McPherson, pp. 193–195.

  40. NYT, February 28, 1859; New York Tribune, March 21, 1859.

  CHAPTER IV

  1. Brandt, p. 62; Fontaine, defense opening, p. 34, Titball evidence, p. 20, Wooldridge evidence, pp. 48, 49, 72, 73.

  2. Brandt, p. 100; Swanberg, pp. 45–46.

  3. Fontaine, Smith Pyne evidence, p. 40.

  4. Clay-Clopton, pp. 97–98.

  5. New York Tribune, March 2, 1859; NYT, February 28, 1859.

  6. Fontaine, Emerson evidence, p. 72.

  7. Clay-Clopton, p. 98; New York Tribune, March 3, 1859; NYT, February 28, 1859.

  8. Harper’s Weekly, March 12, 1859; R.P.G. letter, Sickles papers, NYHS.

  9. Fontaine, Ridgeley evidence, p. 46.

  10. Fontaine, McElhone evidence, p. 75; Washington Evening Star, February 26, 1859; Fontaine, Wooldridge evidence, pp. 48, 72, 73.

  11. Fontaine, Wooldridge evidence, pp. 74, 75.

  12. Fontaine, Wooldridge evidence, pp. 74, 75, Cooney evidence, p. 72.

  13. Fontaine, Cooney evidence, p. 72, Wooldridge evidence, pp. 74, 75, Dougherty evidence, p. 39.

  14. Fontaine, Wooldridge evidence, pp. 74, 75, Lewis and Smith evidence, pp. 84, 85, Mohun evidence, p. 42.

  15. Fontaine, Duffy evidence, p. 42, Ridgeley evidence, p. 46.

  16. Fontaine, Ridgeley evidence, p. 46, Duffy evidence, p. 42, tabled confession of Teresa, pp. 42, 43.

  17. Fontaine, Duffy and Ridgeley evidence, pp. 42, 46; Harper’s Weekly, March 12, 1859; Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. 1, p. 310; NYT, March 3, 1859; NYH, March 2, 1859.

  18. Clay-Clopton, p. 43; Fontaine, defense opening, pp. 18, 20, 21, Cuyler evidence, pp. 51, 52; Brandt, p. 114; Fontaine, Pendleton evidence, p. 79; NYP, March 5, 1859.

  19. Fontaine, Berret evidence, p. 52; NYT, March 3, 1856; Fontaine, Ridgeley, Duffy, Wooldridge, and Cooney evidence, pp. 42, 46, 48, 72, 73; Poore, p. 26; NYH, March 6, 1859.

  20. NYT, March 2, 1859; Fontaine, evidence of eyewitnesses, pp. 16–23, 48, 83, Wooldridge evidence, pp. 49, 74–75; NYP, February 28, 1859; NYH, February 28, 1859.

  21. Swanberg, p. 55.

  22. NYH, February 28 and March 2, 1859; Clay-Clopton, p. 97; Fontaine, McClusky evidence, p. 77, Brodhead evidence, p. 87.

  23. Fontaine, McBlair evidence, pp. 83, 84, Walker evidence, pp. 40, 41, Berret evidence, p. 52; New York Tribune, March 2, 1859; NYH, March 2, 1859.

  24. NYH, March 2, 1859; Harper’s Weekly, March 12, 1859.

  25. Fontaine, Berret evidence, p. 83, Goddard evidence, p. 40, Walker evidence, pp. 40, 41; Harper’s Weekly, March 12 and March 19, 1859; Poore, pp. 26, 531; McPherson, pp. 151, 152; Gobright, pp. 160–162.

  26. NYT, February 28, 1859; Baker, p. 71.

  27. Fontaine, Woodward evidence, pp. 22, 23; Washington Evening Star, February 28, 1859.

  CHAPTER V

  1. NYT, February 28, 1859; NYH, March 2, 1859.

  2. Fontaine, counsel’s argument, p. 23, Greenleaf evidence, p. 82; NYT, February 28, 1859; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 26, 1859.

  3. Brandt, p. 133; NYH, March 1, 1859; Harper’s Weekly, March 12, 1859.

  4. NYH, March 1, 1859.

  5. NYH, March 1, 1859; NYP, February 28 and March 1, 1859; Strong, Vol. 2, p. 438.

  6. Brandt, p. 145; NYP, March 5 and March 2, 1859; Strong, Vol. 2, pp. 440–441; New York Tribune, March 3, 1859; NYP, March 2, 1859; NYH, March 2, 1859; NYT, March 15, 1859; Brandt, pp. 145, 146; Strong, Vol. 2, pp. 440–441; NYT, March 15, 1859.

  7. Harper’s Weekly, March 12, 1859; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 26, 1859; NYT, March 15, 1859; New York Tribune, March 2, 1859.

  8. Strong, Vol. 2, pp. 440, 441; New York Tribune, March 2, 1859; NYT, March 15, 1859.

  9. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 12, 1859; NYH, March 2, 1859; New York Tribune, March 2, 1859.

  10. Harper’s Weekly, March 12, 1859; NYP, March 12, 1859.

  11. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 26, 1859.

  12. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 12, 1859.

  13. Gobright, pp. 192–193; Brandt, p. 151.

  14. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, April 9, 1859; Harper’s Weekly, April 16, 1859; Bar Association of the City of New York, In Memoriam, James T. Brady: Report of Proceedings at a Meeting of the New York Bar, pp. 13, 21–22; Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. 1, pp. 583–584.

  15. Henry Ward Beecher and James Topham Brady, Addresses on Mental Culture for Women, speeches delivered October 26, 1858, pp. 20, 24, 37, 38; Harper’s Weekly, April 16, 1859; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, April 9, 1859.

  16. Fontaine, Mann testimony, pp. 67–68, Pendleton testimony, p. 79; Harper’s Weekly, March 26 and April 16, 1859; Poore, p. 29.

  17. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 26, 1859; Harper’s Weekly, March 19, 1859; Harper’s Weekly, March 12, 1859.

  18. Pinchon, pp. 134–136.

  19. Harper’s Weekly, March 26, 1859; NYH, April 5, 1859.

  20. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, April 9, 1859; Harper’s Weekly, April 9, 1859; NYH, April 5 and April 8, 1859; NYT, April 5, 1859.

  21. NYH, March 15 and April 5, 1859.

  22. Fontaine, p. 6; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, April 9, 1859; Harper’s Weekly, April 9, 1859; NYH, April 6, 1859.

  23. NYH, April 5, 1859; Brandt, p. 166; Fontaine, p. 6.

  24. Fontaine, pp. 7, 8.

  25. Fontaine, p. 8; NYH, April 5, 1859.

  26. Fontaine, pp. 9, 10; NYH, April 27, 1859.

  27. Fontaine, pp. 11–15.

  28. Fontaine, address of counsel, pp. 15–16; Pinchon, p. 134.

  29. Fontaine, Reed, and other eyewitness evidence, pp. 16–21.

  30. Fontaine, Woodward evidence, p. 21.

  31. Fontaine, Coolidge evidence, p. 22.

  32. Fontaine, Coolidge evidence and argument of counsel, pp. 22–24.

  33. NYH, April 11, 1859.

  34. Fontaine, address of counsel, pp. 25–30; NYP, April 11, 1859.

  35. New York World, June 30, 1869; NYH, March 15, 1859.

  36. Fontaine, address of counsel and letters offered as evidence, pp. 32–37.

  37. Fontaine, Haskin evidence, p. 38.

  38. Fontaine, Walker evidence, p. 41; NYP, April 19, 1859.

  39. NYH, April 14, 1859; Fontaine, argument of counsel, pp. 42–43.

  40. Fontaine, argument of counsel, pp. 44–46; Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, April 23, 1859; Harper’s Weekly, April 23, 1859.

  41. Fontaine, Duffy evidence, pp. 46–49, arguments of counsel, pp. 49–51.

  42. Fontaine, Wilson and Ratley evidence, pp. 52, 53.

  43. Fontaine, Brown evidence and arguments of counsel, pp. 55–66; NYH, April 14, 1859.

  44. Harper’s Weekly, April 23, 1859; Fontaine, Brown evidence, pp. 66, 67.

  45. Fontaine, McDonald evidence, p. 78.

  46. Fontaine, Doyle, Winder, and other eyewitness evidence, pp. 81, 84, 85.

  47. Fontaine, Lewis and other evidence, pp. 85, 86.

  48. Fontaine, arguments of counsel, pp. 86, 87.
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br />   49. Washington Star, April 25, 1859; Fontaine, counsels’ summation, pp. 89–90.

  50. Fontaine, counsels’ summation, pp. 90–100.

  51. Fontaine, counsels’ summation and judge’s directions, pp. 103–105.

  52. Fontaine, verdict, p. 106; NYH, April 27, 1859; New York Tribune, April 27, 1859; NYT, April 27, 1859.

  53. New York Tribune, April 28, 1859; NYH, April 27, 1859; NYT, April 28, 1859; Harper’s Weekly, May 14, 1859.

  CHAPTER VI

  1. Swanberg, p. 67.

  2. NYH, July 12, 1859; NYT, July 13, 1859.

  3. Strong, Vol. 2, pp. 456–457; NYH, July 19, 1859; Harper’s Weekly, July 17, 1859.

  4. NYH, July 20, 1859.

  5. Brandt, p. 197; Colonel George Hickory to Sickles, August 7, 1859, NYPL; Stephen Gooding to Sickles, July 21, 1859, NYPL.

  6. Brandt, pp. 198–199.

  7. Harper’s Weekly, December 24, 1859.

  8. Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut, A Diary from Dixie, pp. 246–247.

  9. McPherson, pp. 209, 210, 216, 217, 220, 221; Daniel E. Sickles, Remarks of the Hon. Daniel E. Sickles of New York on the Relations of the North and the South, and the Duty of the North in the Present Crisis, pp. 8, 11, 13, 15, 16.

  10. McPherson, pp. 227–233.

  11. McPherson, p. 233; Daniel Edgar Sickles, Speech of the Hon. Daniel E. Sickles of New York on the State of the Union, pp. 9–16.

  12. McPherson, pp. 234, 235.

  13. Daniel E. Sickles, The Republic Is Imperishable, Speech of the Honorable Dan E. Sickles of New York on the State of the Union, January 16, 1861, pp. 2, 10, 12, 13, 16.

  14. Sickles, The Republic Is Imperishable, p. 12; McPherson, p. 266; undated typescript, “Address to ‘Gentlemen of the Institute,’” LC.

  15. Sickles, A Speech Delivered to the House of Representatives, February 5, 1861, by Mr. Sickles of New York on Mr. Colfax’s Postal Service Suspension Act, p. 8.

  16. Swanberg, p. 111, 112; McPherson, pp. 274, 275; Hill, pp. 103, 281–282.

  17. McKay, p. 77; Teresa to Sickles, April 21, 1861, NYHS.

  18. McPherson, p. 260; Keneally, pp. 327, 328, 346.

  19. Swanberg, pp. 115, 116; Régis de Trobriand, Four Years with the Army of the Potomac, p. 427.