Teresa Bagioli Sickles

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Teresa Bagioli Sickles
Occupationhousewife
Spouse(s)Daniel Edgar Sickles
(1819-1914)
ChildrenLaura Buchanan Sickles
(1853-1891)
Parent(s)Antonio Bagioli
(1795-1871)
Maria Cooke
(1819-1894)

Teresa Bagioli Sickles, (1836-1867) was the wife of Democratic Party New York State Assemblyman, U.S. Representative, and later U.S. Army Major General Daniel Edgar Sickles. She gained notoriety in 1859, when her husband stood trial for the 1858 murder of her lover, Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key. This trial was the first known use of the temporary insanity defense in American jurisprudence.

Early years

Born in New York City in 1836, Teresa Da Ponte Bagioli was the daughter of the wealthy and well-known Italian singing teacher Antonio Bagioli (1795-1871)[1] and his wife, Maria (or Eliza)[2]Cooke (1819-1894)[3][4] . (Maria was the adopted and alleged "natural"[5] child of Lorenzo Da Ponte[6].) During her youth, she sometimes lived and studied in the household of her grandfather, Lorenzo da Ponte, the noted music teacher, who had worked as Mozart's librettist on such masterpieces as The Marriage of Figaro. An exceptionally bright child, Teresa spoke five languages by the time she was a young adult.[7]

Da Ponte's son, a New York University professor, befriended the teenaged Dan Sickles and helped secure him a scholarship to the University. Young Sickles also moved into the Da Ponte home; he left after about a year when his mentor suddenly died but maintained close ties with the family, possibly to continue the study of French and Italian.[8] Though Sickles had known Teresa since her infancy, he made her acquaintance again in 1851, this time as an Assemblyman (and part of the Tammany Hall Democratic machine). He was thirty-three years old, she was fifteen.

Sickles, a notorious womanizer, was quite taken with Teresa and soon proposed marriage. Despite his prominence and long connection to the family, the Bagiolis refused to consent to the marriage. Undeterred, the couple wed in 1853 in a civil ceremony. Teresa's family then relented and the couple married again, this time with John Hughes, Catholic Archbishop of New York City, presiding. Some seven months later, in 1853, their only child, Laura Buchanan Sickles, was born.[9][10][11]

Washington society

Politics carried Dan Sickles along a career path that led to Washington, D.C. In 1853, he became corporation counsel of New York City, but soon resigned to serve as secretary of the U.S. legation in London under James Buchanan, by appointment of President Franklin Pierce. One source[12] alleges he took a prostitute with him on his overseas assignment, while another source[13] reports that he sent for Teresa after a few months. In any case, he returned to America in 1855 and was elected to the Senate of New York state from 1856 to 1857. Following his term, Sickles was elected to the United States House of Representatives, and served as a Democratic representative in the the 35th and 36th United States Congress.

A typical ball or fete of the period - Napier Ball

Following the election, the Sickles moved to Washington, D.C., where they became quite involved in political society. Congressman Sickles was very influential and Mrs. Sickles was beautiful and charming. The Sickles hosted formal dinners every Thursday, and Teresa was "at home" (available to callers) to other society ladies every Tuesday morning. With her husband, she attended most of the major social events of the day. Teresa Sickles, Harper's reported,[14] quickly had become a fixture in Washington society. She was especially celebrated as a hostess who was capable of charming the most sophisticated guest while simultaneously making the most socially inexperienced feel at home. It was also said that Teresa and Dan became good friends of Mary Todd Lincoln and Republican Abraham Lincoln despite Dan being from a different party. Teresa attended seances held by Mary Todd Lincoln, who was noted for her interest in spirituality. It was reported that Mary Todd Lincoln gifted a necklace engraved "From Mary Lincoln to Laura Sickles" to Teresa's daughter in 1853, early in their friendship.[15]

Affair and murder

Frank Leslie's Illustrated engraving of 15th Street assignation house

As in New York, Sickles continued to maintain love affairs in Washington and, in the meantime, seriously neglected his marriage. It did not take Teresa long, however, to strike up a romance of her own with Phillip Barton Key, a U.S. District Attorney and son of Francis Scott Key, the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner". Philip's uncle was Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice of the United States, and, in 1857, Philip became one of the pillars of the Washington bar. Key followed Teresa everywhere, to her social gatherings as well as to her home.

Dan Sickles eventually received a poison pen letter[16] informing him of his wife's infidelity[17] and investigated further. He discovered the allegations were true, and that Teresa and Key even had a house for their assignations--located within walking distance in a poor, mixed-race part of town.

Teresa's handwritten confession, as printed in Harper's

Sick with rage at his discovery, Sickles confronted his wife. Though she initially denied everything, Teresa eventually relented and wrote out a confession. In the extraordinarily candid document, Teresa described her numerous rendezvous with Key at a vacant home on 15th Street, a house that Key rented. It was all that Dan Sickles needed to hear. On Sunday, February 27, 1859, he lay in wait for Key and murdered him near Lafayette Square, by the White House.

Trial

Sickles surrendered at Attorney General Jeremiah Black's house, a few blocks away on Franklin Square, and confessed to the murder. After a visit to his home, accompanied by a constable, Sickles went to jail and all of Washington society turned out to comfort him. He was able to receive visitors, and so many came that he was granted the use of the head jailer's apartment to receive them.[18] This was one of several odd features of his confinement. He was also allowed to retain his personal weapon, unusual even for the time. The press reported heavy visitor traffic, including many Congressmen, Senators, and others leading members of Washington society. Though President Buchanan did not make a visit, he did send Sickles a personal note.

Most painful for Sickles, according to Harper's, were the visits of his wife's mother and her clergyman. Both told him that Teresa was distracted with grief, shame, and sorrow. Both told him that the loss of her wedding ring (which Sickles had taken on visiting his home) was more than Teresa could bear.

The trial. Engraving from Harper's

Sickles was charged with murder and secured several leading politicians as his defense attorneys. Among them was Edwin M. Stanton, later to become Secretary of War, and Chief Counsel James T. Brady, like Sickles a product of Tammany Hall. In an historic strategy, Sickles pled insanity--the first use of temporary insanity defense in the United States. Before the jury, Stanton argued that Dan Sickles had been driven insane by his wife's infidelity, and thus was out of his mind when he shot Key. The papers soon trumpeted that Sickles was a hero for saving all the ladies of Washington from this rogue named Key[19].

The confession that Sickles had obtained from Teresa on Saturday proved pivotal. It was ruled inadmissible in court but nevertheless was printed in the newspapers in full detail. The defense strategy ensured that the trial was the main topic of conversations in D.C. for weeks and national papers provided extensive coverage sympathetic to Sickles.[20][21] In the courtroom, the strategy brought drama, controversy, and, ultimately, victory for the defense. Sickles was acquitted. After publicly forgiving Teresa, Sickles withdrew briefly from public life. Oddly, the public seemed more outraged by Sickles' reconciliation with his wife after the trial than by the murder and his unorthodox acquittal[22].

After the trial and death

Despite the pronouncements of forgiveness, Sickles was effectively estranged from his wife after the trial. Sickles continued to serve in Congress, and during the Civil War, as a Union officer.

Teresa took ill and died of tuberculosis in 1867 at about the age of thirty-one.


References

  1. ^ Cheri Clark. "Antonio Bagioli page". Rootsweb Ancestors of Royce Brent Clark and Jessie Lamm. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ sources differ but Maria is predominant, see American Scoundrel, cited below, for example
  3. ^ Cheri Clark. "Eliza Cook page". Rootsweb Ancestors of Royce Brent Clark and Jessie Lamm. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "fido". "Maria Cook page". Rootsweb Just A Fun Project ! 1st Division, 2nd Corps, Army of the Potomac. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ A 19th century term for illegitimate
  6. ^ Thomas Keneally. "American Scoundrel - The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles". Excerpt from Random House site, also available at Powells and elsewhere. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ From ["Albuquerque Road Show - Want to Meet General Sickles?: A Rapscallion's Résumé". WGBH Road Show pages. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)] paragraph 3: "Sickles was also a committed womanizer who, at age 33, married the 15-year-old Teresa Bagioli, a charming and intelligent girl who could speak five languages."
  8. ^ from [United States government. arlingtoncemetary.net "Daniel Edgar Sickles Major General, United States Army". Arlington Cemetery National Website. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); line feed character in |title= at position 21 (help)]: "His ambition to fit himself for the diplomatic service had led him to take up the study of French and Italian, and in this way he met Therese Bagioli, daughter of an Italian music teacher." (other sources say he knew her since infancy)
  9. ^ From: Assumption.edu
  10. ^ Cheri Clark. "Laura Buchanan Sickles page". Rootsweb Ancestors of Royce Brent Clark and Jessie Lamm. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ note that James Buchanan, later 15th president of the United States, was "minister to the court of St James" or ambassador to Great Britain, from 1853 to 1856 and Daniel Sickles was Buchanan's secretary there until 1855.
  12. ^ http://www.wofford.edu/southernSeen/content.asp?id=293
  13. ^ http://www.assumption.edu/dept/history/Hi113net/sickles/default2.html
  14. ^ again
  15. ^ "Albuquerque Road Show - Want to Meet General Sickles?: A Rapscallion's Résumé". WGBH Road Show pages. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ from assumption.edu "The stories told how Sickles had received an anonymous letter on Thursday, February 24th, informing him of his wife's relationship with Key."
  17. ^ The anonymous letter was reproduced in Harper's: Letter image
  18. ^ From Assumption.edu again
  19. ^ Harpers Magazine Sunday March 12 1859 editorialising about the murder and trial: No sympathy needed
  20. ^ From Assumption.edu as before: "Both Harper's Weekly and Leslie's ran images of Sickles in prison. Harper's was the more bathetic. It showed a haggard sufferer, hands clasped as if in prayer, staring upwards. Light illumines his face and the wall immediately behind, but the rest of the cell is in shadows. Its title was "Hon. Daniel E. Sickles in prison at Washington," but it might well have been captioned "More Sinned Against Than Sinning." In a later issue, the magazine would editorialize against what it described as a publicity campaign to create sympathy for the Congressman."
  21. '^ Same source, next page: "The New York Times, the city's other major Democratic daily and the New York Heralds chief rival for the ear of the Buchanan administration, editorialized that the homicide in no way unfitted the Congressman for office." The source gives many more such cites.
  22. ^ May 7 1859 Harpers Editorial on the verdict: Verdict editorial in which they reject the insanity defense as essentially a sham and point out the prosecution did not try very hard.
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