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Though Lee’s army was ultimately
defeated at Gettysburg, Lincoln was
frustrated that Meade allowed Lee to escape. Sickles
attempted to return to his command after he recovered but was
deemed physically unfit for service. He argued before Congress that he had not
willfully disobeyed orders and claimed Meade would have ceded the field to Lee had he not
advanced and thus claimed responsibility for the Union victory. Meade later blamed Sickles for the fact
that Union losses prevented Meade from destroying Lee’s army. Despite the loss of his leg, Sickles remained with the
U.S. Army and commanded departments in the South during Reconstruction and worked to protect the rights of the freedmen and
laborers. He also served in diplomatic roles abroad during which he had an affair with the deposed Queen Isabella II in Paris earning him the
nickname the “Yankee King of Spain.” His wife had died in 1867, and Sickles married one of the Queen’s younger attendants while in France. After returning home in 1879, he participated in supporting veterans of the war and attended many of the veterans reunions where he continued to defend his actions
at Gettysburg. He also befriended his former adversary James Longstreet and played an influential role in securing the preservation of the Gettysburg battlefield, including as chairman of the New York Monuments Commission for the Battlefield of Gettysburg.