Dan Sickles at Gettysburg: The Story of the Civil War’s Most Notorious Amputated Leg

Join the National Museum of Civil War Medicine for their Saturday Speaker Series with Historian James Hessler and take a fascinating look at myth, lore, and facts surrounding Maj. Gen. Dan Sickles’ Gettysburg wounding and leg amputation. A Confederate solid shot at the Battle of Gettysburg shattered controversial Union General Dan Sickles’ right leg, and surgeons subsequently amputated the limb. Sickles’ leg bone was then donated to the fledgling Army Medical Museum, and he often visited his severed limb there. Sickles’ leg bone remains a popular museum relic more than 160 years later, and a replica is now on display at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. Hessler will discuss the odyssey of Sickles’ amputated leg and how he used it to declare himself “the hero of Gettysburg.”

James Hessler is a historian, author, and Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg National Military Park. He is the author or co-author of four books on the Gettysburg Campaign: “Sickles at Gettysburg” (2009), “Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg” (2015), “Gettysburg’s Peach Orchard” (2019), and his most recent release, “The First Day at Gettysburg” (2025). Beyond his publications, Hessler co-created and hosts the popular Battle of Gettysburg Podcast, reaching a global audience of history enthusiasts.