Daniel Edgar Sickles (1819–1914) was a controversial New York politician, diplomat, and political general during the American Civil War. He was the first person to successfully use the Insanity defense as a legal defense. As a result, he was acquitted of killing his wife’s lover, Francis Barton Key (son of Francis Scott Key). As a general, he was a political appointee who gained his high rank strictly through political influence. Without any military experience or training, Sickles found it difficult to follow orders. In spite of his battlefield failures, he managed to get himself awarded the Medal of Honor.