Fun Fact Friday - The Most Interesting Man in the World

No, dear reader, this is not about that bearded man who only sometimes drinks beer. In fact, I don't understand how sometimes drinking beer really qualifies him for that title. But that is neither here nor there. And while the claim I am about to make may be ranked similarly to the interesting beer beard man on Edward R. Murrow's Completely Real Scale of Hyperboles, I don't care. The most interesting man in the world is dead. And his name was General Daniel Edgar Sickles.

"Where's my meme, bitches?" - General Sickles

If you are one of my die-hard Latvian phishing site fans, you may remember that I have written about General Sickles before. He and his leg carried out one of the greatest love stories in American history. You can find that romantic tale here. But if somehow that beautiful account was not enough to crown him the most interesting man in the world, then I have today's fun fact to convince you.

Fun fact: Daniel Sickles was the first person to use a temporary insanity defense after he murdered his wife's lover in 1859.

"You know what else is insane? My top hat. Damn, I look good." - General Sickles

I know, it is a strong start to defending my case. But in this case, the details really flesh out the story.

Sickles was married to Teresa Bagioli and was almost 20 years her senior. And sure, Sickles reportedly brought a prostitute with him to England to meet Queen Victoria in his pregnant wife's stead, but when his wife got fresh and frisky with another man? Well, murder was obviously Sickles' only form of recourse against notorious ladies' man Philip Barton Key II after Mr. Key boned his wife.

"Teresa loves a good mustache ride." - Philip Barton Key II

And Philip Barton Key II? Yeah, he was the son of Francis Scott Key, who was the lyricist for the national anthem. And Daniel Sickles was a sitting congressman at the time! And when he went to jail, he got to keep his weapon and entertain his many visitors in the jailor's apartment because he was so fucking popular after he shot the man who cuckolded him.

"I'm facing a different way for this picture. I may have gone temporarily insane, but I pose like a BAMF." - General Sickles

But the biggest scandal for the American public at the time? It was not the fact that Sickles was acquitted on this new defense. It was that after everything, Sickles forgave his wife. That brought him the bad PR, which made him join up for the Civil War and lose his leg. And then later he was one of the architects for the corrupt cabal in 1876 election, one of the most fraud-ridden elections this country has seen, that brought Rutherford B. Hayes into the presidency.

So that's your whirlwind tour of the life of General Sickles, who I spent the better part of the week obsessing over. Because he and his mustache are much more interesting than beard beer man. And I will defend that claim until I meet my own untimely end at the hands of the world's next most interesting man, the future monorail baron, Eric Von Tittenweiler.