- Joined
- Aug 6, 2016
“A Blenheim Spaniel”
William Webb (1775 - 1845)
(Public Domain)
A new life entered Dan Sickles in his golden years. Meet Bo-Bo born in 1902. He was a Blenheim Spaniel that had been purchased from the kennels of Blenheim Palace in England. Originally Bo-Bo lived with his owner the 9th Duke of Marlborough John Spencer-Churchill but when he died Bo-Bo was given to Sickles and Dan finally had someone he loved dearly.
Sadly Bo-Bo got sick three years after living with the general. In August of 1905 he was stricken with distemper and pneumonia. Sickles was desperate for his little friend and called in veterinary surgeon Dr. Thomas Sherwood who remained at the pooch’s side along with two nurses from a New York hospital. Bo-Bo was given oxygen but to no avail as he died at 4 a.m. on August 22. As his death is recorded:
“Bo-Bo crawled from the pillow where he had lain to General Sickles, who was keeping a constant vigilance next the bed. Bo-Bo licked Sickles’ hand, put his head against the general’s hand, and passed away.” {1}
General Sickles sat with his beloved Bo-Bo refusing to leave his little buddy’s side. He was inconsolable. In his grief Sickles gave his beloved pet a funeral of human proportions. He was buried in a wood coffin lined with satin topped with a small American flag and roses. He lay in state in the front parlor of Sickles’s home on Fifth Avenue. But he wasn’t done with his tribute to Bo-Bo.
Where was Bo-Bo going to be buried? The general’s father George G. Sickle had bought a cemetery plot for the Sickles’s family at Beechwoods Cemetery in New Rochelle, New York. Well if it was good enough for the Sickles than it was perfect for Bo-Bo Sickles. After some maneuvering the trustee’s finally allowed the cemetery to allow a canine to be laid to rest along with the Sickles family human remains. Bo-Bo was interred in the family crypt. After receiving numerous complaints from others that had loved ones laid to rest in the cemetery, the president of the cemetery’s board of trustees Henry M. Lester responded:
“I’m very sorry that the dog was buried in the cemetery, but I don’t see what can be now. There is apparently no section of our charter which forbids the burial of animals, and if we dig up the body on our own responsibility and throw it out, I am afraid General Sickles might have a suit against us.” {2}
The one most upset was George Sawyer a step-brother of the general (Sawyer’s mother was the second wife of Dan Sickles father and as his mother died in 1893 she shared the space with Bo-Bo). What did he have to say?
"All this talk about General Sickles wishing to be buried beside his faithful dog is nonsense. He owns a plot in a cemetery in Brooklyn, where his first wife and daughter are buried, and in all probability, he will have his grave beside them.” {1}
Turns out he was partially correct. General Daniel Sickles was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. In my opinion the most egregious point in this story is that he grieved more for Bo-Bo than he did his daughter Laura. He never attended her funeral nor did he ever visit her grave site. I wonder if he left flowers for Bo-Bo?
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Sources
1. http://hatchingcatnyc.com/2017/12/30/bo-bo-blenheim-spaniel-general-sickles/
2. “Sickles at Gettysburg” by James A. Hessler
3. https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-sad-life-of-laura-buchanan-sickles.170694/