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Philip Barton Key (U.S. District Attorney)
Encyclopedia
United States Attorney for the District of Columbia
The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia is the United States Attorney responsible for representing the federal government in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.Because unlike typical municipalities, Washington, D.C...
. He is most famous for having been shot and killed by the man whom he cuckold
Cuckold
Cuckold is a historically derogatory term for a man who has an unfaithful wife. The word, which has been in recorded use since the 13th century, derives from the cuckoo bird, some varieties of which lay their eggs in other birds' nests...
ed, Daniel Sickles
Daniel Sickles
Daniel Edgar Sickles was a colorful and controversial American politician, Union general in the American Civil War, and diplomat....
. Sickles defended himself by adopting a defense of temporary insanity, the first time the defense had been used in the United States.
Biography
Born in GeorgetownGeorgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Key was the son of Francis Scott Key
Francis Scott Key
Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet, from Georgetown, who wrote the lyrics to the United States' national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner".-Life:...
and the great-nephew of Philip Barton Key. He was also a nephew of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney
Roger B. Taney
Roger Brooke Taney was the fifth Chief Justice of the United States, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. He was the first Roman Catholic to hold that office or sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. He was also the eleventh United States Attorney General. He is most...
. He married Ellen Swan, the daughter of a Baltimore attorney, on November 18, 1845. Allegedly the handsomest man in Washington and by 1859 a widower with four children, Key was known to be flirtatious with many women.
In 1859, Congressman Daniel Sickles
Daniel Sickles
Daniel Edgar Sickles was a colorful and controversial American politician, Union general in the American Civil War, and diplomat....
shot and killed Phillip Barton Key, for having conducted a public affair with his wife Teresa Bagioli Sickles
Teresa Bagioli Sickles
Teresa Bagioli Sickles was the wife of Democratic New York State Assemblyman, U.S. Representative, and later U.S. Army Major General Daniel E. Sickles. She gained notoriety in 1859, when her husband stood trial for the murder of her lover, Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key...
. Some time in the spring of 1858, Teresa Sickles began an affair with Key. Sickles had accused his much-younger wife several times during their five-year marriage of adultery, but she had repeatedly denied it to his satisfaction. But then Sickles received an anonymous note on February 26, 1859, informing him of his wife's liaison with Key. He confronted his wife, who confessed to the affair. Sickles then made his wife write out her confession on paper. Sickles saw Key sitting on a bench outside the Sickles home on February 27, 1859, signalling to Teresa, and confronted him. Sickles rushed outside into Lafayette Square
President's Park
President's Park, located in Washington, D.C., encompasses the White House, a visitor center, Lafayette Square, and The Ellipse. President's Park was the original name of Lafayette Square. The current President's Park is administered by the National Park Service.-White House:Washington, D.C...
, cried "Key, you scoundrel, you have dishonored my home; you must die", and with a pistol repeatedly shot the unarmed Key. Key was taken into the nearby Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House
Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House
The Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House is a Federal-style house located at 21 Madison Place NW in Washington, D.C., in the United States. The house is on the northeast corner of Madison Place NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, directly across the street from the White House and the Treasury Building...
, where he died some time later.
Sickles was acquitted on the basis of temporary insanity, a crime of passion
Crime of passion
A crime of passion, or crime passionnel, in popular usage, refers to a crime in which the perpetrator commits a crime, especially assault or murder, against someone because of sudden strong impulse such as sudden rage or heartbreak rather than as a premeditated crime...
, in one of the most controversial trials of the 19th century. Sickles' attorney, Edwin Stanton, later became the Secretary of War. Years later, while attending the theater in New York City, Sickles was aware of the presence of Key's son James Key in the audience, and both men kept watching each other throughout the performance. But nothing happened.
At the time of his death, Key was the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia
United States Attorney for the District of Columbia
The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia is the United States Attorney responsible for representing the federal government in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.Because unlike typical municipalities, Washington, D.C...
. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington and is also memorialized in a cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
in his son-in-law's family plot in Westminster Hall and Burying Ground
Westminster Hall and Burying Ground
The Westminster Hall and Burying Ground is a graveyard and former church located at 519 West Fayette Street in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Occupying the southeast corner of Fayette and Greene Street on the west side of downtown Baltimore, the site is probably most famous as the burial site...
in Baltimore, Maryland.