Traveling to History: Sixteen
MURDER ON LAFAYETTE SQUARE: A 19th-CENTURY SHOOTING ACROSS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE DREW WORLD-WIDE ATTENTION
By James F. Lee
“Daniel Sickles murders Phillip Barton Key in Washington, D.C., February 27, 1859.” House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node22600
On February 27, 1859, Daniel Sickles shot Phillip Barton Key in cold blood at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Madison Place – just across the street from the White House. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon with plenty of witnesses about.
Within hours the whole country and much of the world would be gripped by his crime as the gory details spread out over telegraph wires.
Sickles was a New York congressman, a protégé of President Buchanan, and a rising star in the Democratic party. Key, District Attorney for the District of Columbia, and a scion of the powerful Key family of Maryland, was the son of the author of the National Anthem. He was also a very handsome widower.
The reason Sickles murdered Key was clear and never contested: Key was engaging in a not-so-secret, torrid affair with Sickles’ young and beautiful wife, Teresa.
Jackson Place looking towards Pennsylvania Avenue. The Ewell House (Sickles’ residence) stood approximately at the second house from the right. (Photo by James F. Lee)
And as so often happens in these matters, Daniel Sickles was the last to know.
The events of this tale, the affair, the murder, and the subsequent trial, all took place in or near Lafayette Square, once the most fashionable neighborhood in Washington. Today, the square is a lovely urban park across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, lined with walking paths under the cover of sycamores, ginkgoes, and oaks. An imposing equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson stands in the center of the park. It is bordered on the north by busy H Street, and tree-lined Jackson Place and Madison Place on the west and east, respectively. Historic houses, offices, and government buildings face towards the park. Many of the sites associated with this crime are still standing and easily observable on a short stroll.
“Daniel Sickles.” House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node12138
THE BACKGROUND: Sickles and Key were friends, Key a frequent guest at the Sickles home. As the affair with Teresa grew in intensity, Key rented a house on 15th Street for assignations. Occasionally, they met at Teresa’s house, when Sickles was away. The 15th street house no longer exists but was located near the 15th Street entrance of today’s Investment Building.
The Sickleses lived in Ewell House, which no longer exists, on Jackson Place on the west side of Lafayette Square; this was one of the first homes built on the square in 1819, next door to the still extant Decatur House. The houses at 734 and 736 Jackson Place are approximately where Ewell House stood. An interesting side note: Abraham and Mary Lincoln stopped at the Ewell House on their way to Ford’s Theatre to pick up Major Rathbone and his fiancée, their guests that fateful night.
Three nights before the murder, Key met Teresa Sickles at the Thursday night dance at the Willard; the last time they would ever see each other. That night after the dance, Sickles opened an anonymous letter he had received earlier laying out the details of the affair.
THE MURDER: Barton Key’s last day started at the Willard Hotel, where he had gone for a morning shave at the basement barber shop. After his shave, Key then walked up 15th Street NW past the 350-foot long Ionic colonnade of the Treasury Building, completed in 1842. The south wing was still under construction and the north wing, across the street from today’s Old Ebbitt Grill, not yet begun.
He turned left onto Pennsylvania Avenue and then into the square, where multiple witnesses saw Key over the course of the next few hours in and around the square. Key blatantly and repeatedly signaled Teresa, waiving a white handkerchief as he passed Ewell House, an action witnessed by at least eight people. Apparently, a white handkerchief or a cloth was the signal the lovers used at their house of assignation on 15th Street. When one arrived there, he or she would hang a white cloth form the window to signal all clear.
“Teresa Baglioli Sickles, 1859.” House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College,
That Key was signaling to Teresa at her home on the square suggests his agitated state of mind.
At one point, Key crossed the Square pausing at the statue of Andrew Jackson, and then continued to the Clubhouse, a fashionable spot on Madison Place frequented by wealthy and politically connected men, almost directly across the park from the Sickles’ house.
The Clubhouse no longer stands but would become famous in the coming years as the residence of Lincoln’s Secretary of State William Seward, where he was brutally attacked and almost killed by one of John Wilkes Booth’s gang of assassins.
Apparently, Sickles saw Key signaling from across the square and flew into a rage. A friend staying with Sickles said he would go speak to Key and as he caught up to him on Pennsylvania Avenue, Sickles left his house, crossed the park, and headed down Madison Place, confronting Key at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue. Sickles shot the unarmed Key three times.
As Sickles was led away by friends, passersby picked up the still-breathing Key and took him to the Clubhouse, where he died from his wounds.
Sickles stood trial for murdering Key but would be acquitted on the grounds of temporary insanity.
Here are the sites you can see today that play a role in this infamous murder.
SCENE OF THE CRIME: The actual murder took place on Madison Place at the intersection with Pennsylvania Avenue where the Treasury Annex now stands. At that time, the Maynard House residence occupied the site, facing Pennsylvania Avenue towards the White House; the side of the house and rear yard looked towards the square. Resident John McCormick witnessed the whole event from his second-floor window.
TAYLOE HOUSE: This beautiful three-story federal-style structure is a few doors to the north of the murder scene on Madison Place. Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, a distant cousin of Key’s, was the once owner of the Willard Hotel, and a prominent Washingtonian. The house is one of the most handsome buildings on the Square, notable by its yellow brick front façade with grill work on the second floor balcony installed by Tayloe. The prominent bay window above the entrance on the left, and a large Palladian window above that was added by a later owner. Today, the building is closed to the public.
The house was next door to the Clubhouse, where Key’s body was taken and where he died. As Key’s dead body lay on the floor, Tayloe came from his house and urged constables to take Key’s body to the Tayloe house to keep it away from onlookers.
Incredibly, Tayloe would serve on the jury during Sickles murder trial.
The Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House on Madison Place, built in 1828. Tayloe was a prominent Washingtonian and distant cousin to Barton Key. Tayloe had Key’s body moved from the Clubhouse next door to Tayloe House. (Photo by James F. Lee)
ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH: This Greek Revival Church on H Street, built in 1816, was in many ways the neighborhood church for residents of Lafayette Square. Some of the most powerful people in Washington, including Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, worshipped here. Although Sickles was not a regular attendant, he asked President Buchanan to serve as his daughter Laura’s godfather at her baptism to be held at the church. The baptism was postponed when Laura developed whooping cough, and never rescheduled because of the Key murder.
Barton Key’s funeral was held here.
Today, the church offers tours for visitors.
St. John’s Episcopal Church on H Street, NW. Many of the residents of Lafayette Square worshipped at St. John’s. Phillip Barton Key’s funeral was held here. (Photo by James F. Lee)
THE WHITE HOUSE: President James Buchanan astoundingly played a material role in the aftermath of Barton Key’s murder. White House clerk J.H.W. Bonitz witnessed the crime and tried to help the wounded Key. When he realized that both the victim and perpetrator were prominent Democrats and allies of the president, Bonitz ran across Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. Bonitz told Buchannan what had just occurred, whereupon the President of the United States made a quick calculation to obstruct justice.
The president told Bonitz that as a material witness he could be held in custody until the trial. That was patently untrue, but Buchanan knew that any testimony the clerk might give would go badly for his protégé. He gave Bonitz money and a keepsake to get out of town and lay low. With his limited knowledge of the details of the crime and unawareness of the numerous witnesses to it, Buchanan in that moment obviously felt compelled to limit damage to Sickles’ case.
The keepsake, a shaving razor, is still in the possession of Bonitz’ heirs.
The White House is part of the Lafayette Square neighborhood. On the day of Barton Key’s murder, President Buchanan bribed a material witness to the crime to leave town. Also on that day, Barton Key was seen by witnesses loitering near the statue of Andrew Jackson. (Photo by James F. Lee)
DECATUR HOUSE: This elegant three-story, red brick townhouse with classic federal-style proportions was home to naval hero Stephen Decatur. Built in 1819, it was the first home constructed on Lafayette Square. By the 1850s, the house was rented out to prominent Washingtonians. At the time of the Key murder, Speaker of the House James Orr occupied part of the house, and Sickles’ friend, the wealthy merchant John McBlair, another.
After Sickles’ acquittal for the murder of Key, friends took him to Decatur house to stay with McBlair, where well-wishers congregated to congratulate Sickles on his acquittal.
Today, the house is maintained by the White House Historical Association. Free tours are offered Mondays. Check the Association website for details.
Decatur House on Jackson Place and H Street, NW. Built in 1818 by Commodore Stephen Decatur, this is the only house on the square open to the public. After Daniel Sickles’ acquittal, he spent several days here recovering from his trial. (Photo by James F. Lee)
WILLARD HOTEL: The Willard at 1401-09 Pennsylvania Avenue, once owned by Sickels’ Lafayette Park neighbor, the apparently ubiquitous Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, had been around in various forms since 1816, and was a center of Washington politics in 1859. In the years before the murder, the owners replaced the five-story wooden façade with a brick one and built a six-story addition, calling it Willard’s City Hotel.
The Beaux-Arts hotel today with its iconic dome on the building’s 14th Street and Pennsylvania corner was built at the turn of the 20th century at the site of the old Willard, which had been torn down.
LAFAYETTE SQUARE: This seven-acre tree-covered park just north of the White House was designated as the President’s Park early in the planning for Washington, DC. It became a fashionable neighborhood, home to cabinet members, politicians, socialites, and the enslaved servants of those people. The impressive statue of Andrew Jackson mounted on a rearing horse in the center of the square was erected in 1853.
At the time of the Key murder, many of the homes on the square were rented out to boarders (Decatur House, for instance), who might claim a whole floor, or at least several rooms, and share common board.
The buildings around the square were slated for demolition in the 1950s to make way for new government office buildings. Thanks to the intervention of dignitaries such as Jacqueline Kennedy, those plans were altered and the remaining historic buildings or at least their facades were saved. The new government office buildings were recessed behind the houses giving continuity to the streetscape.
For over a century, the square has been notable as a site of protests, including women’s suffrage, anti-war, and anti-police violence. The park was closed to the public after the forcible removal of Black Lives Matter supporters in the summer of 2020 but has since reopened. Supporters of Ukraine demonstrated in the square in February 2022.
Today, the National Park Service oversees the park.
What happened to Dan and Teresa Sickles?
Dan and Teresa reconciled. She returned to their home in New York City, and lived in seclusion, where she died in 1867 of tuberculosis at the age of 31.
Dan Sickles, however, would live a long and eventful life. After his acquittal, he finished out his term in Congress. During the Civil War, he rose to the rank of major general, serving with distinction at the Battle of Gettysburg, where a Confederate cannon ball shattered his leg. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his valor during the battle. After Teresa’s death, he remarried. He later served as Minister to Spain during the Grant Administration. He died in 1914 in New York City at the age of 94.
Lafayette Square from the A. Boschke Map of Washington City, 1857. The scene of the murder is across from the southeast corner of the Square. The Ewell House residence of Daniel Sickles is in the center of the block to the west of the Square.
(Credit: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Map http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3850.ct002292
SOURCES:
American Scoundrel by Thomas Keneally
To Live on Lafayette Square by William Seale
Star Spangled Scandal by Chris DeRose
