After Sickles lost his right leg, he gained fame for donating it to the Army Medical Museum in Washington, DC. He sent it with a card which read, "With the Compliments of Major General D.E.S.". The leg is on display today at the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command headquarters building at Fort Detrick, Maryland. After his recovery, Lincoln sent Sickles to the South where he was to look into the effect of slavery on African Americans. He was also to give suggestions for the future Reconstruction of the South.