What if Major General Daniel Sickles hadn't been at the Battle of Gettysburg?

I was thinking of titling this post "What if Dan Sickles had followed orders at the Battle of Gettysburg", but, given Sickle's personality and background, he could not possibly have followed his orders. There was no possibility of Sickles allowing himself to be the weak link in the line, to be overrun, and to allow the Union lines to be enfiladed and overrun by the Confederates. Was not going to happen, Dan simply wasn't built that way. That's what General Lee had been doing to the Union Army repeatedly for the previous year or so, and Dan wasn't falling for that one, ever. On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Sickles was ordered by commanding General Meade to position his Army corps in a defensive position on low ground in the Union line. Sickles complained that the position was too vulnerable, and requested permission to advance about a mile forward, to higher ground. Meade curtly refused. Sickles ignored this refusal, advancing to the high ground in Meade's absence from the scene. When General Meade returned some hours later, he observed "General Sickles, you are somewhat in advance of the army." However given that the Confederate troops were already engaging battle, Meade accepted the inevitable, and agreed to supply Sickles' "salient" on high ground. Effectively, Sickles both thoroughly confused and disrupted the Confederate battle plan, and delayed the onset of battle. By positioning himself on high, defensible terrain, he was able to inflict even more casualties on the Confederates than they were able to inflict on the Union troops. Hence, by the third day of battle, the Confederates simply hadn't sufficient forces to win the battle. Frankly, I suspect if General Sickles hadn't been very seriously injured, he probably would have led the Union troops on to rout the remainder of Lee's forces, and the War would have ended two years earlier than OTL, whatever General Meade's orders had been to the contrary. Sickles bitterly complained to Lincoln of Meade's "excessive timidity". On the other hand, absent General Sickles, the Union lines are enfiladed by Confederates, as General Lee had been doing repeatedly in previous battles against Union forces. The Union is routed, and the Confederates have an open path to Philadelphia. Britain may recognize the Confederacy, and the Union may have to sue for peace.