Abner Doubleday

Abner Doubleday
Doubleday, c. 1855-65
Born(1819-06-26)June 26, 1819
Ballston Spa, New York, US
DiedJanuary 26, 1893(1893-01-26) (aged 73)
Mendham, New Jersey, US
Place of burial
AllegianceUnited States
Union
Service / branchUnited States Army
Union Army
Years of service1842–1873
Rank Major General
CommandsI Corps
35th U.S. Infantry
24th U.S. Infantry
Battles / warsMexican–American War
Third Seminole War
American Civil War
American Indian Wars

Abner Doubleday (June 26, 1819 – January 26, 1893)[1] was a career United States Army officer and Union major general in the American Civil War. He fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter, the opening battle of the war, and had a pivotal role in the early fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg. Gettysburg was his finest hour, but his relief by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade caused lasting enmity between the two men. In San Francisco, after the war, he obtained a patent on the cable car railway that still runs there. In his final years in New Jersey, he was a prominent member and later president of the Theosophical Society.

In 1908, 15 years after his death, the Mills Commission declared that Doubleday had invented the game of baseball, although Doubleday never made such a claim. This claim has been thoroughly debunked by baseball historians.[2][3]

  1. ^ Abner Doubleday at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. ^ Kirsch, pp. xiii–xiv.
  3. ^ "The Doubleday myth is Cooperstown's gain: Pastoral village has become the heart of baseball folklore". National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on September 26, 2014. Retrieved September 20, 2012.

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