author
Abner Doubleday
1819–1893
Best remembered as a Union general in the Civil War, he was present at two of the war’s most famous moments: the defense of Fort Sumter and the early fighting at Gettysburg. His name also became linked to the long-debunked legend that he invented baseball.
2 Audiobooks
Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-'61
by Abner Doubleday
Chancellorsville and Gettysburg Campaigns of the Civil War - VI
by Abner Doubleday
About the author
Born in Ballston Spa, New York, in 1819, he studied at West Point and graduated in 1842 before beginning a long Army career. He served in the Mexican-American War and later became a prominent Union officer during the Civil War.
He is often noted for firing the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter in April 1861, at the opening of the war. He later played an important role at Gettysburg in July 1863, where his troops helped hold the Union line during the first day of fighting.
After the war, he continued in military service and later became involved with the early Theosophical movement. Although popular legend once credited him with inventing baseball, historians have rejected that story; his real place in history rests on his military service and his part in some of the Civil War’s defining events.