author
Abner Doubleday
1819–1893
Remembered as a Union general at Fort Sumter and Gettysburg, he also became part of one of America’s longest-running sports myths when later generations wrongly credited him with inventing baseball. His real life was no less interesting: a career army officer, writer, and early supporter of the Theosophical movement.
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, Abner Doubleday attended West Point and built a long military career that included service in the Seminole and Mexican-American wars. During the Civil War he was among the officers defending Fort Sumter at the war’s outbreak, and he later rose to major command in the Union Army.
Doubleday is especially remembered for his role at Gettysburg, where he took command of Union forces on the first day of the battle after General John F. Reynolds was killed. Although he was once popularly celebrated as the inventor of baseball, historians no longer accept that story, and his connection to the game is now seen as a myth that grew after his death.
After the war, he remained active as a writer and public figure. In his later years he was also involved with the early Theosophical Society, adding an unexpected spiritual chapter to a life more often associated with battlefields and military history.