General Abner Doubleday

1819 - 1893  (73 years)    Has 2 ancestors but no descendants in this family tree.

• Name	Abner Doubleday
  Prefix	General
  Birth	26 Jun 1819	Ballston Spa, New York, USA
  Gender	Male
  Death	26 Jan 1893	Mendham, New Jersey, USA
  Burial	Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, USA
  Section 1
  Siblings	1 Sibling
  + 1. William Edwards Doubleday,   b. 1823   d. Yes, date unknown ▻ Ellen Maria Dickinson   2. General Abner Doubleday,   b. 26 Jun 1819, Ballston Spa, New York, USA d. 26 Jan 1893, Mendham, New Jersey, USA  (Age 73 years) ▻ Mary Hewitt
  Person ID	I303138	Geneagraphie
  Last Modified	4 Jan 2002

  
  

  Father	Ulysses F. Doubleday   d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Hester Donnelly   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F121607	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Mary Hewitt   d. 1907
  Family ID	F141057	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	4 Jan 2002

  
  

• Event Map	Click to hide
  		Burial - - Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, USA  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

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• Notes

  Was a civil engineer in 1836'8, when he was appointed to the U. S. military academy, and on his graduation in 1842 was assigned to the 3d artillery, He served in the 1st artillery during the Mexican war. being engaged at Monterey and at Rinconada Pass during the battle of Buena Vista. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant, 3 March 1847, to captain, 3 March 1855, and served against the Seminole Indians in 1856'8. He was in Fort Moultrie from 1860 till the garrison withdrew to Sumter on 26 Dec. of that year, and aimed the first gun fired in defense of the latter fort on 12 April 1861. He was promoted to major in the 17th infantry on 14 May 1861, from June till August was with General Patterson in the Shenandoah valley, and then served in defense of Washington, commanding forts and batteries on the Potomac. He was made brigadier general of volunteers on 3 February 1862, assigned to the command of all the defenses of Washington on the same date, and commanded a brigade on the Rappahannock and in the northern Virginia campaign from May till September 1862, including the second battle of Bull Run, where on 30 August he succeeded to the command of Hatch's division. In the battle of Antietam his division held the extreme right and opened the battle, losing heavily, but taking six battle flags. On 29 November 1862, he was promoted to major general of volunteers. He was at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and succeeded General John P. Revnoldsaschief of the 1st corps when that officer was appointed to the command of one wing of the army. On 1, July 1863, he was sent to Gettysburg to support Buford's cavalry, and, on the fall of General Reynolds, took command of the field until the arrival of General Howara, some hours later. His division fought gallantly in the battle that followed, and on the third day aided in the repulse of Pickett's charge. General Doubleday served on courts-martial and commissions in 1863'5, and on 12 July 1864, temporarily commanded the southeastern defenses of Washington when the City was threatened by Early's raiders. He was brevetted colonel in the regular army on 11 March 1865, and brigadier and major general on 13 March for his services during the war. In November and December 1866, he was in command at Galveston, Tex., served as assistant commissioner of the Freedman's bureau there till 1 August 1867, and, after being mustered out of the volunteer service, was made colonel of the 35th infantry, 15 September 1867. He was a member of the retiring board in New York City in 1868, and in 1869'71 superintended the general recruiting service in San Francisco, where in 1870 he suggested and obtained a charter for the first cable Street railway in the United States. After commanding posts in Texas he was retired from active service on 11 December 1873. He has published" Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultne in 1860'1" (New York, 1876); "Chancellorsville and Gettysburg" (1882): and articles in periodicals on army matters, the water supply of cities, and other subjects. *************************** Captain Abner Doubleday was born at Ballston Spa, New York, in 1819, and attended schools at Auburn and Cooperstown. He attended West Point, and graduated in 1842 with a commission in the artillery. Doubleday served in the Mexican War and, during the 1850s, in a campaign against the Seminole Indians in Florida. He was promoted to captain in 1853, and was stationed in Charleston Harbor when the crisis at Fort Sumter occurr ed. As a staunch unionist who strongly opposed slavery and supported Lincoln, Doubleday regarded the Carolinians as traitors. His opinions won him no friends in Charleston. His wife shared his views, and while she was staying i n Washington in mid-March 1861, she was consulted by Lincoln after his cabinet first gave its views about relieving the fort. Lincoln wished to see her husband's letters so that he could get a fuller picture of the situation at Sumter. After the surrender of Sumter, Doubleday served in numerous campaigns throughout the Civil War, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1863. After the war, he attained the rank of colonel before retiring from active service in December 1873. He then made his home in Mendham, New Jersey, where he died. Doubleday has often been credited with inventing the game of baseball in 1839 at Cooperstown, New York, now the location of the baseball's Hall of Fame. This claim appears to date from the late nineteenth century, when baseball owners tried to disasso ciate the game from any connection to the English game of rounders. The assertion that Doubleday invented baseball is almost certainly untrue. Doubleday was not at Cooperstown in 1839; he never referred to the game, much less claimed that he invented it, and his obituary in the New York Times did not mention baseball, either.