Captain Abner Doubleday

Captain Abner Doubleday. Major General, United States Army. , Born on June 26, 1819 in Ballston Spa, N.Y. he resided in his childhood at a home located at the corner of Washington and Fenwick, a few blocks from here., He attended schools at Auburn and Cooperstown, NY. He was an 1842 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY with a commission in the artillery. Doubleday served in the Mexican War under General (and later President) Zachary Taylor. In 1856, he fought against the Seminole Indians in Florida., In 1861, he was assigned to Fort Sumter Charleston Harbor in South Carolina. On April 12, 1861 he is credited with having shot the Union's first shot to defend the fort. He led troops at the second battle of Bull Run; as well as the battles at South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. At Gettysburg, he took command of the First Corps of the Army of the Potomac when Maj. Gen. John J. Reynolds was killed, fending off a vastly superior Confederate Army under Lee, enabling the Union Army to hold a commanding position on the "High Ground" immediately south of Gettysburg, thereafter., Abner Doubleday's other accomplishments include the belief that he "devised" baseball at Cooperstown, New York in 1839. After the Civil War, he developed the first cable operated trolley car in San Francisco, CA., In later years, he relocated to Mendham, NJ where he died on January 26, 1893. He is buried in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery., This monument dedicated June 26, 2004 as a gift from the Abner Doubleday Society, LTD., [Plaque on the back side of the monument facing away from the street] , 1842 Graduate of West Point, 1846 Mexican War , 1854 Indian Hostilities in Texas , 1856 Indian Hostility in Florida, 1861-1865 Civil War, Fort Sumter, Groveton, Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville,, Gettysburg, 1863 to 1865 President of , Military Commissions , In Continuous Command , Until Retired , . ,