Abner Doubleday (June 26, 1819 – January 26, 1893) is mistakenly remembered as the inventor of baseball, despite never claiming to do so. Instead, he had a far more lasting influence on America through his Civil War service. Doubleday 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, as he took command of the I Corps after General John Reynolds was killed on Day 1, but his relief by General George Meade caused lasting enmity between the two men.
Doubleday also played a large role during the Maryland Campaign as a division commander. Leading a division in the I Corps of the Army of the Potomac, his soldiers fought at South Mountain and then at Antietam, where he led his men into the deadly fighting in the Cornfield and the West Woods. One colonel described him as a "gallant officer ... remarkably cool and at the very front of battle,” and Doubleday was wounded when an artillery shell exploded near his horse, throwing him to the ground in a violent fall. He received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel in the regular army for his actions at Antietam and was promoted in March 1863 to major general of volunteers.
Doubleday wrote an official account of the Maryland Campaign, and it became part of The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. This edition of his account includes illustrations and maps of the campaign. It also includes pictures of the important commanders of the battle.
