Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Doubleday, Abner, 1819-1893

Military officer; born in Ballston Spa, N. Y., June 26, 1819; graduated at West Point in 1842;

Abner Doubleday.

served in the artillery in the war with Mexico; rose to captain in 1855; and served against the Seminole Indians in 1856-58. Captain Doubleday was an efficient officer in Fort Sumter with Major Anderson during the siege. He fired the first gun (April 12, 1861) upon the Confederates from that fort. On May 14 he was promoted to major, and on Feb. 3, 1862, to brigadier-general of volunteers. In Looker's corps, at the battle of Antietam, he commanded a division; and when Reynolds fell at Gettysburg, Doubleday took command of his corps. He had been made major-general in November, 1862, and had been conspicuously engaged in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. He was brevetted brigadier-general and major-general of the United States army in March, 1865; was commissioned colonel of the 35th Infantry in September, 1867; and was retired in December, 1873. He died in Mendham, N. J., Jan. 26, 1893. [141] General Doubleday was author of Reminiscences of forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-61; Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and other military works.