Chancellorsville and Gettysburg - Softcover

Doubleday, Abner

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1582185328 ISBN 13: 9781582185323

Publisher: Digital Scanning Inc., 2004

Synopsis

This is volume six of the sixteen-volume series aabout the Army and the Navy in the Civil War.

About this title

About the Author

Abner Doubleday was born on June 26, 1819 in Ballston Spa, New York. Both his maternal and paternal grandfathers fought in the Revolutionary War and his father in the War of 1812 before becoming a U. S. Congressman. After spending much of his childhood in Auburn, New York, Abner was sent to Cooperstown to live with his uncle and attend a private high school. He worked as a surveyor before entering West Point, from which he graduated in 1842, becoming a lieutenant in the U. S. Artillery. He served in the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848, then the Seminole Wars from 1856 to 1858. In 1852, he married Mary Hewitt. At the start of the Civil War, he was second in command at Fort Sumter, and in fact, aimed the cannon that fired the first return shot of the war in 1861. Promoted to major, he was a hero at the Second Battle of Bull Run, and was present at South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and of course Gettysburg, where he spent five hours leading 9,500 Union troops against 16,000 Confederates. Due to a misunderstanding, General George Meade replaced him, and he assumed administrative duties in Washington, D. C. When Abraham Lincoln travelled to Gettysburg, to give his famous address, Doubleday travelled with him. He left the military in 1873. While stationed in San Francisco from 1869 through 1871, he invented the cable car, which still runs there today. Working as an attorney in New York, he also spent much time writing and became a friend of Thomas Edison. Doubleday died on January 26, 1893, at the age of 73, from heart disease in Mendham, New York. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. As to the myth that he was the inventor of baseball, there is no evidence to support that, either historically, or in Doubleday's own writings.

From the Back Cover

Provides stern judgments of Generals Meads and Howard; astute insights into other generals such as hooker, Reynolds, and Sickles; and penetrating, minute-by-minute analyses by leading a participant of these two pivotal battles.

About this edition

• Publisher: Digital Scanning Inc.
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1582185328
• ISBN 13: 9781582185323
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272