b. 1819 d. 1893
U.S. Army
Major General (USV) who is commonly credited with firing the first
Union shot in the
Civil War and with inventing the game of
baseball. Doubleday also founded the first
cable car company in
San Francisco.
Doubleday graduated from West Point in 1842. He was at Fort Sumter when the first shots were fired in the Civil War. He saw extensive action in the war -- including the Second battle of Bull Run, Chancellorsville, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg.
Doubleday also served in the Mexican War and the Seminole Indian War. He retired from the military in 1873 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
The Baseball Hall of Fame is located in Doubleday's hometown of Cooperstown, NY -- but the common folklore that Doubleday invented baseball is no longer accepted by historians. The earliest newspaper accounts of baseball (or base ball) go back to 1823.