Abner Doubleday: A Civil War Biography
Abner Doubleday is one of the most famous names in the American lexicon — even if the source of his fame is completely inaccurate. As most Americans think they know, Doubleday invented the game of baseball on a field in Cooperstown, N.Y. In fact, he did not. There is absolutely no historical evidence to support this assertion, but it continues to be accepted, even at the Baseball Hall of Fame, situated in — where else? Cooperstown, N. Y. Thomas Barthel, the author of this new biography of Doubleday, has written essays for the official publication of the Baseball Hall of Fame, is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, and lives in Clinton, N.Y., not far from Cooperstown. He unequivocally demonstrates, agreeing with innumerable other authors, that Doubleday did not invent baseball. In fact, Doubleday was never even in Cooperstown. Still, Barthel insists in this book that Doubleday deserves of historical fame, but not for any supposed connection with baseball. It is because of his role in the Civil War. Doubleday was a graduate of West Point, participated in the Mexican War, was a career officer in the Old Army, served under Robert Anderson at Fort Sumter, fought in a variety of battles in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War, and, as commander of the Army of the Potomac’s First Corps, steadfastly held a key ridge during the battle of Gettysburg. After the battle was over, however, he suffered intense criticism from a number of Union officers for allegedly poor performance. Barthel argues, repeatedly, that Doubleday performed well but was unfairly the victim of George G. Meade’s recurring petty anger. This book provides information of interest, but it is in need of a thorough revision. Sentences and paragraphs read poorly, and there is a good deal of repetition. Errors of the most obvious kind appear: for example, the Dred Scott decision is dated as 1846 instead of 1857; Charleston’s Cooper River is the Copper River; the Missouri Compromise is the Missouri Comprise; and in an endnote historian Allan Nevins becomes Nevis. The book’s research is also limited. For example, the War of the Rebellion, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies does not seem to have been utilized.Much of the book appears to be based on Doubleday’s memoirs. In this biography, a reader learns much about Abner Doubleday’s military career, and Barthel must be commended for his no-nonsense destruction of the Doubleday baseball myth. Still, this is a book that demonstrates the need for a great deal of editorial work on the part of the author and his publisher. Reviewer: John F. Marszalek John F. Marszalek is a biographer, Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Mississippi State University, and Executive Director and Managing Editor, Ulysses S. Grant Association.
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Photographs, notes, bibliography, appendix, index, 275 pp., 2010, McFarland,