Episode 40: The Less-Than-Dashing Abner Doubleday, Part V

 

This is the only photograph that I could find that could be Doubleday not in uniform; forgive its blurriness. According to Wikipedia (not the best source, I admit) this image is, or at least was, displayed at the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

After his retirement, Doubleday had more time to devote to self-reflection and became involved with Theosophy whose motto, as can be seen above, declares that there is no religion higher than truth - but it was started by a median, so interpret that as you will. It drew on philosophy and thought from several (Eastern) religions, as can be seen from its logo.

In 1875, Helen Blavatsky and Henry Olcott formed the Theosophical Society in New York which, by the turn of the 20th century, had 180 posts world wide. The group was established to offer places for free thinkers (read: those with minority views on religion and philosophy) to come together without worrying about being judged for their views. As it was also based around mediums and Spiritualism, its numbers declined in the United States soon after the turn of the century and was forced into the fringes of US society, it is still around today with halls around the world.

Aside from spending time with the Theosophical Society, Doubleday spent his retirement writing books and articles of a military nature and making appearances with veteran organizations like the Grand Army of the Republic until his health began to fade around his 72nd birthday. Brevet Major General Abner Doubleday died on January 26, 1893 at age 73, with his wife Mary by his side in their newly completed home in Mendham, New Jersey. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Section 1, Grave 61. The marker on his grave site was placed by the First Corpse Society in 1896.

The inscription on the back of the marker list his military achievements:

HE WAS GRADUATED AT WEST POINT

1842

1846 MEXICAN WAR

1852 COMMISSIONER TO MEXICO

1854 INDIAN HOSTILITIES IN TEXAS

1856 INDIAN HOSTILITIES IN FLORIDA

1861-1865 WAR OF THE REBELLION

FORT SUMTER

GROVETON SECOND BULL RUN

SOUTH MOUNTAIN ANTIETAM

FREDERICKSBURG CHANCELLORSVILLE

GETTYSBURG

1863 TO 1865 PRESIDENT OF

MILITARY COMMISSIONS

IN CONTINUOUS COMMAND

UNTIL RETIRED

Mary Hewitt Doubleday survived her husband by 14 years, but when she passed away in she was laid to rest beside the man she was married to for 41 years.

Today, the myth about Doubleday inventing baseball has all but fallen by the wayside and he is being remembered for his actual achievements to the service of the nation. Plaques honor him at various Civil War battle sites and the town of Ballston Spa, New York, where he spent the first two of so years of his life had a marker at his birthplace. The Doubleday Inn in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is located, fittingly enough, on Doubleday Avenue, near McPherson's Ridge, the site of his greatest military achievement.