Abner Doubleday was an 1842 graduate of the U. S. Military
Academy at West Point and a veteran of the Mexican war
when he was assigned to Fort Moultrie
in the summer of 1860. A Captain of Artillery, he served as second in command
of the garrison at the historic fort when the curtain rose on the dramatic
events leading to the outbreak of the War Between the States. Doubleday also
had the distinction of aiming the first cannon fired in response to the
bombardment of Fort Sumter.