Abner Doubleday
Abner Doubleday had one of the most interesting lives in American history. He was the first to fire a shot in defense of Fort Sumter, the action that sparked the American Civil War, and he was a key figure in the action of Gettysburg. Following the war, Doubleday invented and patented the San Francisco cable car system, which is still in use today. Doubleday, who died in 1893, became much more famous 15 years later when the Mills Commission incorrectly attributed him with inventing baseball. Matthew Brady most likely took the above photograph in the mid-1800s.
Abner Doubleday
Otto Von Bismark
In the second half of the nineteenth century, Otto von Bismarck reshaped European politics for future generations. Bismarck dominated Prussia as minister-president beginning in 1862, and via military and political intrigues in 1870, he masterminded Germany’s unification, becoming chancellor of the German Empire until his death in 1890. Bismarck used European politics to ensure Germany became an international power, while accidentally setting the foundation for both great wars. Jacques Pilartz took the above photograph in 1890.
Otto Von Bismark
