General Abner Doubleday of the Union Army during the American Civil War. He fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter, the opening battle of the war, and had a pivotal role in the early fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg. After the war, he patented the cable car railway of San Francisco, California, which still runs to this day. His most lasting claim to fame is the popular myth that he invented baseball, which has been debunked by almost all sports historians. Moreover, Doubleday himself never made such a claim.Photo credit: Mathew Brady or Levin Corbin Handy