Monday, October 28, 2013

Major General Abner Doubleday


This well sculpted Perry figure will most likely represent a standard union commander in my games, but the model himself is Major General Abner Doubleday. He was an able commander, but through false reports and personal dislikes saw him fall out of favour. He is probably most famous for firing the first return shot with his battery at Fort Sumter.

He fought in the battle of Second Bull Run leading a Brigade, then a division at South Mountain and was wounded leading his men at Antietam and was present though inactive at Fredricksburg and Chancellorsville. He again entered the fray with command of the I Corp at Gettysburg after Major General Reynolds was killed. His corps showed excellent fighting spirit when  of 9,500 of them  held off 16,000 confederates for 5 hours before having to retreat with several brigades suffering 35 to 50% causalities. Unfortunately for Doubleday another corps commander falsely indicted his command broke first and since Meade the commanding general didn't like Doubleday believing him to be an indecisive commander(his nickname was 48hours) choose to believe this and had him replaced. When Doubleday requested reinstatement of command from Meade for 1 Corps and was refused he decided to pack his bags and head for Washington to undertake administrative duties.

After the war he got into the railway business, law and wrote some books on his experience in the War.

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company- Perry Miniatures




I also won something over at Dalauppror blog here! It's a great blog full of Swedish wargaming history. Michael cleverly likes to take rule sets for other periods and use those with a Swedish background. Very nice painting and great AAR's can be found there so I highly recommend checking it out.
I won what seems to be a history of tanks in WWI and for sure I will be checking it out. Thanks Michael!

46 comments :

  1. Stunning paint work Christopher ! Greate with the background to !

    Thank you very much for the writeup about my blog, very appreciated!!! I hope you have some use for the book you won, glad it arrived safely.

    Best regards Michael

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    1. Thank you very much Michael on both the comment and the nice book! I will for sure read and put your book to some good use!:-)

      Christopher

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  2. Wonderfully painted and based. BTW, although it's now disputed, he was once widely recalled as the "inventor" of baseball. Best, Dean

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    1. Thank you kindly Dean. Yes, it seems many claimed he invented baseball, but he never claimed he did nor does he have writings claiming to have done so. Strange I suppose.

      Christopher

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  3. Lovely understated painted figure, very nicely done.

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  4. I have the same figure but yours is a little work of art Christopher!

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    1. Thank you very much Fran! I like to see your interpretation of him.

      Christopher

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  5. That's some amazing painting as well as basing. The blanket beneath the saddel (saddelblanket?) turned out especially nice with it's golden/ yellow trimming.

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    1. Thank you very much Nick. I wasn't sure if I was going to go with a stronger yellow trim or a more subtle gold. I decided on the gold and so thank you for helping in confirming that I made the right choice.

      Christopher

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  6. The figure is wonderfully painted but the base really catches my eye. 10/10 Christopher.
    Cheers,
    Pat.

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    1. That's very kind of you to give me such a grade Pat. I'm not sure if I deserve it, but I'll take it nonetheless!:-)

      Christopher

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  7. Great looking figure, excellent paintwork!

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  8. Excellent painting! And the basing is just amazing.

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  9. Superb painting and basing Christoper and an interesting bio.

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    1. Thank you very much Cyrus glad you liked both the painting and background.

      Christopher

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  10. Top notch painting and basing. And great background too. I'd forgotten that Gettysburg was the end of the line for him. What a shame.

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    1. Thank you very much Monty. Yes, apparently he wasn't going to accept the slight and I don't blame him. He may not have been an outstanding general, but nor did he deserve the sacking.

      Christopher

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  11. That's a cracking figure with a superb name and back story well painted Christopher!

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    1. Thank you very much Paul! I agree that the Perry ACW commanders are outstanding sculpts and are technically the best 28mm ones on the market.

      Christopher

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  12. Thank you and very kind of you Andrew!

    Christopher

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  13. He'sagreat looking figure!! Nice work!

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  14. Fantastic paintwork and basing Christopher. Congrats on the win too!

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  15. And of course Doubleday had that little thing known as baseball too.

    Lovely paint job on him!

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    1. Thank you very much AJ! Yes, the rumour that he started baseball when he himself never said he did. I have no idea how it came about.

      Christopher

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  16. Wonderfully painted Union Commander there and actually thanks for the biopic as I know very little about him

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    1. Thank you very much and happy you found the biopic interesting.

      Christopher

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  17. Great figure, very impressive, Christopher! I finally have failed to resist the siren call of Longstreet, my Union troops are almost ready. Best regards, Tobi

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    1. Thank you very much Tobi! Looking forward to seeing your union troops!

      Christopher

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  18. Basing on this one is fantastic - load of variety and texture in there, really sets off the piece.

    FMB

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