The Forgotten Story of the Black Man Who Was the First to Shed Blood In the Civil War

On this episode of Our American Stories, Nicholas Biddle died broke, never received a pension, and was never officially a soldier for the Union Army because of his age and the color of his skin—but he was treated by his company as a soldier and was the first to shed blood in the Civil War days after the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Up next, a story courtesy of the Gettysburg National Military
Park telling the story of the forgotten first defenders of
our nation's capital during the Civil War, and the first
man to shed blood in the Civil War is Ranger

(00:32):
John Houcktech Take it away, John.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
I grew up in Schoogle County, Pennsylvania, about two hours
from here and a few miles south of the county
seat of Pottsville. And from as young as I can
remember this proof, I have just been captivated by this
era in American history, the Civil War. There was something
about it that drew me in early. And my parents,
who are here, they would always take my sister and

(00:57):
I to battlefields and we would explore these places, and
I would go home with bags of toy soldiers and
coloring books. And when we weren't at battlefields, well, we
were exploring local graveyards. And this continued, of course after
I got my license started to drive, and wonder why

(01:18):
I had difficulties, you know, getting dates in high school.
But even still to this day, whenever I visit home,
I will stop at a local cemetery or try to
just to pay my respects. This was a way for
me to try to get to know the Civil War
history of my home area. And I encourage everybody to

(01:39):
do this. I mean, there's a lot of history to
be learned from these old cemeteries. And there are some
no orthy graves up in Scougle County. There's a couple
generals buried, and one grave in particular has always always
captin me more than others. This is the grave of
Nicholas nick Biddle. It's in the Bethel Amme Cemetery in

(02:00):
Pottsville and as you can see right there carved upon
his headstone, first to shed blood in Civil War Nicholas Biddle,
Captain Wren's Orderly. So as a young kid when I
saw this, I thought, wow, the very first person to
shed blood in the Civil War came from the same

(02:22):
place I did, right Scuocle County. Now I went home
and I looked in my books, that Golden Book of
the Civil War and the Time Live series, and I
couldn't find anything nothing about Nick Biddle, no mention at all.
But wait, he was the first one, the first person
to shed blood, surely we have to know about this guy.

(02:43):
So it tripped up to the Pottsville Library of the
Historical Society, and I discovered his story, and I found
out that he was wounded while with the First Defenders.
So I went back to those books First Defenders, Nothing, nothing,
see the story of Biddle. The story of the First Defenders,
not often told, not well known. I was a bit disappointed. So,

(03:05):
just by way of brief introduction, who were the First
Defenders and who was Nicholas Nick Biddle. Well, those opening
shots on Fort Sumter, they fell like a thunderclap across
the North. There was outrage, there was shock, indignation, followed
by a profound patriotic impulse to defend the flag, to

(03:29):
defend the country that was just fired upon by the
South Carolinians. April twelfth of eighteen sixty one. A patriotic
fervor swept the North. Okay, So Lincoln puts out a
call to arms. He needs seventy five thousand men to
serve a three month period ninety days, okay, and he

(03:50):
needs them quickly. The response to Abraham Lincoln's call was pronounced,
and it was fast, and it was electric from Maine
to Minnesota. And all points in between. Communities mobilized and
volunteers began making their way toward the nation's capital, Washington, DC,
and that that is where they were most needed. Following

(04:14):
the attack on Sumter, there was a strong belief that
the next place to be attacked would beware Washington itself,
the government buildings the capital city. There was a very
real and grave danger to Washington. Many believed that a
Confederate force was on its way as soon as Fort

(04:34):
Sumter surrendered. They thought Pierre Beauregard would be leading his
Confederate force north in order to attack the capital. And
those fears were especially pronounced when word of Virginia secession
began to trickle into the capitol. What if Confederate forces
put artillery on Arlington Heights? What if Confederate gunboats began

(04:54):
sailing up the Potomac River? Washington, d C. The capital
woefully unprepared for its defense, Washington surrounded by slave territory.
Right the fearful trembled for its safety, and truly it
seemed that Washington was doomed to fall. For Verena Davis,

(05:16):
first Lady of the Confederacy, she sent out invitations to
a few of her friends to join her and her husband,
Jefferson Davis in the White House on May first of
eighteen sixty one. There was this very real, palpable fear
for the protection of Washington. And in Washington was a
force of only nine hundred US Regular Army soldiers, and

(05:40):
there was also a militia, a militia of about fifteen
hundred persons. Okay, So Washington, DC had a militia, but
many well they were, you know, questioning the loyalties of
many in that group. Okay. So that is kind of
the military force that was in the Capitol when Fort

(06:00):
Sumter fell. There were some politicians though in Washington Congress
not in session, but there were still politicians about, and
they began to raise a force. Okay, So Cassius Clay
of Kentucky he raised one hundred volunteers to defend the
area between the Capitol and the White House, Okay. And
Senator James Lane of Kansas he gathered together a crew

(06:24):
of about fifty people. They called them the Frontier Guard,
and they went into the White House. Okay, they patrolled
the White House, but that was about it. That was
about the size of the defenders in Washington. So all
eyes are focused north. Okay, the call goes out for volunteers,
When will they start to arrive? What will happen first?

(06:46):
Will the northern volunteers arrive in Washington? Or will the
city be attacked by Confederates?

Speaker 1 (06:56):
And you've been listening to National Park Service Ranger John
Hoptech te one heck of a story about the beginnings,
the early stages of the Civil War and how thoroughly
unprepared Washington d C. Was, how vulnerable Washington d C
Was to being outright sacked. And when we come back,
we'll learn more about the first person to shed blood

(07:18):
the cause of the Union. Here on our American Stories.
This is Lee Hbib and this is our American Stories,

(07:39):
and all of our history stories are brought to us
by our generous sponsors, including Hillsdale College, where students go
to learn all the things that are beautiful in life.
If you can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to
you with their free and terrific online courses. Go to
Hillsdale dot edu. That's Hillsdale dot edu. And we returned

(08:10):
to our American Stories and the story of the forgotten
first defenders of the Civil War. And Nicholas Biddle. When
we left off Gettysburg, National Park Service ranger John Hoptech
told us about Lincoln's call to arms at the start
of the Civil War and the first few Pennsylvanian volunteers
that left to board trains to Washington to help defend

(08:31):
the nation's capital from what seemed to be an imminent
invasion from the South. Let's return to the story.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Despite the seriousness of this occasion, the company historian of
the Allen Infantry, he wrote, most of the volunteers regarded
the journey as a pleasant change from daily occupation. It
was a picnic, an agreeable visit to the capitol. Only
a very few more serious realized that it was the

(08:58):
beginning of war, with its horrors, cruelties, and privations. So
by April seventeenth, just two days after Lincoln's call to
arm was announced, these five companies are gathering in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania's capital, And with the Washington Artillery was Nicholas nick Biddle.

(09:23):
So who was Nick Biddle? The simple truth of the
matter is, prior to April of eighteen sixty one, we
know very little about this man. Of his early life.
We have no record that's how his obituary began. We
do not know where he was born. We don't know
when he was born. At first, obituaries claimed that he

(09:47):
was ninety years old. By the eighteen nineties, when people
talked about Nick Biddle, they said, no, he was born
about seventeen ninety six, so that would have made him
about sixty five years old in eighteen six. Where was
he born? Well, the Pottsville Miners Journal said, we think
he was born in Delaware. We think he was born

(10:09):
in Delaware. It said that he had seen enough of
slavery in his early days to hate it, so he
may have been born enslaved. May have been born and
slaved in Delaware around seventeen ninety six. Okay, the record
is again unclear. How does he end up in Cold Country?

(10:31):
Many believe he escaped along the underground railroad, rebelled against slavery,
made his way north to freedom. Others say he went
to Philadelphia first, and in Philadelphia he started to work
for Nicholas Biddle, the president of the Second Bank of
the United States, very wealthy banker, and many believe that

(10:54):
Nicholas Biddle took Nicholas Biddle's name because he worked for him.
Those are the stories that have been told over the
years about Nick Biddle. This Nick Biddle, we don't know much.
We don't know much, okay, But what we do know
is that he was when he arrived in Harrisburg April
seventeenth of eighteen sixty one, he was wearing the uniform

(11:20):
of the Washington Artillery Company, even though he was not
officially a member. He couldn't, of course, because of the
color of his skin. But we do know he was
considered a part of this company, which is why he went. Now,
consider that brave moment when this man who may have

(11:41):
who likely was born enslaved, decided to go back south.
So Nick Biddle is with the Washington Artillery when they
arrive in Harrisburg April seventeenth, eighteen sixty one, and the
next morning, all five hundred of those first defense they're
awake early. This is the Fateful Day, Thursday, April eighteenth.

(12:06):
That morning they're awake early, and they were mustered into
federal service when they raised their right hand and took
the oath of allegiance that was administered by Captain Seneca
Simmons of the seventh United States Infantry. So now they
are soldiers, but they hardly looked the part. Some of

(12:27):
them were in uniform, okay, Nick Biddle was wearing the
uniform of the Washington Artillery, and they were largely unarmed.
The officers had their side arms, their swords and pistols.
The Allen infantry had their flintlocked muskets, which had neither
flints nor locks. But said one person, they could be

(12:48):
used as clubs. Right, but that was about it. Out
of uniform, a motley assortment, civilian garb. But they are
now US soldiers. We weren't really concerned about the fact
that they were unarmed. They were not quite expecting any trouble.
All we got to do get on the train, make

(13:09):
our way to Baltimore, get off the train, go to
another train, and go to Washington. Right, it's an agreeable
picnic to the capitol. So they make their way, heading
south and not anticipating any trouble. As they made their
way through Pennsylvania, there were people with US flags waving
them along the route, but as soon as they crossed

(13:30):
that Mason Dixon line, well, the sympathies changed. One of
the first defenders said that he saw one of the
students at the Lutherville Seminary Female Academy waving a Confederate
flag at the train as it passed, their first hint
that some trouble may lay ahead. There was much trouble

(13:52):
ahead because Baltimore, Baltimore, well, there's a lot of Confederate
sympathy in the city of Baltimore. There's trouble brewing. There
were calls for secession in Maryland, there were calls for
secession in Baltimore. Civil War historian Alan Nevins called Baltimore
quote a powder tub ready for a match. That powder

(14:16):
tub was on its way, those five hundred Pennsylvanians heading
in response to Abraham Lincoln's call. Baltimore had a reputation
for unruliness. Okay, some called it the mob city. There
apparently were riots in Baltimore on election day in eighteen
fifty six and eighteen fifty seven and eighteen fifty eight

(14:37):
and eighteen fifty nine. And of course there was that
whole conspiracy about kidnapping and assassinating Abraham Lincoln as he
made his way to Washington for his inauguration in Baltimore. Okay,
so Baltimore has a bit of a reputation okay, And
as it turned out, as it turned out, members of
the pro Confederate if you will, city militia were drilling

(15:00):
that morning. They were parading in Baltimore, and then ward
arrived that trainloads of Northern volunteers were heading their way.
They were determined to resist, so they organized and they
gathered together. Okay, and they were determined not to allow
these Pennsylvanians to march through their city to respond to

(15:20):
Abraham Lincoln's call. So several thousand of them began to gather,
and as the Pennsylvanias meanwhile blissfully unaware on those trains
making their way south, then a telegram arrives and the
captains of those five companies received ward that a mob

(15:41):
was forming to contest their arrival. They decided, well, we're
going to go through anyway, but just to be safe,
we're going to get off the trains a little bit
north of Bolton Station. That'll do it. That'll do it.
The trains carrying these Pennsylvania volunteers stopped just short of

(16:03):
Bolton Station, but the mob quickly caught on to that ruse.
They rushed their way north to where the Pennsylvanians were
just then stepping off the train and Captain Wren of
the Washington Artillery. He wrote that the mob approached, quote
like a lot of angry wolves. They began jeering and
taunting and cursing at these Pennsylvanians. It's no longer a picnic.

(16:25):
Is it no longer an agreeable visit to the Capitol.
There were shouts supporting Jeff Davis, there were insults against
Lincoln and the Union. And it was impossible, impossible in
the midst of that for these company commanders to organize
and get their guys in column information to march to
the next train station. They had to march to Camden

(16:46):
station to pick up the B and O railroad to Washington.
So they had about a two mile journey to get
from north of Bolton station to Camden station. So they
all got back on the cars. They all got back
on and this mob is there still yelling, cursing. So
let's call the Baltimore City Police.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
And you've been listening to National Park Service ranger John
Hoptech tell one heck of a story. The idea that
the nation has never been more divided something you hear
today often, Oh contrere, listen to what these Pennsylvania soldiers
were stepping into and didn't even know it. A thousand
troops training up a militia in Baltimore to resist them

(17:25):
simply passing through to protect the nation's capital. And for
those of you who know that part of the country,
that trip from Baltimore to Washington, d C. Well that's
a one hour car drive, so this is really close.
When we come back more of Gettysburg, National Park Service
Ranger John Hoptech, the story of Nick Biddle and the
Forgotten First Defenders here on our American stories, and we

(18:08):
returned to our American stories in the final portion of
our story on the Forgotten First Defenders and the first
man to drubb Blood in the Civil War, Nicholas Biddle.
When we last left off, the First Defenders had arrived
in Baltimore, Maryland, where they had to call upon the
Baltimore City Police to prevent violence from breaking out. Let's
return to the story. Here again is National Park Service

(18:30):
Ranger John Hoptech.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Here they come. They have arrived. The entire Baltimore City
Police force has arrived. They are now going to escort
these Pennsylvanians through the city. But this was cold comfort,
as many of these first defenders, said a lot of
these police officers were laughing at him, because many of
the police officers fully agreed with the sympathies of that

(18:52):
gathering mob. So they finally got off the trains and
they began their march through the cityists, Stone them, kill them,
Hurrah for Jeff Davis. You'll never get out of hair alive.
Have you your coffins made? These were some of the
things the Pennsylvanians heard as they marched through Baltimore, heading
toward Camden Station. These Pennsylvanians are outnumbered nearly five to one.

(19:19):
The historian of the Allen Infantry wrote it this way,
ruffs and tufts, longshoremen, gamblers, floaters, idlers, red hot secessionists,
as well as ordinarily sober and steady men, crowded upon,
pushed and hustled the little band, and made every effort
to break the thin line. It was a severe trial

(19:41):
for the volunteers, with not a charge of ball or
powder in their pouches. For these Pennsylvanians, it must have
seemed an eternity. But finally they arrived at Camden Station
at last. But it was there where violence at last
broke out. That's when bottles and bricks and stones and

(20:02):
clubs and whatever else the mob could get a hold
of began to rain down and crash among these volunteers.
But the first hit, the first one to be struck down,
or so many believed, was Nick Biddle. Apparently it was
the sight of Biddle, a black man in uniform, that

(20:22):
especially infuriated this mob. An unknown as salient, grabbed a brick,
launched it adam and hit him squarely in the face,
squarely in the face. He fell backward, but he was
caught by an officer from another one of those militia companies,
and staggering, he helped him onto one of these train cars.

(20:42):
His head was wrapped in bandages which quickly bled through.
But it was amidst this shower of bottles and stones
and bricks that the Pennsylvanians hurried on board some others
of the mob. They attempted to detach the engine of
the train, but this effort, said one man, was pre
by the determined character of the engineer. After they drew

(21:03):
revolvers and threatened to shoot any man who made that attempt.
At long last, the train cars began to pull away
from Baltimore. They got out alive, and the next day
they realized how fortunate they had been when they heard
what happened to the sixth Massachusetts who was following in
their footsteps. On April nineteenth, April eighteenth evening at last,

(21:28):
finally that evening, the trains arrived at the foot of
Capitol Hill, and that's where these Pennsylvanians were headed to
defend it. There were men who were bruised and battered
and bloodied, none more so perhaps than Nick Biddle. But nevertheless,
said one man, we arrived in fine spirits because we
were the very first company that are here. Politicians began

(21:52):
to show up too. Now for the day laborers and
the clerks, and the coal miners and the students who
composed the ranks of these companies on a day here
they were now quartered in the committee rooms and the
offices of the US Capitol building. They're being met by
these politicians. Quite a memorable day. But perhaps the next

(22:13):
day was equally as memorable, because on April nineteenth they
are also visited by Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln arrived at
the Capitol to meet and to personally thank these Pennsylvanians
for their timely arrival. Remember that anxiety that pervaded the capitol.
Who's going to get there first? Will the capital be attacked? Well,

(22:36):
now now the first volunteers to respond to his call
are there. He made his way along with Seward and Cameron,
two of his cabinet secretaries, and he shook the hands
of these Pennsylvania volunteers. One of the members of the
Washington Artillery yelled out speech speech. They wanted to hear
speech from Lincoln officers and soldiers of the Washington Artillery

(23:00):
or he said, I did not come here to make
a speech. The time for speech making has gone by.
The time for action is at hand. I came here
to give you a warm welcome to the city of Washington,
and to shake hands with every officer and soldier in
your company, provided you grant me that privilege. Oliver Bosbyshell

(23:22):
he left this account. Imagine the scene. Here were sturdy,
young fellows suddenly called upon to don the uniform of soldiers,
many of whom had never been out of sight of
the mountains of their estate, spread out upon the hard
marble floors of the Capitol in an effort to secure

(23:42):
some rest from the fatiguing journey, when every man is
brought to his feet by the announcement of the presence
of the one man each of us most desire to see,
the honored chieftain of the nation, Abraham Lincoln. Profound silence
for a moment, broken by the handclapping and cheers of
the tired volunteers. Yes, here, towering over all in the

(24:06):
room was the great central figure of the war. I
remember how impressed I was by the kindliness of his face,
and the awkward hanging of his arms and legs, his
apparent bashfulness in the presence of these first soldiers of
the Republic, and with it all a grave, rather mournful
bearing in his attitude. The President's words were few, but

(24:28):
earnest and impressive. Close contact with the man at the
helm was more than the satisfaction of personal curiosity. It
was a kind of baptism of responsibilities heretofore unheeded, a
revelation of a state of profound seriousness in the solving
of which each one listening to the great leader's words
felt personally called upon to his best. That's what Oliver

(24:51):
Bosbyshell said, you know, making his way from company to company.
Abraham Lincoln heard of what happened in Baltimore, and he
saw the injuries to some of these soldiers, and presumably
he came face to face with Nick Biddle. And imagine
that moment. Here was Abraham Lincoln face to face with

(25:13):
Nick Biddle, his head covered in blood soaked bandages, his
blood dripping on the floor of the US Capitol building.
A man who may have been born, enslaved and escaped
and now is back in uniform. What a moment. I
would love to see that on canvas. And the screenwriters

(25:34):
watching make a compelling movie. Right By late July, ninety
days have come and gone. They were naturally glad to
be back home, but for most of them it was
a short vision. Most of them would re enlist, many
would give their lives. Nick Biddle returned to Pottsville. He

(25:58):
was never paid as a soult. He never took the
oath of allegiance because he couldn't. He would never receive
a pension. Biddle, to his dying day, never tired of
talking about those supreme hours of his life, the time
of his wounding and the time of Lincoln's call to
see him and sympathize with him. And the scar which

(26:20):
he carried to his grave he proudly showed to people interested.
It was his badge and his brand of patriotism. He
died in obscurity, but he would never be forgotten by
the Washington Artillery. It was the Washington Artillery who paid
for his funeral. The First Defenders also also paid for

(26:42):
a headstone to be placed over Nick Biddle's grave. It
read in memory of Nicholas Biddle. His was the proud
distinction of shedding the first blood in the late War
for the Union, being wounded while marching through Baltimore with
the first Volunteers from Scougle County. Direcked it by his
friends in Popstorm.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
And a terrific job on the production and editing by
our own Monty Montgomery. And a special thanks to Gettysburg
National Park Service ranger John Hoptech. What a story, what
a picture in all of our heads of that time,
with Lincoln breeting these soldiers, story of Nicholas Biddle and
the First Offenders. Here on our American Stories