On April 18, 1861, Nicholas Biddle, an elderly African American who served as an aide to the Washington Artillery of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, was wounded while marching through Baltimore with Union troops. Though not an official enlisted soldier—African Americans were not yet permitted to formally join the Union Army—Biddle wore a uniform and was struck in the head by a pro-secession mob, shedding blood in the name of the Union cause. His injury marked one of the earliest documented wounds of the Civil War and positioned him as a symbolic forerunner of the nearly 180,000 Black soldiers who would later serve.
© 2025 KnowThyHistory.com. Know Thy History
