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"Nick Biddle," of Pottsville, PA, the first man wounded in the Great American Rebellion, Baltimore, April 18, 1861.
During a riot on April 18, Nicholas Biddle, a servant of Captain James Wren of the Washington Artillerists from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, was struck in the face by a paving stone. He bore a scar the rest of his life and the incident is remembered as the "first blood" of the war. His image is the first carte de visite of an African American mass-produced for sale. |