![]() Being a Black man in uniform, Biddle suffered the worst of the mob. Wren was right about the crowd's response to his Black aide. When the regular Army unit broke off and made for its station at nearby Fort McHenry, the crowd got even bolder, inflicting broken bones and other injuries. For most of the journey, they were joined by a regular Army company and protected by local police, which somewhat limited the crowd's violence.Īs the 475 Union troops moved through the city, residents pelted them with rocks, bottles and anything else that wasn't tied down. The unit had to march across the city of Baltimore from one train station to another. The Baltimore Riot of 1861 began as "First Defenders" made their way south to Washington, D.C. ![]() with the trust of the lord and couldn't be scared by the devil himself. The aide told his commanding officer that he was marching to D.C. Wren told Biddle that the sight of a Black man in uniform would spark outrage in Baltimore and warned him that he could be captured and re-enslaved. To get to Washington, Pennsylvania's First Defenders first had to march through Baltimore, which was filled with Confederate sympathizers at the time. When the militia answered the president's call, Biddle came with them. In spite of the Army's regulations, Biddle's fellow Pennsylvanians came to accept the former slave as one of their own and allowed him to wear the uniform of the Washington Artillery. But since Black men were forbidden to join as soldiers, he signed on as an aide to its commanding officer, Capt. ![]() He took a keen interest in the town's two companies of militia, even volunteering to join. Where Biddle escaped slavery isn't known, only that he came to freedom through the Underground Railroad and settled in Pottsville.
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