The First Defenders, Nicholas Biddle in the New York Times

I was very pleased last night when I discovered that the story of the First Defenders made its way into two excellent pieces that appeared yesterday on the New York Time's Opinionator page. I am hoping that given such attention, that these (long) neglected Pennsylvanians will resume their rightful in Civil War historiography as the first Union soldiers to arrive in Washington and the first to have shed blood when attacked in Baltimore on April 18, 1861.

Read Richard Tofel's piece on the "Battle of Baltimore," by clicking here.

Friend Ron Coddington, well-known for his Civil War Faces series, contributed a fine article specifically on the First Defenders and the story of Nicholas Biddle, which can be found here.