Shortly afterward a large Union force was thrown into St. Louis, martial law was declared, and all the rebel flags were hauled down. The beautiful flag which Dr. Elliott had displayed in front of his office continued to wave in triumph until the war was over. THE FIRST SOLDIERS WOUNDED IN THE CIVIL WAR. A COLORED MAN THE FIRST TO FALL. Fort Sumter was fired on April 12, 1861. The next day the Pottsville Light Infantry, of Pottsville, Pa., tendered their services by telegram for the defence of the government. Their services were accepted by Simon Cameron by telegraph; and they, with recruits gathered on the journey, were the first troops to reach the capital. There being some question as to the date of their reaching Washington, Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, being appealed to, published the following letter:-- PHILADELPHIA, July 4, 1866. I hereby certify that the Pottsville Light Infantry was the first company of volunteers whose services were offered for the defence of the capital at the beginning of the War of the Rebellion. A telegram reached the War Department on April 13, 1861, making the tender. It was immediately accepted; and the company reached Washington on the 18th, with four additional companies from Pennsylvania, and these were the first troops to reach the seat of government. (Signed) SIMON CAMERON. On July 22, 1861, the United States Congress passed the following resolution:-- _Resolved_, That the thanks of the House are due and are hereby tendered to the five hundred and thirty soldiers from Pennsylvania who passed through the mob at Baltimore, and reached Washington on the 18th day of April last, for the defence of the national capital. Although the day was cold and raw, the people of the loyal town of Pottsville gathered on the streets and cheered them on their way; and all along the line till they reached Baltimore, they were hailed with loyal enthusiasm. They reached Baltimore April 18; and while passing through that city a furious mob assailed them, and they fought their way through. Nicholas Biddle, the only colored man in the company, an old man sixty years old, was the first Union volunteer to shed his blood for the life of the nation in our recent Civil War. It is a significant fact that the first man killed in the Revolutionary War was a colored man,--Crispus Attucks. Nicholas Biddle was not killed, but was struck on the head with a stone dropped from a building, and fell senseless and covered with blood. His comrades, although fighting a furious mob, did not desert him, but gathered him up and put him on the cars. Weary and wounded and bruised and battered by the mob at Baltimore, they got through alive, and were on the 18th of April quartered in the rotunda of the Capitol.