Nicholas Biddle, although sixty years old, enlisted and served throughout the war, and returned to Pottsville with those who survived the terrible struggle. He lived till he was eighty years old; and his friends at Pottsville have erected a monument in his honor, which bears the following inscription-- “IN MEMORY OF NICHOLAS BIDDLE. _Died 2d Aug., 1876, aged 80 years._ His was the proud distinction of shedding the First Blood in The Late War for The Union. Being wounded while marching through Baltimore with the First Volunteers from Schuylkill County, 18th April, 1861. ERECTED BY HIS FRIENDS OF POTTSVILLE.” The very next day, April 19, the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment fought its way through the same cruel, howling mob. RUNNING THE BLOCKADE AT VICKSBURG. The ship canal, and all other plans for getting below Vicksburg with enough boats to transport his troops across the Mississippi River, having failed, General Grant determined to run the blockade. Seven gunboats and three wooden steamers were put in condition to make the perilous trip. The iron sides of the gunboats were drenched with coal-oil, and the floors were whitewashed, that the gunners might load their guns by the light of the whitewash. The important working machinery of the wooden steamers was protected by bales of cotton and bales of hay. The smoke-stacks and pilot-houses were taken down; and the pilots must needs stand at their wheels, and the captains on the upper decks, with nothing to shield them from the sharpshooters on the wharves of Vicksburg. All this preparation was done as secretly as possible. But the service was a dangerous one, and no one was to be ordered into such unusual and dangerous service. A call was made along the line on dress parade for volunteers. Two thousand brave men stepped to the front, anxious for the perilous service. As only a few were needed, lots had to be drawn to obtain the few from the two thousand; and one young man, who was chosen by lot, was offered one hundred dollars for his place, but he refused it. I am glad to record that he got through safely. About nine o’clock on the night of April 16, 1863, a dark night, I received a note from Mrs. General Grant, who was with her husband at Milliken’s Bend, informing me that the boats would run the blockade that night, and asking me to come over and go with them to witness it. I accepted the invitation, and accompanied the orderly who had brought the note. It was dark and raining; but very soon we were, in company with General Grant, on our way to the steamer that was to bear us to the point chosen by our fearless leader to witness the running of the blockade.