Octavius Valentine Catto was a notable activist, scholar, athlete, and military officer in the Philadelphia National Guard during the Civil War.
He was born on February 22, 1839, in Charleston, South Carolina. His mother, Sarah Isabella Cain, a free woman, descended from one of Charleston’s most distinguished mulatto families, the DeReefs. His father, William Catto, was a slave millwright who gained his freedom and later became a prominent Presbyterian minister. Around 1850, the elder Catto relocated his family to the North and eventually became the pastor of the First African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Young Catto began his education at Robert Vaux Primary School before transferring to Lombard Grammar School. After a brief period living in New Jersey, he attended Allentown Academy. He returned to Philadelphia by 1854 and…
