Octavius Valentine Catto - On Election Day, October 10, 1871, Catto was murdered along with several other blacks in a Philadelphia riot when local African Americans attempted to vote as a result of the state’s ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment. Catto was a prominent Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, activist, scholar, athlete, and military officer in the National Guard during the Civil War. During the riot, Catto was confronted near his home by Frank Kelly, a Democratic Party operative who fired several shots at Catto, with one bullet piercing his heart. Kelly escaped Philadelphia after the shooting but was found six years later in Chicago, Illinois and extradited to Philadelphia for trial. At trial on April 23, 1877, six prosecution eyewitnesses—three whites and three blacks—identified Kelly as the shooter. Despite their testimony, an all-white jury acquitted Kelly.

Did You Know?

When the Confederate Army invaded Pennsylvania in 1863, culminating in the Battle of Gettysburg, Catto responded to the call for emergency troops by raising one of the first volunteer companies, the 5th Brigade of the Pennsylvania National Guard. He served as major and inspector general in the brigade.