Civil War 1860 African American Soldier Nathan Green CDV Buffalo Black Photo PA

  

DETAILS: Original carte de visite (CDV) photograph of an African American soldier taken by photographer E. Verso has photographers credits and written in pencil is the identity the soldier, Nathan Green.

Note that his hand sits atop a book, most likely a bible. BACKGROUND: Nathan Green of West Chester, Pennsylvania appears to have been an an exceptionally brave abolitionist leader among the African American community in Chester County. He is cited several times in abolitionist publications from the period for his leadership and courage.

One incident in particular stands out: During the Resistance at Gum Tree in 1850, federal agents came to Chester County looking for an escaped slave. In the middle of the night, the agents knocked on Nathan Green's door asking for assistance in fixing a broken wagon. When Green opened the door, the agents raided his house. Green wielded an axe to protect himself, his wife, and six children. Though he was hit several times in the process, the agents eventually backed off and were run out of town by neighbors.

Oxxbridge Galleries was founded in 1987 and specializes in vintage paper items with a large selection of historical and 19th Century tintypes, daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, cabinet cards, carte des visites and other types of early photography.