- John Henry Kagi
John Henry Kagi (
March 15 ,1835 –October 17 ,1859 ) was an Americanabolitionist and second in command to John Brown in Brown's failed raid onHarper's Ferry . He bore the title of "Secretary of War" in Brown's "provisional government." At age 24, Kagi was killed during the raid. [ [http://www.wvculture.org/history/jb11.html Re-evaluating John Brown's Raid at Harpers Ferry, by Karen Whitman] accessed April 12, 2007]Early life
John Henry Kagi was born in
Bristolville, Ohio , in 1835, the second child of blacksmith Abraham Neff Kagy (as spelled on his gravestone) and Anna Fansler. John Henry Kagi adopted the Swiss spelling of the family name.Though largely self-taught, he was the best educated of Brown's raiders.Several of his letters to national newspapers survive, including those to the
New York Tribune , theNew York Evening Post , and the National Era. He was an able businessman, totally abstained from alcohol, and wasagnostic .In 1854-55 he taught school in Hawkinstown,
Shenandoah County, Virginia near his father's birthplace but was compelled to leave due to his antislavery views. A relative, Virginia historian Dr. John W. Wayland, wrote the most complete monograph on Kagi and his activities.With John Brown
In 1855, Kagi traveled west and stayed at the cabin of his sister Barbara Kagy Mayhew and her husband Allen in
Nebraska City . Kagi used the cabin, preserved as theMayhew Cabin Museum ,as part of theUnderground Railroad . [ [http://www.mayhewcabin.com/history.html Mayhew Cabin] accessed April 12, 2007] He was admitted to the Nebraska bar, before joining in the fighting inBleeding Kansas on the abolistionist side with General James H. Lane. Later he enlisted inAaron Stevens 's ("Captain Whipple's") Second Kansas Militia, and met John Brown inLawrence, Kansas . Stevens and Kagi became two of Brown's closest advisors. Kagi was captured in 1856 by United States troops.He was imprisoned in
Lecompton, Kansas , then at Tecumseh.He was severely injured in a gun fight with a pro-slavery judge named Elmore on January 31, 1857. Elmore was shot in the groin. Later that year he tried to help Brown organize a military school inTabor, Iowa and had military training in theQuaker community of Pedee, inCedar County, Iowa .On May 8, 1858 in a black church in
Chatham, Ontario Brown's "Provisional Constitution and Ordinances for the people of the United States" was adopted, and Kagi was named Secretary of War. [ [http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/eraop/era-of-peace-p40.html Era of Peace] from William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas]Kagi and Brown moved to a cabin on Little Sugar Creek, near
Mound City, Kansas . In November 1858, the cabin was successfully defended by Kagi and others from an armed posse, while Brown was away.On December 20, 1858 Brown led twelve men, and Kagi led another party of eight men into
Missouri to free slaves. Brown's party freed ten slaves, but Kagi's only freed one while killing the slave's owner. [ [http://www.moundcityks.com/history/brown.html John Brownn in Linn County] accessed April 12, 2007] [ [http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/eraop/era-of-peace-p40.html Era of Peace] from William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas]While planning the raid on Harper's Ferry Kagi acted as the business agent of the raiders, buying and storing weapons, in
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania . At Chambersburg he lived in the Mary Rittner house, which still stands at 225 East King Street, with Brown. Brown (using the name John Smith) and Kagi met withFrederick Douglass andShields Green at an abandoned quarry outside of Chambersburg to discuss the raid on August 19. [ [http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/pa2.htm Aboard the Underground Railway, John Brown House] accessed 3/25/2007] [ [http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/jbrown/fdlife.html excerpt from The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, (1881, reprint New York: Pathway Press, 1941), pp. 350-354] accessed 3/25/2007] According to Douglass's account, Brown described the planned raid in detail and Douglass advised him against it.Kagi was killed during the Harper's Ferry raid as he tried to escape across the
Shenandoah River from Hall's Rifle Works. [ [http://www.wvculture.org/history/jb11.html Re-evaluating John Brown's Raid at Harpers Ferry, by Karen Whitman] accessed April 12, 2007]Appearances in modern literature
* "
Flashman and the Angel of the Lord " (1996)
* "Cloudsplitter " (1998)External links
* [http://www.johnbrown.org/provisionalarmy.htm Kagi biography]
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.