John Henry Kagi, also spelledJohn Henri Kagi (March 15, 1835 – October 17, 1859), was an American attorney,abolitionist, and second in command toJohn Brown inBrown's failed raid on Harper's Ferry. He bore the title of "Secretary of War" in Brown's "provisional government." At age 24, Kagi was killed during the raid.[1] He had previously been active in fighting on the abolitionist side in 1856 in "Bleeding Kansas". He was considered an excellent debater and speaker.[2]
John Henry Kagi was born inBristolville, Ohio, in 1835, the second child of blacksmith Abraham Neff Kagy (as spelled on his gravestone) and Anna Fansler, who were ofSwiss descent. John Henry Kagi adopted the Swiss spelling of the family name.
Though largely self-taught, he was the best educated of Brown's raiders. He was astenographer, at the time a useful skill for a reporter. He was Associate Editor of theTopeka Tribune and theKansascorrespondent of theNew York Post[3] and the abolitionistNational Era;[4] his contributions are signed "K."[5] He was the "western correspondent" of theNew York Tribune, and writings of his are found in several other newspapers.[6]
He was an able businessman,totally abstained from alcohol, and, in contrast with John Brown, wasagnostic.
In 1854–55 he taught school inHawkinstown,Shenandoah County, Virginia, near his father's birthplace, but he was compelled to leave, and never return to Hawkinstown, due to his anti-slavery views.[2] A relative, the Virginia historian Dr. John W. Wayland, wrote the most completemonograph on Kagi and his activities.
In 1855, Kagi traveled west and stayed at the cabin of his sister Barbara Kagy Mayhew and her husband Allen inNebraska City. TheMayhew Cabin was the first site in Nebraska recognized by theNational Park Service as it was used as part of the Underground Railroad.
While living with the Mayhew's, Kagi earned the ability to practice law and taught Phonography. By 1856, Kagi went south to join theabolitionistsworking to make Kansas a free state, serving under GeneralJames H. Lane.[2] Later Kagi enlisted inAaron Stevens's ("Captain Whipple's") Second Kansas Militia, and met the abolitionistJohn Brown inLawrence; another source says they met in Topeka.[6] Deeply influenced by the man, Stevens and Kagi became two of Brown's closest advisers.[7]
On August 16, 1856, Kagi participated in theattack on "Fort Titus," the homestead of pro-slavery leaderHenry Theodore Titus, a mile (1.4 km) fromLecompton, Kansas. He was captured a month later by United States Army troops along with 100 men of Col. Harvey's company, who had just attacked Hickory Point. Kagi was charged with eight counts, including arson, manslaughter, and murder.[8] He was imprisoned inLecompton, then atTecumseh,[2] both in Kansas, escaping from the later place with other indicted Freestate prisoners. Kagi was slightly wounded in the chest in a gun fight with pro-slavery JudgeRush Elmore on January 31, 1857—a memorandum-book in his pocket stopped a bullet—but shot Elmore in the thigh.[2] Later that year Kagi tried to help Brown organize a military school inTabor, Iowa. He undertook military training in theQuaker community of Pedee, inCedar County, Iowa.
Brown and his group went to Upper Canada to organize their effort. On May 8, 1858, in a black church inChatham, Ontario, they adopted Brown's "Provisional Constitution and Ordinances for the people of the United States", and Kagi was named Secretary of War.[7]
Kagi and Brown returned with their men to Kansas, where they lived in a reinforced cabin on Little Sugar Creek, nearMound City. In November 1858, Kagi and others defended the cabin from an armedposse while Brown was away. On December 20, 1858, Brown led twelve men, and Kagi led another party of eight men, intoMissouri to free slaves. Brown's party freed ten slaves, but Kagi's freed only one and killed the slave's owner.[7][9]
While they planned the raid on Harper's Ferry, Kagi acted as the business agent of the Brown's group, buying and storing weapons inChambersburg, Pennsylvania. At Chambersburg he lived with Brown at theMary Ritner house, which still stands at 225 East King Street. On August 19, Brown (using the name Isaac Smith) and Kagi met withFrederick Douglass andShields Green at an abandoned quarry outside of Chambersburg to discuss the raid.[10][11] According to Douglass's later account, Brown described the planned raid in detail and Douglass advised him against it.
Kagi was killed by militia forces during the Harper's Ferry raid as he tried to escape across theShenandoah River from Hall's Rifle Works.[1] His body was first buried, with most of the other raiders killed during the raid, in a packing crate on the far side of the Shenandoah. Forty years later, in 1899, the remains of Kagi and nine other raiders were reinterred in a common grave next to John Brown's grave atJohn Brown Farm State Historic Site.
As a character in the novels:
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