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John Henry Kagi, sometimes known as Brown's "Secretary of War," is "in prison at Lecompton," Kansas Territory, when he writes this letter to his sister on November 20, 1856. Kagi, along with John Ritchie and several other free-state partisans, had been arrested by U.S. Marshal I. B. Donelson, supported by federal troops, on September 18 at Topeka, and subsequently charged with "highway robbery." (See, Kansas Historical Collections, 4:561) Although "in prison," Kagi assures his sister that he is safe and could be rescued at anytime; "I hesitate only because we may get out some other way, and because a forcible rescue would bring on a terrible winter war, which I do not wish to see." Kagi was killed during John Brown's Harpers Ferry raid in October, 1859.
Creator: Kagi, John Henry, 1835-1859
Date: November 20, 1856
Item Number: 90821
Call Number: Richard Hinton Coll. #384 Box 1 Folder 6
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 90821
Collections - Manuscript - Hinton, Richard
Date - 1854-1860 - 1856
Government and Politics - Crime and Punishment - Prisoners
Military - Wars - Bleeding Kansas
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Letter
People - Notable People - Kagi, John
Places - Cities and towns - Lecompton
Places - Counties - Douglas
Thematic Time Period - Bleeding Kansas, 1854 - 1861
Type of Material - Unpublished documents - Letters
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/90821