This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Brown, Bader, Bartling, Mayhew, Kagi, Boulware, Pierce, Roundtree, Campbell, Roberts, Morton, Nuckolls, Joy, Holly, Hale, Forbes, Tidd, Wood, Whipple, Classification: Lookup Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/ok.2ADE/4132.3.1.1 Message Board Post: THE SIDNEY ARGUS - HERALD. June 3, 1937. "JOHN BROWN'S BODY IS MOULDERING BUT HIS SOUL MARCHES ON".-- A quest for candle holders for a birthday cake last week unearthed much interesting information regarding John Brown's cave in Nebraska City, which in recent years has come to be regarded as slightly mythical, says the News-Press. Mrs. Kate Bader was seeking the candle holders to place on a cake for a young relative when she found a copy of a newspaper feature story written about the cave in 1901. The cave, now disappeared, was located in a dry gulley on property now owned by Ed Bartling across South Table creek north of Wyuka cemetery. During the lawless days following repeal of the Missouri compromise, the story states, John Brown and his followers aided hundreds of slaves to escape from Missouri and Kansas into "free" territory. A regular system of hiding places was established to rest the slaves and their convoys. Nebraska City, due to its strategic position at the edge of free territory was one of the most important stations. When the fugitives escaped they would hurry across Nebraska into Iowa, which was free soil. The first stop was at Falls City, the next at Nemaha and the third and last was at Nebraska City. The local cave, which wasn't a cave at all but a series of man-made underground chambers, was dug by a Mr. Mayhew, who occupied the farm before the civil war. Mayhew was a strong abolitionist, and brother-in-law of John Henry Kagi, secretary of war in Brown's "cabinet." Mayhew lived in a one-room log house, standing over a cellar which was connected with the cave. The house today has been remodeled and extended. Mayhew left shortly after the civil war. The cave was dug from the bank of a ravine just west of the house and the mouth was cleverly concealed, as well as the opening into the cellar. It had several chambers and passage ways, one opening into the northeast corner of the cellar, the walls of which were solid limestone and mortar. There were no other openings, except a hollow log or "gum" which served as a ventilator, one end protruding slightly from the bank on the outside and the other reaching just to the edge of one of the interior walls. The top of the cave was several feet underground and the ceilings were arched and propped by strong timbers at frequent intervals. There were three principal chambers which were large enough to accommodate 12 or 15 persons at one time. The exact number of fugitives hidden in this cave is not known, but statements that large numbers of negroes were ferried over the Missouri river at this point were corroborated by old settlers in the city when the story was written. Nearly always the first trip of John Boulware's ferry in the morning carried a load of stolen slaves. In 1901 some of the older citizens said there were six graves not far from the mouth of the cave, which were first noticed shortly after one of Brown's raids in Kansas. Just who were buried there was never known and all traces of the graves have disappeared. They were said to have been 200 feet south of the house. The late Charles Pierce, then government surveyor, R. A. Roundtree, Judge M. S. Campbell and Josiah Roberts, all old residents, substantiated the story that slaves had been kept in the cave. Roberts lived in the Mayhew house in the early '70's and said that he kept apples and potatoes in the "nigger cave." J. Sterling Morton also knew of the traffic and said that once a wagon train had 13 slaves concealed in the wagons. Kagi once worked on the Morton estates. The first slaves ever stolen in Nebraska City were two females owned by S. F.Nuckolls, president of the town site company. They were taken to Civil Bend (Percival) and afterward to Chicago. Nuckolls learned of their hiding place and went to Chicago to recover them and was saved from an angry mob by Hiram Joy, Morton's father-in-law. Later two buck slaves owned by Nuckolls ran away and he made no effort to find them. The only slaves ever sold in Nebraska City belonged to Charles R. Holly, who brought them with him from Savannah, Missouri, when he moved here. Holly owed William B. Hale about $500 and failed to pay it when due. Hale sued and secured judgement, levied on the slaves, who were quite aged, and they were sold on the block. Brown organized an "army" to convoy the fugitives. According to J. Sterling Morton he employed Hugh Forbes, an Englishman by birth, to drill his "troops" and the first rendezvous was at Civil Bend, now Percival. Government agents and slave owners constantly pursued Brown and his stolen or escaped wards. In many instances there were open skirmishes. One such incident occurred on Brown's last trip in December, 1858, and January, 1859, and has become variously known as the "Battle of Muddy Creek" and the "Battle of the Spurs." It was related by a man who accompanied Brown on the raid. Brown and 13 slaves leftTopeka, Kansas, in December. He was accompanied by a man known as Whipple and the narrator. Kagi and Tidd, two Brown henchmen, were after supplies and the party stopped 37 miles out of Topeka to wait for them. U.S. Marshall John P. Wood and a posse were close on the party's heels. They surprised Whipple, who lived apart from the others, but he managed to escape and repell the invasion until reinforcements, 23 white men, arrived. The party took up its journey into Nebraska. At Muddy creek Wood and a force of 80 men entrenched themselves on the opposite side of a ford. Brown's men attacked and several shots were exchanged before the marshal's men gave way. Five prisoners and six horses were captured. Brown held the captives one night, forcing them to walk in front of his troops. He lectured them constantly of their wickedness and the meanness of slave hunting. They were released the next morning, but the horses were retained. The party came on to Nebraska City, where Kagi visited his sister and at night. When he was asleep in the house, his horse was either stolen or "arrested" by Marshal Wood, who was secreted in the town. They rested a week at Tabor, Iowa, which was one of the stations, before continuing deeper into free territory.