Mayhew Cabin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Built in 1852, the Mayhew Cabin and Historic Village in Nebraska City, Nebraska is the only National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site in Nebraska officially recognized by the National Park Service.^[1]

[edit] About

In 1852 Allen and Barbara (Kagi) Mayhew built the cabin and established their farm. Barbara’s brother, John Henry Kagi, met and was deeply influenced by abolitionist John Brown in 1856.

With Barbara and Allen Mayhew's support^{[dubious – discuss]}, Kagi created a stop at the Mayhew farm for the Underground Railroad.^[2] They built a "cave", a dugout room underneath the main cabin, with access only from a nearby ravine. Runaway slaves crossed the Missouri River from the slave state of Missouri into Nebraska, a free state. There they would hide in the cave until the coast was clear to make their way to the next stop. The Mayhews often fed them while they stayed at the cave.^[3]

Edward Mayhew, the oldest son of Allen and Barbara, wrote of an instance in 1859 when Kagi brought 14 blacks to the cabin. His mother Barbara fed them a breakfast of cornbread.^{[citation needed]}

Although the cabin site was called John Brown's Cave, there was no evidence that John Brown ever visited there.

John Kagi became the secretary of war in Brown’s army. He joined John Brown in the Harper's Ferry raid to obtain weapons for a slave uprising. At age 24, Kagi was shot to death during the raid.

In 2005 the Mayhew Cabin & Historic Village was rehabilitated. Today it houses the historic Mt. Zion African Methodist Church, one of the first black congregations established west of the Missouri River.^[4]