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    A Plea for Captain John Brown Read to the citizens of Concord, Massachusetts on Sunday evening, October thirtieth, eighteen fifty-nine
    A Plea for Captain John Brown Read to the citizens of Concord, Massachusetts on Sunday evening, October thirtieth, eighteen fifty-nine
    A Plea for Captain John Brown Read to the citizens of Concord, Massachusetts on Sunday evening, October thirtieth, eighteen fifty-nine
    Ebook55 pages42 minutes

    A Plea for Captain John Brown Read to the citizens of Concord, Massachusetts on Sunday evening, October thirtieth, eighteen fifty-nine

    By Henry David Thoreau

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateJun 1, 2004
    A Plea for Captain John Brown Read to the citizens of Concord, Massachusetts on Sunday evening, October thirtieth, eighteen fifty-nine
    Author

    Henry David Thoreau

    Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. He is best known for his book Walden and his essay "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"). Thoreau was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the fugitive slave law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending the abolitionist John Brown. Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience later influenced the political thoughts and actions of such notable figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. His writings on natural history and philosophy anticipated modern-day environmentalism.

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      Book preview

      A Plea for Captain John Brown Read to the citizens of Concord, Massachusetts on Sunday evening, October thirtieth, eighteen fifty-nine - Henry David Thoreau

      Project Gutenberg's A Plea for Captain John Brown, by Henry David Thoreau

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: A Plea for Captain John Brown

      Author: Henry David Thoreau

      Release Date: December 6, 2008 [EBook #2567]

      Last Updated: January 26, 2013

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PLEA FOR CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN ***

      Produced by Jason Filley, and David Widger

      A PLEA FOR CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN

      By Henry David Thoreau

      [Read to the citizens of Concord, Mass.,

      Sunday Evening, October 30, 1859.]

      I trust that you will pardon me for being here. I do not wish to force my thoughts upon you, but I feel forced myself. Little as I know of Captain Brown, I would fain do my part to correct the tone and the statements of the newspapers, and of my countrymen generally, respecting his character and actions. It costs us nothing to be just. We can at least express our sympathy with, and admiration of, him and his companions, and that is what I now propose to do.

      First, as to his history. I will endeavor to omit, as much as possible, what you have already read. I need not describe his person to you, for probably most of you have seen and will not soon forget him. I am told that his grandfather, John Brown, was an officer in the Revolution; that he himself was born in Connecticut about the beginning of this century, but early went with his father to Ohio. I heard him say that his father was a contractor who furnished beef to the army there, in the war of 1812; that he accompanied him to the camp, and assisted him in that employment, seeing a good deal of military life,—more, perhaps, than if he had been a soldier; for he was often present at the councils of the officers. Especially, he learned by experience how armies are supplied and maintained in the field,—a work which, he observed, requires at least as much experience and skill as to lead them in battle. He said that few persons had any conception of the cost, even the pecuniary cost, of firing a single bullet in war. He saw enough, at any rate, to disgust him with a military life; indeed, to excite in his a great abhorrence of it; so much so, that though he was tempted by the offer of some petty office in the army, when he was about eighteen, he not only declined that, but he also refused to train when warned, and was fined for it. He then resolved that he would never have anything to do with any war, unless it were a war for liberty.

      When the troubles in Kansas began, he sent several of his sons thither to strengthen the party of the Free State men, fitting them out with such weapons as he had; telling them that if the troubles should increase, and there should be need of his, he would follow, to assist them with his hand and counsel. This, as you all know, he soon after did; and it was through his agency, far more than any other's, that Kansas was made free.

      For a part of his life he was a surveyor, and at one time he was engaged in wool-growing, and he went to Europe as an agent about that business. There, as everywhere, he had his eyes about him, and

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