This address on John Brown was one of the first public utterances in
favor of that hero; it was made up mainly from the entries in
Thoreau's journals, since I had introduced Brown to him, and he to
Emerson, in March, 1857; and especially from those pages that Thoreau
had written after the news of Brown's capture in Virginia had reached
him. It was first given in the vestry of the old parish church in
Concord (where, in 1774, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts had
met to prepare for armed resistance to British tyranny); was repeated
at Worcester the same week, and before a great audience in Boston, the
following Sunday,--after which it was published in the newspapers, and
had a wide reading. Mr. Alcott in his diary mentions it under date of
Sunday, October 30, thus: "Thoreau reads a paper on John Brown, his
virtues, spirit, and deeds, this evening, and to the delight of his
company,--the best that could be gathered at short notice,--and among
them Emerson. (November 4.) Thoreau calls and reports about the
reading of his lecture on Brown at Boston and Worcester. He has been
the first to speak and celebrate the hero's courage and magnanimity;
it is these that he discerns and praises. The men have much in
common,--the sturdy manliness, straightforwardness, and independence.
(November 5.) Ricketson from New Bedford arrives; he and Thoreau take
supper with us. Thoreau talks freely and enthusiastically about
Brown,--denouncing the Union, the President, the States, and Virginia
particularly; wishes to publish his late speech, and has seen Boston
publishers, but failed to find any to print it for him." It was soon
after published, along with Emerson's two speeches in favor of Brown,
by a new Boston publishing house (Thayer & Eldridge), in a volume
called "Echoes of Harper's Ferry," edited by the late James Redpath,
Brown's first biographer. In the following summer, Thoreau sent a
second paper on Brown (written soon after his execution) to be read at
a commemoration of the martyr, beside his grave among the Adirondack
Mountains. This is mentioned in his letter to Sophia Thoreau, July 8,
1860. He took an active part in arranging for the funeral service in
honor of Brown, at Concord, the day of his death, December 2, 1859.