Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts on this date in 1817. The writer and philosopher lived an incredibly short life; he died in May 1862 just shy of his 45h birthday. To put that into perspective, his death occurred in the middle of General McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign. I have always wondered what Thoreau might have had to say about the Civil War had he lived through its entirety. Walt Whitman gave us “Drum Taps” and “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” at the war’s end, and then went on to live another twenty-seven years after Appomattox. Thoreau was a mere two years older than Whitman.
Henry David Thoreau, August 1861
Perhaps intellectually Thoreau did not have the sensibility to live in and understand Gilded Age America, much in the way Theodore Roosevelt’s 1919 death spared him having to live through the Roaring Twenties and Jazz Age, to which Roosevelt would have been constitutionally unsuited. So, maybe it’s for the best that Thoreau died when he did before the full tragedy of the war unfolded. This was we remember him as we do with the transcendentalists and for the influence he later had on Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and others.
A few weeks ago I began subscribing to The Atlantic. Given certain things taking place in our world today it has never been more important to support journalism. One of the things I find most beneficial about the periodical, in addition to its great stable of contributors, is its historical memory. The Atlantic has been in publication since 1857, the year of a great financial panic and depression. Three years later came Lincoln’s 1860 presidential victory and soon thereafter the Civil War. Here is the magazine’s online author page for one Henry David Thoreau.
(photograph by George F. Parlow/Library of Congress)
The Strawfoot 
The Atlantic plug pretty much tells me how you feel toward the Constitution. I hope that the coming left wing utopia is all that you hope it will be. I am neither Left or Right and I don’t get caught up in the current get Trump at all cost craze. It will interesting to watch the economy crumble and taxes soar out of sight and then have all the calamities that flow from it be blamed on the prior occupant of the WH. I for one am in a hurry to see it happen, because only then can the folly of socialism be revealed in it’s ugly true state. I will, of course, continue to follow your blog, as you at least give us some true history, an increasingly rare thing.
Randall, thanks for the comment and for reading the blog. It means a lot to me that there are people who make the site part of their routine. I think you are misconstruing the point of the post. My point in bringing up The Atlantic was that such long-standing periodicals, of whatever persuasion, offer a historical continuity often lacking in the virtual environment. I too read a mix of sources as I grapple to understand this very confusing time through which we are living.
Keith
Thanks, Keith, I am so sick of current politics. It is scary as hell. I will continue to look forward to your insightful posts on our history and it’s interesting New York focus. I am a Texan (1846) with Virginia roots, but have an interest in the history of that unique city and state.
By the way, to me ,Thoreau was the ultimate Libertarian.
Thoreau was certainly an interesting figure, wasn’t he?
Thanks for the reply to my own response. I’m with you on being exhausted by politics and current events. It’s a struggle to keep up and make sense of our current time.
PS-You know, I lived in Texas for a decade and still miss it a great deal.
It is July, miss it in November. 🙂 Keep up the great work.
I must say I don’t miss the Texas summers! We had some neighbors from Dallas who moved back last week. Oooff, it must be hot.
Thank you again for the kind words. I put a lot into the blog and it means a great deal to me that there are people who make it part of their world. It’s truly humbling.
This is really a keeper, Keith. I will go back to your links often and will probably subscribe. A picture of the path out of Walden Pond hung in my study for 32 years with the quote under it:“I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one.” It reminded me that orthopaedics didn’t have to define my life. I am now on at least my third life! Thank you for keeping us searching and thinking.
Bob Schrock
Bob, I apologize for the late response. I have been doing an intense training module for the upcoming semester that has taken up much of my time, and thus away from checking the blog. I’m glad you liked the post. I love the quote you mention. I’m sure seeing it every day provided inspiration. Several years ago now I spent a few hours at Walden Pond with an uncle, who graciously took me around there and also Lexington & Concord. It is a special place.
I hope your summer is going well. I know it has been a difficult one in so many ways.