To what "attack on the Boston Court-House" does Thoreau allude in this paragraph from "Slavery in Massachusetts"?

Question

In Slavery in Massachusetts, Thoreau writes:

The events of the past month teach me to distrust Fame. I see that she does not finely discriminate, but coarsely hurrahs. She considers not the simple heroism of an action, but only as it is connected with its apparent consequences. She praises till she is hoarse the easy exploit of the Boston tea party, but will be comparatively silent about the braver and more disinterestedly heroic attack on the Boston Court-House, simply because it was unsuccessful!

To what heroic attack on the Boston Court-House does the author allude? The case of rescuing Shadrah Minkins was successful, may it be that Thoreau alludes to another case?

Answer 1

As you have pointed out, Thoreau cannot be referring to the rescue of Shadrach Minkins. First, because Thoreau specifically refers to "[t]he events of the past month", in a speech given on July 4th, 1854; second, because Thoreau said the attack was "unsuccessful". The rescue of Minkins happened in 1851, and it was successful.

He seems, instead, to be referring to the events surrounding the arrest and trial of escaped slave Anthony Burns.

Burns was arrested in Boston on May 24th, 1854 under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Act, and convicted shortly afterwards. This injustice inflamed Boston's abolitionist community. One faction of said community armed themselves and broke into the court house in an attempt to liberate Burns by force, killing a guard in the process. They failed, and Burns was shipped back to Virginia on June 2nd, under heavy guard from a mixture of federal troops and deputies of the U.S. Marshal.

Thoreau mentions Burns by name twice in other parts of the speech.