Henry had refused to pay the tax because of its association with the institution of slavery. Thoreau's world-famous essay, Civil Disobedience, grew out of a night in July 1846 when he was detained in Concord jail for nonpayment of the poll tax. To many of his neighbors in Concord, Thoreau was known not as the Sage of Walden but as "the fool who burned the woods down." In 1844, while cooking fish at a spot on the perimeter of Concord woods, Henry accidentally sparked a major forest fire that for decades blighted one of the most beautiful places in America. Some thought he carried this passion too far: For instance, it is reported that Henry was inordinately fond of wading naked through the streams of Concord. It was then that he turned to the contemplative life, which he associated with a state of oneness with nature.
John died tragically of lockjaw in January 1842, and Thoreau was never quite the same again. The two great loves of his life were his brother John and the wonders of nature. Certainly Thoreau did not suffer fools gladly, but he did have a heart. He was condemned by many as a misanthrope, a misfit, a hermit.
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