Laudator Temporis Acti

The Dunkin Rebellion occurred at Harvard when Thoreau was a freshman. Dunkin was Thoreau's Greek teacher. Walter Harding, The Days of Henry Thoreau (New York: Dover, 1982), pp. 41-42, quotes from the official report on the incident -- Harvard University, Proceedings of the Overseers Relative to the Late Disturbance in That Seminary (Boston, 1834):

On the 19th of May last [1834], the Instructor of the Freshman Class in Greek [Christopher Dunkin], reported to the President that one of that Class, when reciting to him, stopped and refused to recite farther; on being told by his Instructor that when "he directed any thing to be translated, he expected it would be done," the student replied, "I do not recognize your authority," shut his book and paid no attention to his recitation afterward....

On that night, (Wednesday) between the hours of ten and one, the room occupied by the Greek Instructor, above-mentioned, as a recitation room, was torn in pieces by some students, all its furniture broken, and every window dashed out....

The morning and evening prayers were, on the next day, (Thursday) interrupted by scraping, whistling, groaning and other disgraceful noises....

On this night a watch was set for the protection of the College property. It was attacked with stones by several students. An affray ensued....

On [the next] evening, about midnight, the Chapel bell was rung, (a cord having been attached to it,) accompanied by great noises in the yard.

Thoreau apparently took no part in the Dunkin Rebellion. He did not follow in the footsteps of his maternal grandfather, Asa Dunbar, who fomented a Harvard rebellion in 1767 over bad food in the dining hall.