A Concise Biography of Robert Green Ingersoll
by Dane C. Sorensen
Robert Green Ingersoll was born on August 11, 1833 to a proud father whom was a preacher. Robert was the youngest of five children. His birthplace was a small New York town named Dresden. His father was Reverend John Ingersoll. Although his son would become famous for his lack of religious belief he always got along with his father. When his father lay dying, Ingersoll at his father's request read aloud from Plato. Ingersoll would later state in a letter to a friend that the only fault his father had was his religion.
Robert's mother was Mary Livingston Ingersoll was a loving and intelligent woman. Before Robert was born she wrote and circulated a petition to end slavery, a feat not normally the realm of a woman. Unfortunately, she died when Robert was only two years old in 1835.
Robert's father career as a minister was one of constant moving about. He held positions in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky, and possibly at some other points in Vermont, New York, Ohio, and Illinois. He was a zealous abolitionist all his life. He was capable of preaching for hours at the pulpit. No doubt his son inherited his father's oratory skills.
As a boy, Robert grew up doing most things that boys do: fishing, hunting, and playing around. He was known for his good nature and honesty. He had the nickname of "Honest Bob". In his teens he was known as a good student and very talented in recitation. He loved the works of the Scot poet Burns and the English poet Byron.
In June 1852 in the Greenville Journal Robert had a short poem published which definitely showed his burgeoning love of life.
In 1852-53 Ingersoll taught at a private school at Metropolis, Illinois that consisted of a simple log cabin. His generosity was evident already as a schoolmaster. About half his subscriber's were unable to pay their tuition, yet he marked all of them "paid in full".
During this time he boarded and it was at one of these boarding houses that had several Baptist ministers he was asked his opinion of baptism. He is reputed to have said, "Well, I'll give you my opinion: With soap baptism is a good thing." Needless to say, this caused a stir that caused an end to his teaching career. Left penniless, he had to walk to where his father was living.
It is after that set back that Ingersoll took up studying the law from the Honorable Willis Allen. He also worked as a court clerk and lived with his father and sister and bother Ebon. In December 1954, along with his brother Ebon, Robert was admitted into the bar.
In 1855 he settled in Shawneetown, the county seat of Gallatin and worked various court positions. It was during this period that Ingersoll delivered his first speech against religion. Robert and Ebon also started their own law practice in Shawneetown and both did well. In 1857, after showing keen legal skills a number of important clients from Peoria asked Ingersoll to relocate in this booming Illinois town. In February 1857 both brothers moved their practice to Peoria. It is while practicing law in Peoria that Ingersoll met Lincoln.
In 1860 the young Ingersoll ran as a Democrat for Congress. Defeated by an incumbent Republican it was said that Ingersoll ran a brilliant campaign. With Lincoln sweeping the state Ingersoll did not do well at the polls. Ingersoll, despite running as a Democrat, did campaign against slavery. His position was more anti-slavery than his Republican candidate.
It was not until the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 that Ingersoll became a Republican. He stayed a Republican for the rest of his life.
In 1860, Ingersoll delivered in Pekin, Illinois an anti-theological lecture of which was noted in the press. The title was "Progress" and was again delivered in 1864 in Bloomington, Illinois.
In 1861, Ingersoll helped raise three regiments of volunteers for the Union army. He joined the service on September 16 and was commissioned a Colonel by the end of October. By December Colonel Ingersoll had 12 full companies. In February he married Eva A. Parker, a woman of no superstitions.
Col. Ingersoll took part in the Battle of Shiloh and also the Battle of Corinth. He was admired by his fellow soldiers for his skill and fortitude. In 1862, Ingersoll with about 800 men was sent to take Lexington. Of his force most were poorly equipped and unprepared. Ingersoll came up against a Confederate force of between 5,000 and 12,000 soldiers under the command of General Forrest. Ingersoll's forces resisted three direct assaults until being overrun. He was captured and surrendered to Forrest. They became lifelong friends. Ingersoll was paroled by General Forrest to St. Louis. There Ingersoll seeing he could not return to active duty, resigned his commission and was honorable discharged on June 30, 1863. Back in Peoria, he continued his patriotic work at every opportunity. He continued to rally to the cause of "Union and Liberty."
In 1867, Ingersoll was appointed Attorney General of Illinois. He served until 1869.
In 1868, much of the Illinois Republican Party wanted Ingersoll as their candidate for Governor. However, even then, they knew of his religious feelings. A committee was appointed to see Ingersoll and the convention waited for the response. It is with great courage that Ingersoll wrote the convention, "Gentlemen, I am not asking to be governor of Illinois. * * * I have in my composition that which I have declared to the world as my views upon religion. My position I would not, under any circumstances, not even for my life, seem to renounce. I would rather refuse to be president of the United States than to do so. My religious belief is my own. It belongs to me, not to the state of Illinois. I would not smother one sentiment of my heart to be the emperor of the round globe."
That same convention then tried to nominate him for Attorney-General. Again, he politely turned down the offer repeating his claim that he was not a candidate for political office. This ended any future attempts to elect one of America's most honest men. Many admirers of Ingersoll felt he had the ability to become President of the United States had he not been an infidel.
On September 14, 1869, Ingersoll gave for the first time his lecture on the encyclopedic Humboldt. In 1870, came his famous lecture on Thomas Paine. In 1872, the lecture "The Gods" was published. 1873 saw the lecture entitled "Individuality" delivered in public. The lecture "Heretics and Heresies was given in 1874. In 1875 the Ingersoll family visited England, Ireland and France. Upon returning to America he gave the lecture "What I saw, and What I Did Not See, in England, Ireland, and France".
In 1876, at the Republican National Convention, Ingersoll gave a nominating speech for James G. Blaine - candidate for President. He speech has been considered the model political speech. It has been called the "Plumed Knight Speech" and is still being studied by Political students.
In 1877 he wrote and delivered the lecture, "The Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child" and later that year came the lecture "Ghosts". Upon being attacked by the clerics, he responded with the lecture" My Reviewers Reviewed." Later he came out with his homely lecture, "About Farming in Illinois." Late in 1877, Ingersoll published "Vindication of Thomas Paine".
Ingersoll was considered for the position of Ambassador to Germany by the Hayes administration, but Ingersoll quietly asked that his name be withdrawn. It was in the second half of 1877 that Ingersoll moved to Washington, D.C. Many in Illinois felt the state lost a great man.
In 1878 the lecture "Robert Burns was composed. For the second and last time Ingersoll returned to England, Scotland and France. Upon visiting the birthplace of Robert Burns, Ingersoll composed the following poem:
This poem has been inscribed on the wall of Burns birth home in Scotland.
On May 31, 1879 his brother Ebon died suddenly. Robert Ingersoll tearfully gave the eulogy for his brother. His funeral was attended by many prominent men of the time. Later that year Ingersoll published "Some Mistakes of Moses" one of his longest lectures.
On January 24, 1880 he delivered his Suffrage Address in Washington, D.C. He also pleaded for self-government for the District of Columbia. Later in the year he wrote, "What We Must Do To Be Saved?"
"Some Reasons Why" and "The Great Infidels" were composed in 1881. Also, published in the North American Review was his article "Is the Bible Inspired?" with a counter article by Judge Jeremiah S Black. The review had tried to do this point/counterpoint project earlier but could find no takers. Ingersoll wrote a rebuttal that was 58 pages in length and was published in the November issue of the Review.
In 1882, Ingersoll gave his famous eulogy for a child that was given at the request of the parents. He was not asked before the funeral, but at the gravesite while a slow rain was falling. With his exquisite tone and cadence, Ingersoll spoke:
My friends: I know how vain it is to gild a grief with words, and yet I wish to take from the grave its fear. Here in this world, where life and death are equal kings, all should be brave enough to meet what all the dead have met. The future has been filled with fear, stained and polluted by the heartless past. From the wondrous tree of life the buds and blossoms fall with ripened fruit, and in the common bed of earth, patriarchs and babes sleep side by side.
"Who should we fear that which will come to all that is? We cannot tell, we do not know, which is the greater blessing -- life or death. We cannot say that death is not a good. We do not know whether the grave is the end of this life, or the door of another, or whether the night here is not somewhere a dawn. Neither can we tell which is the more fortunate -- the child dying in its mother's arms, before its lips have learned to form a word, or he who journeys all the length of life's uneven road, painfully taking the last slow steps with staff and crutch.
"Every cradle asks us 'Whence?' and every coffin 'Whither?' The poor barbarian, weeping above his dead, can answer these questions just as well as the robed priest of the most authentic creed. The tearful ignorance of the one, is as consoling as the learned and unmeaning words of the other. No man, standing where the horizon of a life has touched a grave, has any right to prophesy a future filled with pain and tears.
"May be that death gives all there is of worth to life. If those we press and strain within our arms could never die, perhaps that love would wither from the earth. May be this common fate treads from out the paths between our hearts the weeds of selfishness and hate. And I had rather live and love where death is king, than have eternal life where love is not. Another life is nought, unless we know and love again the ones who love us here.
"They who stand with breaking hearts around this little grave, need have no fear. The larger and the nobler faith in all that is, and is to be, tells us that death, even at its worst, is only perfect rest. We know that through the common wants of life -- the needs and duties of the hour -- their grief will lessen day by day, until at last this grave will be to them a place of rest and peace -- almost of joy. There is for them this consolation: the dead do not suffer. If they live again, their lives will surely be as good as ours. We have no fear. We are all children of the same mother, and the same fate awaits us all. We, too, have our religion, and it is this: Help for the living -- Hope for the dead."
A conservative cleric named Dr. Talmage of Brooklyn, New York wrote a series of six sermons condemning Ingersoll. In April 1882, Ingersoll published "Six Interviews with Robert G. Ingersoll on Six Sermons by the Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D.D". It was a 430-page work that uses both humor and logic to tear the poor cleric and his religion to pieces.
In May of that year, Ingersoll was invited to give a speech honoring the Civil War dead. Critics howled that he should be allowed to speak. Ingersoll asked the inviting committee to confirm their desire to have him speak. They confirmed the decision without hesitation. The auditorium was completely filled. President Arthur, US Attorney-General Brewster, Generals Grant, Aspinwall, Hancock, Butterfield, Curtis and others were present. Ingersoll received standing ovations and refused to take even traveling money for his efforts.
In 1883, Ingersoll gave his lecture on Civil Rights and was introduced by Frederick Douglass.
In 1884 Ingersoll wrote "Orthodoxy" and "Which Way". "Myth and Miracle" was published in 1885. In November of 1885 Ingersoll moved again. This time to New York City.
In the summer of 1886, Charles B. Reynolds, a humanist tried to hold some meeting on free thought in the town of Boonton, New Jersey. His tent was attacked and he was run out of town. Later in Morristown, he tried to hand out pamphlets on free thought. Out of the blue a grand jury charged him with two counts of blasphemy using an old law unenforced for almost 200 years. Ingersoll came to the defense of this humanist and successfully defeated the attempt to imprison Mr. Reynolds. Ingersoll lost the case, but the judge only gave Reynolds a minimum fine. Ingersoll paid for the fine himself as well as the court fees.
In 1889, rationalist in American and Europe erected a life-size statue of Giordano Bruno, in Rome, on the very spot he was burned at the stake in 1600 by order of the Church. Ingersoll was invited to speak at the dedication. However, he was not able to attend. He did send $100.00 to the monument committee.
In 1891, Ingersoll gave his lecture on Shakespeare.
In 1889, in the presence of the elderly Whitman, Ingersoll delivered his lecture "Testimonial to Walt Whitman. Ingersoll and Whitman had discussed on several occasions the topic of immortality. Whitman believed in life after death and Ingersoll did not. Ingersoll greatly respected Whitman, and although disagreed with the great poet, he still spoke of his greatness after Whitman died.
On January 25, 1893, the family of Philo D. Beckwith invited Ingersoll to Dowagiac, Michigan to talk at the dedication of Beckwith's theater. It was a great Victorian edifice with carved images of Shakespeare, Voltaire, Whiteman, Paine and Robert G. Ingersoll. Unfortunately, this beautiful building has been torn down. Only the medallion of Ingersoll survives today.
In 1894, Ingersoll composes three more lectures: one on Lincoln, one on Shakespeare and another on the Bible. Also, written and published in a newspaper is his short piece on "Is Suicide a Sin?" This piece caused a great stir and was widely attacked in the press for over four years.
In 1896 "Why I Am An Agnostic" was published by Ingersoll. Many consider this the crowning work by Ingersoll's anti-theological career. Later that year he gave the lecture, "How To Reform Mankind."
On October 29, 1896, at Carnegie Music Hall, Ingersoll gave his last political speech.
In 1897 two lectures were published. The titles were "The Truth" and "A Thanksgiving Sermon". On October 16, Superstition was delivered, for the first time, on Sunday October 16th in Chicago.
In 1889 he wrote and gave the lecture called "The Devil". In it is the last poem that Ingersoll would write. It was entitled "The Declaration of the Free."
On June 2, 1899 he delivered the lecture "What is Religion" to the American Free Religious Association in Boston.
Ingersoll's last public appearance was at a trial on June 21. Later that day as relayed in Kittredge's biography on Ingersoll:
During the night of Thursday and Friday July 20th and 21, 1899, at "Walston," Ingersoll had an attack of acute indigestion, sleeping very little, and suffering great pain, which he sought to relieve with nitroglycerine, previously prescribed; but he went to breakfast in the morning, and afterwards sat on the veranda, as he was wont to do, reading and talking with the family.
Mrs. Ingersoll said: "Do not dress, Papa, until after luncheon -- I will eat up-stairs with you."
He replied: "Oh, no; I do not want to trouble you."
Mrs. Farrell then remarked: "How absurd, after the hundreds of times you have eaten upstairs with her."
He glanced laughingly at Mrs. Farrell, as she turned to leave the room; and then Mrs. Ingersoll said: "Why, Papa, your tongue is coated -- I must give you some medicine."
He looked up at her with a smile and said, "I am better now," and, as he did so, closed his eyes.
[NOTE: These were the exact last words said by Robert's brother Ebon Ingersoll]
Ingersoll was dead.
As soon as poignant and overwhelming grief would permit, it was decided that the funeral should be private and the extreme of simplicity Accordingly, at four o'clock in the afternoon of Tuesday July 25th, -- a little more than four day after his death, -- his family and thirty or forty friends gathered in the room in which he died, and in which the body, without casket or conventional shroud, rested upon a bier, -- rested "beneath a wilderness of flowers." These had come, in mute expression of sympathy, boundless admiration, and love, from men and women of all stations, in various parts of America and Europe. And these flowers were to pay, in voiceless fragrance and beauty, the only tribute not born of the once warm heart of the dead himself. For those of the living to whom he had been dearer even than life itself, knew that in his own immortal words, if in any, there was solace, -- the only solace that their grief could bear. It was therefore arranged to read three selections from his works. The first the Declaration of the Free, was read by Professor John Clark Ridpath; the second, My Religion, by Major Orlando J. Smith; and the third, A Tribute to Ebon C. Ingersoll, by Dr. John Lovejoy Elliott. This constituted the only service or ceremony at "Walston" or elsewhere.
On the morning of Thursday July 27th, it being realized that the last look at the idolized dead could nut longer be postponed, the body was borne by loving hands to a hearse, which, followed by five carriages containing the family and friends, proceeded, at eight forty-five, to the railroad-station in Dobbs' Ferry. As the cortege passed through the village, business was suspended and blinds were drawn. Scores of men along the streets removed their hats. At the station, the casket and party were transferred to the funeral car "Kensico" and one coach, both of which (as a special train) Mr. S. R. Calloway, the president of the road, had begged to place at the disposal of the family. At the Grand Central Station, New York, the casket and party were again transferred to hearse and carriages; the cortege proceeding, via the East Twenty-third Street ferry and Greenpoint, Long Island, to the Fresh Pond crematory. The latter was reached at eleven-thirty; and about four in the afternoon the ashes were received in an urn that the family had specially provided, and with which they returned to "Walston."
The urn, resting on a base of porphyry six inches square and two and a half inches deep, is of rich bronze, nineteen inches high, and ovoid in form, the largest diameter near the top. From the lower face upward and backward over the left side twines a branch of cypress, and around the top on the right side is a sprig of laurel, both in exquisite bas-relief. On the face is engraved:
and on the back:
Translation: The urn guards the ashes, the heart the memory of Robert G. Ingersoll. And so the urn does; and -- so does the heart.
His ashes and the remains of his wife were buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 3, Grave 1620.
The Complete Annotated Works of Robert G. Ingersoll