Robert G. Ingersoll was an orator, born in 1833, and served in the Civil War. Known as "The Great Agnostic" he was noted for his speeches given during the Golden Age of Freethought. Ingersoll spoke on a wide range of topics and frequently defended agnosticism, which was not well taken in those days, especially since he was the son of a Presbyterian preacher.
In 1853 Ingersoll taught a school term in Metropolis, Illinois, but let a student of his do the teaching because he was more interested in Latin and History. His previous employment was as a teacher in Mount Vernon, Illinois, and later he moved to Marion, Illinois with the rest of his family.
When Civil War broke out in America, he was commander of the 11th Illinois Cavalry Regiment, and captured in the Battle of Shiloh, but the custom back then during the early part of the war was to have prisoners promise not to fight again and then release them to return to their homes.
Ingersoll was an Illinois Attorney General from the Republican Party but was never elected to any office. He was one of the lawyers involved many prominent trials, such as the Star Route case which ended in an acquittal of charges in a political scandal. He also defended a client who was charged with blasphemy who was not acquitted, but this trial helped in discrediting blasphemy laws.
Ingersoll described his idea of Hell as being a place where all of the bad things in the human heart exist, such as revenge, cruelty, hatred, selfishness, and meanness are the only interactions with others who are there. He focused his beliefs on the sanctity and the comfort of the refuge of the family, instead of preaching about any religious doctrines.
Many of his speeches were 3 hours long, and surprisingly, none of the audience ever seemed to get restless. All of his public speaking was from memory which ranged from Shakespeare to Reconstruction. Ingersoll was very outspoken about his beliefs that the legal system was corrupt, and that all rulers should be dethroned and made to be public servants, doing good works. He was often paid as much as $1 per person by the audience, which was quite a high sum of money for those days.
Robert Ingersoll most notable subjects for his radical views were religion, slavery and the women's suffrage movement, which were the reasons he never pursued public office. The Republican Party tried to get him to run for governor, but he would have to conceal his views on agnosticism, and he told them that to hide anything from the public was immoral.
Robert G. Ingersoll died on July 21, 1899 of congestive heart failure and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
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Learn more about Robert G. Ingersoll and the definition of agnostic . Or find out about famous atheists such as Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers .
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