Portal:Atheism/Selected biography/9
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Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll (August 11, 1833 – July 21, 1899) was a Civil War veteran, American political leader and orator during the Golden Age of Freethought, noted for his broad range of culture and his defense of agnosticism.
He was involved in several prominent trials as an attorney, notably the Star Route trials, a major political scandal in which his clients were acquitted. He also defended a New Jersey man for blasphemy. Although he did not win acquittal, his vigorous defense is considered to have discredited blasphemy laws and few other prosecutions followed.
Ingersoll was most noted as an orator, the most popular of the age, when oratory was public entertainment. He spoke on every subject, from Shakespeare to Reconstruction, but his most popular subjects were agnosticism and the sanctity and refuge of the family. He committed his speeches to memory although they were sometimes more than three hours long. His audiences were said never to be restless.
