Ingersoll marries Eva Amanda Parker. Their marriage is by all accounts deeply loving and egalitarian, a hallmark of his beliefs in human equality. He called her the greatest woman he ever knew.
Peoria, Illinois
]]>At Walt Whitman's burial in Camden, New Jersey, Ingersoll delivers the graveside address, four days after the poet's death.
Camden, New Jersey
]]>At a banquet of the German-American Liederkranz Club in New York, Ingersoll delivers a brief tribute to music and free society. It is one of his last platform appearances in the city.
New York, New York
]]>Ingersoll delivers "What Must We Do to Be Saved?" in Chicago, an extended interrogation of the four Gospels, weighing each against the others on the question that titled the lecture.
Chicago, Illinois
]]>Ingersoll defends the freethinker C. B. Reynolds at a blasphemy trial in Morristown, New Jersey, one of the last such prosecutions in American legal history.
Morristown, New Jersey
]]>At his brother Ebon's funeral in Washington, Ingersoll delivers one of the most famous grave-side orations in the English language. "Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities."
Washington, D.C.
]]>Six weeks before his death, Ingersoll delivers his last public address, "What Is Religion?," to the American Free Religious Association at the Hollis Street Theatre in Boston.
Boston, Massachusetts
]]>At the Republican National Convention in Cincinnati, Ingersoll delivers his famous "Plumed Knight" speech nominating James G. Blaine for President. The speech is considered one of the greatest pieces of political oratory in American history.
Cincinnati, Ohio
]]>Ingersoll's final court appearance: an argument before the Vice-Chancellor of New Jersey in Russell vs. Russell, delivered without notes.
Camden, New Jersey
]]>Ingersoll delivers the Centennial Oration in Peoria, a Fourth-of-July address on the hundredth birthday of the Republic: "Our fathers retired the gods from politics."
Peoria, Illinois
]]>C. P. Farrell, Ingersoll's brother-in-law and longtime publisher, signs the Publisher's Preface to the twelve-volume Dresden Edition in New York. The preface formally inaugurates the posthumous canon.
New York, New York
]]>Robert Green Ingersoll dies at Dobbs Ferry, New York, at age 65. His death is mourned across the nation. His body is laid out for public viewing at his home, and thousands file past to pay their respects. His wife Eva survives him.
Dobbs Ferry, New York
]]>Robert Green Ingersoll is born in Dresden, New York, the son of John Ingersoll, an itinerant Congregationalist minister, and Mary Livingston Ingersoll.
Dresden, New York
]]>During his European tour, Ingersoll visits the Burns cottage at Ayr in Scotland and writes the manuscript of his tribute lecture "Robert Burns" there. The lecture opens with his account of the visit.
Ayr, Scotland
]]>Stumping for Grant's first presidential campaign, Ingersoll delivers a celebrated address at Indianapolis. The speech is the first to attract national attention to him outside Illinois and establishes his reputation as the Republican Party's most magnetic orator.
Indianapolis, Indiana
]]>Ingersoll delivers his last major political address on behalf of the gold standard during the Bryan-McKinley campaign of 1896.
Chicago, Illinois
]]>At Lincoln Hall in Washington, Ingersoll, introduced by Frederick Douglass, speaks on the Supreme Court's ruling that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 is unconstitutional.
Washington, D.C.
]]>His mother, Mary Livingston Ingersoll, dies when Robert is just two years old. The family moves frequently as his father preaches across the frontier.
]]>During Forrest's raid on Grant's supply lines, Ingersoll and his regiment are captured by Confederate forces under General Nathan Bedford Forrest at Lexington, Tennessee. He is later paroled.
Lexington, Tennessee
]]>Ingersoll's famous Christmas essay is published in the New York Evening Telegram. Denounced from every pulpit in the city, it becomes one of the most talked-about editorials of the season.
New York, New York
]]>Ingersoll is admitted to the Illinois Bar, opening a law practice first in Shawneetown and later in Peoria, Illinois. He quickly earns a reputation as a brilliant trial lawyer and orator.
Shawneetown, Illinois
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