"An authentic, impartial and complete history of his public career and private life from the cradle to the grave " Full-page Illustrations and sreel-plate frontispiece portrait. Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) was a clergyman, social reformer, and leading abolitionist, and speaker on Anti-Slavery. In fact it was his younger sister Harriet Beecher Stowe who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. Beecher's fame on the lecture circuit led to his becoming editor of several religious magazines. He strongly opposed slavery and favored temperance and woman's suffrage. Beecher condemned the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska bill from his pulpit and helped to raise funds to supply weapons to those willing to oppose slavery in these territories. These rifles became known as Beecher's Bibles. He is also credited with starting the Underground Railroad. During the American Civil War, his church raised and equipped a volunteer infantry regiment. Early in the war, Beecher pressed Lincoln to emancipate the slaves through a proclamation.