Author. He was a 19th-century American poet, journalist, editor, novelist, orator and a supporter of social reforms, including woman suffrage. In support of women's rights, he wrote "Victoria C. Woodhull. A Biographical Sketch" in 1871. Woodhull was a promoter of "free love." His newspaper, "The Independent," was fully supportive of abolitionism and the Northern cause in the American Civil War. During his career, his editorials were published in several newspapers, mostly in the northeastern states. He wrote editorials not supporting the 1864 re-election of President Abraham Lincoln or Andrew Johnson, as president after Lincoln's assassination. His most famous 1858 poem was "Even This Shall Pass Away," which was used for the lyrics of a rock song on the 2010 Band of Joy album. He was a religious man and wrote the lyrics to at least twelve hymns. On his twentieth birthday, October 2, 1855, he married Elizabeth Richards, who was known as "Libby Tilton". In a notorious 1874 sex scandal, he sued, for millions of dollars in damages, his colleague and mentor, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher , for alleged adultery with his wife. Beecher was a liberal protestant pastor and brother of the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Harriet Beecher Stowe. Airing dirty laundry, he followed filing the suit by writing an open letter, printed in the "Brooklyn Eagle" and Beecher followed with a published reply. Beecher was the pastor of a large church, the Brooklyn Plymouth Church Congregation, which had substantial monetary funding and making him one of the highest paid clergies in the United States. With Chief Justice Joseph Neilson presiding over the courtroom, the six-week trial resulted in a hung jury with the general public ambivalent of the guilt of his wife and the well-respected pastor. After eight days and 52 ballots, three jurors voted against Beecher, but nine thought him innocent. Even into the 21st century, historians cannot agree on the verdict of the trial. Photographs of the trial are archived at the Library of Congress. His popularity waned after the trial. Leaving his wife in 1883 leaving his wife, he exiled himself to Paris, where he died. According to his large cenotaph in Westfield Cemetery, in Connecticut, he was actually buried in Barbizon. His professional and personal papers are archived at the New York Public Library, Department Archives and Manuscripts.