Portrait of William Henry Brisbane, 1806-1878

Reverend Dr. William Henry Brisbane was born in 1806 in Black Swamp, Beaufort District, SC, into a slaveholding family. A classmate of James C. Furman at the Furman Academy, the young Brisbane began his formative years as a defender of slavery. As editor of The Southern Baptist and General Intelligencer in 1835, Brisbane became an ardent critic of those opposing slavery in religious circles.

Brisbane went from promoting enslavement to condemning it after failing to refute prominent Baptist educator, Francis Wayland's antislavery position. The further he studied the Bible, the less he could reconcile the immorality of slavery and the Christian doctrine. After being twice arrested and threatened by a mob, Brisbane manumitted his enslaved individuals and took refuge in Cincinnati, OH. His first publication, the “Speech of the Rev. Wm. H. Brisbane, Lately a Slaveholder in South Carolina: Containing an Account of the Change in his Views” (1840) was widely disseminated in abolitionist newspapers. One of his most influential texts, “Slaveholding Examined in the Light of the Holy Bible" (1847), presented a biblical refutation of slavery.

In 1853, Brisbane moved to Madison, WI, where he became a pastor. During the Civil War, he enlisted in the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry as its chaplain. During his stay in SC, Brisbane oversaw the auctioning of slave plantations. On his return home, he practiced medicine and preached in the Baptist church in the settlement of Arena. Brisbane became a popular abolitionist speaker at political rallies and church conferences until his death in 1878.