What did the abolitionist that Philip Henson interacted with believe?
Philip Henson Philip Henson (December 28, 1827 - January 10, 1911) was a scout and spy for the Union Army during the American Civil War. Upon the election of U.S. Grant to the U.S. Presidency (1869–1877), Henson became the "first Special" Secret Service Agent of the United States of America, serving until Grant's death in 1885. During the course of his life and careers, Philip Henson would interact with such famous 19th century persons as abolitionist John Brown, Cherokee Chiefs John Ross a.k.a. Kooweskoowe and Stand Watie a.k.a. Degataga, Tennessee and Texas Governor Sam Houston, actor John Wilkes Booth, Confederate Postmaster General John Henninger Reagan, Confederate Secretary of State Judah Philip Benjamin, U.S. Congressman from Illinois Elihu Benjamin Washburne, Union General and Transcontinental Railroad executive Grenville Mellen Dodge, New York political boss William Marcy Tweed, Medal of Honor recipient First Lieutenant "Nineveh Shaw McKeen" (1837–1890), and the ancestors of 20th century Hollywood legend Cecil B. DeMille.
Thomas Wentworth Higginson Thomas Wentworth Higginson (December 22, 1823 – May 9, 1911) was an American Unitarian minister, author, abolitionist, and soldier. He was active in the American Abolitionism movement during the 1840s and 1850s, identifying himself with disunion and militant abolitionism. He was a member of the Secret Six who supported John Brown. During the Civil War, he served as colonel of the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, the first federally authorized black regiment, from 1862–1864. Following the war, Higginson devoted much of the rest of his life to fighting for the rights of freed slaves, women and other disfranchised peoples.