Preston Brooks
Born in Edgefield County, South Carolina and a graduate of South Carolina College (now known as the University of South Carolina), Brooks served in the Mexican-American War with the Palmetto Regiment. He was elected to the United States Congress in 1853. Although suspicious of political parties, Brooks was officially associated with the Democratic Party.
On May 22 1856, Brooks beat Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the Senate for a speech Sumner had made three days previous criticizing president Franklin Pierce and Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas"). In particular, Sumner lambasted Brooks' kinsman, Senator Andrew Butler, who was not even in attendance when the speech was read, describing slavery as a harlot and comparing Butler with Don Quixote for embracing it.
Brooks hit Sumner repeatedly; Sumner, trapped by his desk, was unable to get up or avoid the blows. Brooks continued to beat Sumner even as he lay unconscious on the floor of the Senate until his cane broke.
South Carolinians sent Brooks dozens of brand new canes to replace it. The Richmond Enquirer crowed: “We consider the act good in conception, better in execution, and best of all in consequences. These vulgar abolitionists in the Senate must be lashed into submission."
Brooks survived an expulsion vote in the House but resigned his seat, claiming both that he "meant no disrespect to the Senate of the United States" by attacking Sumner and that he did not intend to kill him, for he would have used a different weapon if he had. His constituents received him as a hero and returned him to Congress. Brooks remained in office until his death from the croup in 1857 and is buried in Edgefield, South Carolina.
Sumner was unable to return to duty for more than three years while he recovered. He later became one of the most influential Radical Republicans during the early years of Reconstruction.
