Preston Brooks
Videos
Preston Smith Brooks was an American slaveholder, politician, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina, serving as a member of the Democratic Party from 1853 until his resig
Brooks in 1856
Laurence M. Keitt
J.L. Magee's famous political cartoon of the attack on Sumner
Caning of Charles Sumner
Videos
The caning of Charles Sumner, or the Brooks–Sumner Affair, occurred on May 22, 1856, in the United States Senate chamber, when Representative Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina
Preston Brooks
…his death. He is most remembered for his May 22, 1856, attack upon abolitionist and Republican Senator Charles Sumner, whom he beat nearly to death with a cane on the floor of the United States Senate in retaliation for an anti-slavery speech in which Sumner verbally insulted Brooks's first cousin once removed…
Representative Henry A. Edmundson also advised Brooks and was with him during the assault on Sumner
Remaining portion of Brooks' walking cane he used to attack Charles Sumner on exhibit at the Old State House in Boston