A Senator Beat a Colleague Nearly to Death on the Senate Floor

On May 22, 1856, South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks walked into the Senate chamber and began beating Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner with a heavy cane. Brooks was furious over Sumners anti-slavery speech. He beat Sumner so savagely that the cane shattered and Sumner was left bleeding on the floor. Sumner suffered head trauma and PTSD, taking three years to return to the Senate. Brooks became a hero in the South, while the North saw the attack as proof of slaverys barbarism.