Happy Charles Sumner Day

On May 22, 1856, abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner was attacked and nearly killed on the Senate floor by Congressman Preston Brooks. Sumner had insulted Brooks’ cousin in his “Crime Against Kansas” speech, and Brooks decided to retaliate. Sumner was seated at his desk when Brooks approached and began beating him with his cane, while a friend drew a pistol to prevent bystanders from intervening. Sumner was blinded by head trauma and his own blood almost immediately, and Brooks continued the attack even after the cane broke and Sumner lost consciousness. Sumner suffered chronic pain and debilitation for the rest of his life, and was absent from the Senate for years while he recovered. Brooks was widely celebrated in the South, and Brooksville, Florida changed its name in honor of the attack. Brooks was fined, resigned his Congressional seat, and was re-elected in a special election, but did not return to Congress. He contracted a respiratory illness in 1857, and died trying to “tear his own throat open to get breath.” Sumner died in 1874. Laurence M. Keitt, who assisted Brooks in the attack, died at the Battle of Cold Harbor in 1864, and is famous for his quotation,

The anti-slavery party contends that slavery is wrong in itself, and the government is a consolidated national democracy. We of the South contend that slavery is right, and that this is a confederate republic of sovereign states.