One incident of personal violence that was to have wide political repercussions was the assault on Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts by Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina. Sumner had given a two-day address to the Senate on the current troubles in Kansas, “The Crime Against Kansas,” a painstaking document, 112 printed pages long, in which the anti-slavery Senator denounced “the rape of a virgin territory.” In calling for the immediate admittance of Kansas as a free state, Sumner denounced some of his colleagues, particularly Senator Butler of South Carolina, who was absent.
Butler’s cousin, Preston Brooks, decided to avenge his aged relative, and on May 22 he made his way into the Senate Chamber and beat Sumner into insensibility with a gutta-percha cane. Sumner was incapacitated and absent from the Senate for three years. Brooks at once became a hero in the South. Groups of Southerners, among them students at the University of Virginia, sent him emblematic canes; the Richmond Whig regretted only that “Mr. Brooks did not employ a horsewhip or cowhide upon [Sumner’s] slanderous back instead of a cane.” A House Committee proposed Brooks’s expulsion, but failed to win the necessary two-thirds vote when all Southern Congressmen but one voted against it. In the North, “Bleeding Sumner and Bleeding Kansas” became a new battle cry. There were mass meetings of tribute to Sumner in Boston and New York, and perhaps as many as a million copies of “The Crime Against Kansas” were distributed.
The following description is Sumner’s, given in testimony before a Congressional Committee investigating the incident: “Alleged Assault upon Senator Sumner,” 34th Congress, 1st Session, H. R. No. 182. See David Donald: Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War (1960).
Hon. Charles Sumner sworn.
Question (by Mr. Campbell). What do you know of the facts connected with the assault alleged to have been made upon you in the Senate chamber by Hon. Mr. Brooks, of South Carolina, on Thursday, May 22, 1856?
Answer. I attended the Senate as usual on Thursday, the 22d of May. After some formal business, a message was received from the House of Representatives, announcing the death of a member of that body from Missouri. This was followed by a brief tribute to the deceased from Mr. Geyer, of Missouri, when, according to usage, and out of respect to the deceased, the Senate adjourned.
Instead of leaving the chamber with the rest on the adjournment, I continued in my seat, occupied with my pen. While thus intent, in order to be in season for the mail, which was soon to close, I was approached by several persons who desired to speak with me; but I answered them promptly and briefly, excusing myself for the reason that I was much engaged. When the last of these left me, I drew my arm-chair close to my desk and with my legs under the desk continued writing. My attention at this time was so entirely withdrawn from all other objects, that, though there must have been many persons on the floor of the Senate, I saw nobody.
While thus intent, with my head bent over my writing, I was addressed by a person who had approached the front of my desk, so entirely unobserved that I was not aware of his presence until I heard my name pronounced. As I looked up, with pen in hand, I saw a tall man, whose countenance was not familiar, standing directly over me, and at the same moment, caught these words: “I have read your speech twice over carefully. It is a libel on South Carolina, and Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine—.” While these words were still passing from his lips, he commenced a succession of blows with a heavy cane on my bare head, by the first of which I was stunned so as to lose sight. I no longer saw my assailant nor any person or object in the room. What I did afterwards was done almost unconsciously, acting under the instinct of self defence. With head already bent down, I rose from my seat, wrenching up my desk, which was screwed to the floor, and then pressed forward, while my assailant continued his blows. I have no other consciousness until I found myself ten feet forward, in front of my desk, lying on the floor of the Senate, with my bleeding head supported on the knee of a gentleman, whom I soon recognized, by voice and countenance, as Mr. Morgan, of New York. Other persons there were about me offering me friendly assistance; but I did not recognize any of them. Others there were at a distance, looking on and offering no assistance, of whom I recognized only Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, and I thought also my assailant, standing between them.
I was helped from the floor and conducted into the lobby of the Senate, where I was placed upon a sofa. Of those who helped me to this place I have no recollection. As I entered the lobby, I recognized Mr. Slidell of Louisana who retreated; but recognized no one else until some time later, as I supposed, when I felt a friendly grasp of the hand, which seemed to come from Mr. Campbell, of Ohio. I have a vague impression that Mr. Bright, President of the Senate, spoke to me while I was lying on the floor of the Senate or in the lobby.
I make this statement in answer to the interrogatory of the committee, and offer it as presenting completely all my recollections of the assault and of the attending circumstances, whether immediately before or immediately after. I desire to add that, besides the words which I have given as uttered by my assailant, I have an indistinct recollection of the words “old man;” but these are so enveloped in the mist which ensued from the first blow, that I am not sure whether they were uttered or not.