May 30, 1856
Sumner’s speech, The Crime Against Kansas, is printed here, with numerous articles about the caning incident. Among the articles is one about a Faneuil Hall gathering at which a resolution is passed calling for the expulsion of Congressman Brooks, and an assertion that the assembled people regard “every blow inflicted on our Senator as a blow aimed at us”.
An account of the assault includes the following: “There were at least a dozen persons standing near at the time of the assault, which was so unexpected, as they say, they did not think of interfering….It is believed that Mr. Sumner almost certainly would have been killed but for the interference of Messsrs. Murray and Morgan, Representatives from New York…..Brooks was subsequently complained of by Wm. Y. Leader, and Justice Hollingshead held him to bail in the sum of five hundred dollars! to answer to the complaint.”
There is an article about Sumner’s statement before the investigating committee, and numerous other articles about the incident.
June 6, 1856
Two articles from the Charleston Mercury, describe public meetings held in Bamberg and in Bishopville, in response to the caning. Here is some of what they record. At Bamberg, the resolutions passed include one which says, “That this meeting approves of the conduct of Hon. P. S. Brooks in the premises, and that we highly approve of the chastisement administered to Senator Sumner.” In much the same language, the Bishopville meeting recounts that Southern men have for a quarter of a century disdained “to retort the vulgar slang and revolting blackguardism of the Abolitionists”, and they approve this caning. “… as a testimonial of our high appreciation and most cordial approval of the gallant conduct of Col. Brooks, a gold-headed cane be presented to him by this meeting, and that a committee be appointed to procure the same and forward it to the Colonel forthwith.”
June 6, 1856
Here is both a majority and a minority report from the Committee. The resolution, calling for the expulsion of Brooks, is denied by the minority, who argue that there has “been no breach of privilege under the Constitution”. Both reports were ordered to be laid on the table.
July 4, 1856
Here is a letter to Brooks, conveying from its admiring signers, the gift of a golden cane, “in consequence of your recent chastisement of the Senator from Massachusetts”. A grateful response from Brooks, says in part, “The act which you are pleased to commend was the result of a sense of duty – a duty which either of my colleagues would have performed, had they been in my precise situation. I accept the Palmetto cane as an evidence of the generosity of my friends in Charleston, and not of any merit of my own.
July 18, 1856
On July 15, after a vote of 121 to 95, for expulsion, Brooks addresses the House, and among other things announces that he has submitted his resignation to The Governor of South Carolina, and concludes by saying, “I am no longer a member of the thirty-fourth Congress.”
July 25, 1856
“Massachusetts and South Carolina. – Our readers will appreciate the following sentiment, read at a Fourth of July celebration, at Healing Springs, S. C.:
Massachusetts – We have always beaten her in the debates of the Union.
We have whipped her in Kansas, and we have caned her in the Senate Hall.
Also, the subjoined:
The Hon. P. S. Brooks — May the cause of Southern Brooks ever flourish over the growth of Northern Free-Soil.”
August 1, 1856
Writing from Washington, Brooks, tells of the vote to expel him, and here appeals to his constituents, for a return to Congress. He includes two extracts from New York papers, one which says the whole South now condemns his caning of Sumner, and the other, which asserts that if he is returned to Congress, “it will be solely and exclusively because his constituents desire thus to endorse and applaud his assault upon Mr. Sumner”. Brooks is confident of his support.
August 8, 1856
A dispatch from Columbus, S.C. affirms the re-election of Brooks, to Congress.
January 30, 1857
“Sudden visitation – Preston Brooks Dead! …He died a horrible death, and suffered intensely — endeavoring to tear his own throat open to get breath. His personal friends seemed smitten, while the mass of those who crowded the hotels came to the conclusion that the wrath of man was avenged in the justice of God.”
February 6, 1857
Here is recognition of the eulogies of Brooks, in the Senate, and the House. Rep. Savage, of Tennessee, is quoted as saying, in part, “Brutus stabbed Caesar in the Capitol; and whatever may be thought of the deed, the world has ever since approved and applauded the act. So shall the scene in the Senate chamber carry the name of the deceased to all future generations, long to be remembered after all are forgotten, and when these walls shall have crumbled into ruin….”
