Just Politics

[PegnVA]

MAY 22, 1856
On This Day: The Caning of Charles Sumner
On May 22, 1856, Representative Preston Brooks (D-SC) attacked Senator Charles Sumner (R-MA), with a walking cane while Sumner was seated at his desk on the Senate floor of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. The attack was prompted by a speech given by Sumner two days earlier in which he chastised slaveholders, among them he named a relative of Brooks. Sumner almost died as a result of his injuries. This event fueled the debate on slavery in the country.
https://www.c-span.org/classroom/document/?6487

THE CANING, The Assault That drove America to Civil War by Stephen Puleo was an interesting read. Above briefly describes what happened.