Preston Smith Brooks (August 5, 1819 – January 27, 1857) was a Democratic Congressman from South Carolina, known for severely beating Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the United States Senate in response to a perceived insult. His first cousin, Matthew Butler, was a Confederate general.
Born in Roseland, Edgefield County, South Carolina, he was the son of Whitfield and Mary Parsons-Carroll Brooks. Brooks attended South Carolina College (now...
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Preston Smith Brooks (August 5, 1819 – January 27, 1857) was a Democratic Congressman from South Carolina, known for severely beating Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the United States Senate in response to a perceived insult. His first cousin, Matthew Butler, was a Confederate general.
Born in Roseland, Edgefield County, South Carolina, he was the son of Whitfield and Mary Parsons-Carroll Brooks. Brooks attended South Carolina College (now known as the University of South Carolina) but was expelled just before graduation for threatening local police officers with firearms. (Note that the Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present states that he did graduate in 1839.) He was admitted to the Bar in 1845. Brooks served in the Mexican-American War with the Palmetto Regiment. Brooks once fought a duel with future Texas Senator Louis T. Wigfall and was shot in the hip, forcing him to use a walking cane for the rest of his life. Niep was his nickname.
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