NM Brooks, Preston

Preston Smith Brooks Sr.

:us34stars:
Brooks.jpg


Born: August 5, 1819

Birthplace: Edgefield County, South Carolina

Father: Colonel Whitfield Butler Brooks 1790 – 1851
(Buried: Edgefield Village Cemetery, Edgefield, South Carolina)​

Mother: Mary Parsons Carroll 1800 – 1870
(Buried: Edgefield Village Cemetery, Edgefield, South Carolina)​

1st Wife: Caroline Harper Means 1820 – 1843

2nd Wife: Martha Caroline Means 1826 – 1901

Children:

Whitfield D. Brooks 1843 – 1843​
Caroline Harper Brooks 1849 – 1924​
Rosa Brooks 1849 – 1933​
Preston Smith Brooks Jr. 1854 – 1928​

Education:

1839: Graduated from South Carolina College​

Occupation:

Attorney in Edgefield, South Carolina​
Captain Company D Palmetto Regiment in Mexican – American War​
Plantation Owner in Cambridge, South Carolina​

Political Career:

1844: South Carolina State Representative​
1853 – 1856: U.S. Congressman from South Carolina​
1856: Attacked United States Senator Charles Sumner in Chamber​
1856: Challenged to a duel by U.S. Congressman Anson Burlingame​
1856: Tried and convicted for the assault ordered to pay $300.00​
1856: Resigned from U.S. Congress despite failed attempt to expel him for assaulting U.S. Senate Charles Sumner​
1855 – 1856: Congressional Chairman of State Dept. Expenditures​
1856: Reelected as U.S. Congressman at Special Election to fill the seat he had just resigned​
1856 – 1857: U.S. Congressman from South Carolina​

Interesting Facts:

Brooksville, Florida and Brooks County, Georgia named in his honor​

Died: January 27, 1857

Place of Death: Washington, D.C.

Cause of Death: Violent bout of croup

Age at time of Death: 37 years old

Burial Place: Edgefield Village Cemetery, Edgefield, South Carolina

Brooks 1.jpg
 
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Brooks never really had a Confederate Career because he died almost four years before South Carolina seceded. But he was a hero to the South.And He was fined $300.00 on an assault charge.
 
Brooks never really had a Confederate Career because he died almost four years before South Carolina seceded. But he was a hero to the South.And He was fined $300.00 on an assault charge.

I put him up because of what happend with him and Charles Sumner it's hard to put Sumner up without him because of the assault in the U.S. Senate Chamber. I think if he had lived he might have been a cabinet Secretary of even Vice President of the Confederacy.
 
There was almost a riot on the Senate floor after Sumners beating. A second hothead from South Carolina, Lawrence Keitt, rushed in also with a cane raised while Brooks was being restrained. Georgian Robert Toombs prevented any additional assaults.
 
There was almost a riot on the Senate floor after Sumners beating. A second hothead from South Carolina, Lawrence Keitt, rushed in also with a cane raised while Brooks was being restrained. Georgian Robert Toombs prevented any additional assaults.

Keitt was also a U.S. Congressman at the time from 3rd District of South Carolina he later dies during the war.
 
During a heated 1854 debate over the Kansas - Nebraska Act between Tennessee Whig William Cullom, who had denounced the pending legislation, and Tennessee Democrat William Churchwell, who supported it, Cullom rushed towards Churchwell and pulled a gun before being disarmed. On the following day, Preston Brooks suggested the installation of a gun rack in the rotunda to keep firearms off the floor.
 
Brooks did resign his seat in July 1856 but was reelected to fill the vacancy caused by his resignation.He died in January 1857 five weeks before the new term began in March and was succeeded by his cousin, Milledge Luke Bonham.
 
Interesting that the obit infers, obliquely, that Brooks regretted his assault on Sumner. This is contrary to my understanding that we was quite proud of his actions. First sentence of 10th paragraph says "The name of Mr Brooks has latterly been prominent and in frequent mention from causes which none regretted more than himself." I am assuming this is in reference to the attack that occurred about 7 months prior to his death.
 
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