The Short Life and Violent Times of Preston Smith Brooks

Book excerpt: Although he was a central figure in one of the seminal events of American history, the May 1856 “Caning” of Senator Charles Sumner, Preston Brooks remains largely a forgotten figure, one in whom even professional historians have shown little interest. However, while Preston Brooks remains, as described by one historian, “an obscure and enigmatic individual”, there is no denying his place in history. The “Caning of Sumner” was one of the most notorious incidents of the nineteenth century, one that not only inflamed the passions of both North and South but rapidly hastened the process of disunion. As a principal actor in that event, Preston Brooks warrants a greater degree of historical scrutiny than he has heretofore received. To date, only a handful of published material exists on Preston Brooks, nearly all of which has dealt with the assault upon Charles Sumner, while ignoring virtually every other aspect of Brooks’ life. This book addresses this oversight through an in-depth examination of Brooks’s life, beginning with his youth in up-country South Carolina and concluding with his premature death, at age thirty-seven, in a Washington, DC hotel room. Certain to appeal to both professional scholars as well as to general readers of history, the book offers a unique perspective on one of history’s most compelling, yet controversial, figures while providing key insights into Brooks’s character and the motives that drove him to attack Charles Sumner.