[Preston Smith]. American Congressman, born in Edgefield District, SC, on the 4th of August 1819; died in Washington, DC, on the 27th of January 1857. He graduated at the State University, was admitted to practice law, elected to the legislature in 1844, and served in the Mexican War. He was three times sent to Congress as a State Rights Democrat. He is remembered chiefly from his brutal attack on Senator Sumner, May 22, 1856, on the floor of the Senate, after the adjournment of the members. He repeatedly struck Sumner on the head with a cane till the latter fell insensible to the floor. The vote was taken afterwards to expel him from the House, but his friends were in the majority, and the motion did not pass. He was afterwards implicated in a quarrel with Anson Burlingame, and a duel was arranged to be fought in Canada, but Brooks failed to appear, alleging that in order to reach Canada he would have “to pass through the enemy’s country.” See also “In Defense of His Attack on Sumner.”
