When Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina savagely caned Senator Charles Sumner Massachusetts on the floor of the U.
S.
Public opinion was similarly divided nearly three-and-a-half years later after abolitionist John Brown\'s raid on the Federal arsenal at Harper\'s Ferry, Virginia, with northerners crowning John Brown as a mar.
Senate on May 21, 1856, southerners viewed the attack as a triumphant affirmation of Southern chivalry, northerners as a confirmation of Southern barbarity.
When Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina savagely caned Senator Charles Sumner Massachusetts on the floor of the U.
S