If I desired to kill the senator why did I not do it? You all admit that I had him in my power.

Brooks was a fervent advocate of slavery. Brooks was tried in a District of Columbia court for the attack. Family
First marriage: Caroline Harper Means(1820–1843).

Sumner was seriously injured and unable to serve in the Senate for three years though eventually he largely recovered. This was in retaliation for an anti-slavery speech by Sumner in which Sumner attacked Brooks' uncle Senator Andrew Butler (Democrat-South Carolina). Brooks was a fervent advocate of slavery.