An adamant defender of slavery, Brooks is best known for beating abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in 1856, which caused his initial resignation until he was re-elected immediately after the incident.

[4] An attempt to oust Brooks from the House of Representatives failed, and he received only token punishment in his criminal trial.

In 1840, Brooks fought a duel with future Texas Senator Louis T. Wigfall and was shot in the hip, forcing him to use a walking cane for the rest of his life.

South Carolina in the Mexican War notes the service of both Brooks and 4th Corporal Carey Wentworth Styles (who later founded The Atlanta Constitution) in Co. D, the "Old 96 Boys" of the Edgefield District.

If Kansas becomes a hireling [i.e., free] state, slave property will decline to half its present value in Missouri ... [and] abolitionism will become the prevailing sentiment.

"[19] Sumner's language was intentionally inflammatory; Southerners often claimed that abolition would lead to intermarriage, arguing that abolitionists opposed slavery because they wanted to have sex with and marry black women.

Abolitionists routinely accused slaveholders of maintaining slavery so that they could engage in forcible sexual relations with their slaves.

[2]: 10 Sumner suffered head trauma that would cause him chronic pain and symptoms consistent with what would now be called traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, and spent three years convalescing before returning to his Senate seat.

In his speech to the House of Representatives announcing his resignation on June 14, 1856, Brooks insisted that he had behaved honorably and condemned any efforts to censure or punish him for his behavior.

The University of Virginia's Jefferson Literary and Debating Society sent a new gold-headed cane to replace Brooks' broken one.

Southern lawmakers made rings out of the original cane's remains, which they wore on neck chains to show their solidarity with Brooks.

[28] In contrast, Northerners, even those previously opposed to Sumner's extreme abolitionist invective, were universally shocked by Brooks' violence.

[citation needed] Anti-slavery men cited it as evidence that the South had lost interest in national debate, and now relied on violence to express themselves.

John L. Magee (artist)'s political cartoon famously expressed the general Northern sentiment that the South's vaunted chivalry had degenerated into "Argument versus Clubs".

[30] Burlingame, a well-known marksman, eagerly accepted, choosing rifles as the weapons and the Navy Yards in the border town of Niagara Falls, Canada, as the location to circumvent the U.S. ban on dueling.

[29] Brooks, reportedly dismayed by both Burlingame's enthusiastic acceptance and reputation as a crack shot, backed out by citing unspecified risks to his safety if he was to cross "hostile country" (the Northern states) to reach Canada.

[2]: 83 A motion to expel Brooks from the House failed, but he resigned on July 15 to allow his constituents to ratify or condemn his conduct.

Brooks died unexpectedly from a violent attack of croup on January 27, 1857, a few weeks before the March 4 start of the new congressional term to which he had been elected.

Preston Brooks was portrayed by Johnny Knoxville in the 2014 "Charleston" episode of the TV series Drunk History.