111th Congress, 2nd Session
Subjects – Violence
Representative Roger Griswold of Connecticut attacked Matthew Lyon of Vermont on the House Floor
February 15, 1798
After the House failed to expel Representative Matthew Lyon of Vermont for the “gross indecency” of spitting tobacco juice at Representative Roger Griswold of Connecticut, Griswold sought justice by attacking Lyon on the House Floor (then located in Philadelphia’s Congress Hall) with a cane.
Representative Daniel Sickles of New York
October 20, 1814
Daniel Sickles, a Representative from New York, was born on this date in New York City.
A duel involving Representative Sam Houston of Texas
September 22, 1826
On this date, just after sunrise on the Linkumpinch dueling field near Franklin, Kentucky, Representative Sam Houston of Tennessee gravely wounded General William A. White, a veteran of the Battle of New Orleans, in a pistol duel.
A fatal duel between Members in 1838
February 24, 1838
On this date, Jonathan Cilley of Maine was killed by Representative William Graves of Kentucky in a duel on the outskirts of D.C., in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks’s attack on Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts
May 22, 1856
On this date, Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina, accompanied by Representative Laurence Keitt of South Carolina, severely beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane in the Senate Chamber.
The most infamous floor brawl in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives
February 06, 1858
The most infamous floor brawl in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives erupted as Members debated Kansas’s pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution late into the night of February 5-6. Shortly after 1 a.m., Pennsylvania Republican Galusha Grow and South Carolina Democrat Laurence Keitt exchanged insults, then blows.