point. at what point had we reached an american political history and the difference between north and south where a sitting united senator could be beaten to within an inch of his life on the floor of the chamber. brian: where did you get the spark? mr. puleo: it has been in my head for years. i have written five books and probably two with the caning in the back of my mind. this issue of how politically we were divided, the slavery debate how vicious it had become. that sparked my interest. when i began to do the research, i found it fascinating. charles sumner and preston brooks. brian: what is the time period? mr. puleo: after the kansas-nebraska act. after the compromise of 1850. some contentious events. the fugitive slave law. preston brooks had two days earlier listened to a speech by charles sumner, not only has to getting the south and slavery but personally insulting his second cousin from south carolina. brian: charles sumner was how old and from what state? mr. pu
this week on q&a our guest is author stephen puleo. he talks about the assault of charles sumner on the floor of the u.s. senate. mr. puleo: i wanted to figure out what got us to this point. at what point had we reached an american political history and the difference between north and south where a sitting united states senator could be beaten to within an inch of his life on the floor of the chamber. brian: where did you get the spark? mr. puleo: it has been in my head for years. i have written five books and probably two with the caning in the back of my mind. this issue of how politically we were divided, the slavery debate, how vicious it had become. that sparked my interest. when i began to do the research, i found it fascinating. charles sumner and preston brooks. brian: what is the time period? mr. puleo: after the kansas-nebraska act. after the compromise of 1850. some contentious events. the fugitive slave law. preston brooks had two days earlier listened to a
the fugitive slave law. preston brooks had two days earlier listened to a speech by charles sumner, not only has to castigating the south and slavery, but personally insulting his second cousin from south carolina. brian: charles sumner was how old and from what state? mr. puleo: from massachusetts. 44 years old. probably the strongest most unwavering antislavery voice in america for 25 years. it was not william lloyd garrison or abraham lincoln, it was charles sumner. a radical antislavery voice. brian: how long had he been in the senate? mr. puleo: he comes in in 1851 in a contentious vote. they were not popularly elected, they were elected by the state legislature. he was considered a radical abolitionist. as a legislation is battling to pick a senator, some of the leading candidates fall off and sumner emerges as a dark horse winner. brian: how old was preston brooks, when was he elected? mr. puleo: 37 years old. from south carolina. the most proslavery state at the tim
disturbing. mr. clarke: welcome to the national museum of house and medicine. i am tim clarke, i m the museum s deputy director. we re here to spend a little museum s civil war medicine exhibit and a special show of other things to you. the national museum of health founded in 1852 and we were known as the army medical museum. the mission at the time was to of morbid cimens anatomy and to send them to washington for care and to ervation and study improve the care of the soldier. so at the time of the civil war, the museum s staff were doing learned.ness of lessons they were trying to understand the nature of battlefield, surgery, medicine and trauma and share those lessons with their colleagues and counterparts on the battlefield. this museum and its collection in ted during the war and the early days, the museum was housed in the surgeon general s office. actually, the first museum artifacts were actually on a surgeon ind the general s desk, and then in a building that we kn