The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War

This program is read by the author.

The previously untold story of physical violence on the floor of the US Congress.

Drawing on an extraordinary range of sources, she shows that the Capitol was rife with conflict in the decades before the Civil War.

Legislative sessions were often punctuated by mortal threats, canings, flipped desks, and all-out slugfests.

When debate broke down, congressmen drew pistols and waved Bowie knives.

One representative even killed another in a duel.

Many were beaten and bullied in an attempt to intimidate them into compliance, particularly on the issue of slavery.