So a comment in a letter I was reading from 1898
(“To think of you witnessing that row in Congress Wednesday afternoon!”)
led me to come across a forgotten episode of history that I feel needs to be re-remembered…
It seems the heated debates in Congress over whether to authorize military intervention in Cuba (the Spanish-American war would be officially declared 12 days later) led to a book/fist fight on the House floor.
Rachel’s cousin Will was on spring break in DC at the time and apparently witnessed the entire thing from the House Gallery.
I read some other letters from that week to see if anyone else mentioned the fight and Will’s cousin Edith had this to say:
“I think it was perfectly disgraceful, think of our dignified American Senators flinging books at each[other], I would liked to see them do it though, if it had to be done.”
