May 22nd


1856: Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate… a scene that Sumner endures again later that night, but for a fee in a Capitol-area whorehouse.


1872: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act, restoring full civil rights to all Southerners except Yosemite Sam.


1972: Ceylon changes its name to Sri Lanka, just to screw with those geeks who play Risk.