Laurence M. Keitt
Confederate Army officer
Died when: 39 years 244 days (476 months)Star Sign: Libra
Laurence Massillon Keitt (October 4, 1824 – June 2, 1864) was an American planter, lawyer, politician, and soldier from South Carolina.During his tenure in the United States House of Representatives, he was included in several lists of Fire-Eaters—men who adamantly urged the secession of southern states from the United States, and who resisted measures of compromise and reconciliation, leading to the American Civil War.
Keitt is notable for his involvement in two separate acts of legislative violence in the Congressional chambers.In the first, Keitt assisted fellow South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks in his 1856 attack on Republican Senator Charles Sumner.
During the attack, Keitt brandished a pistol and cane to prevent other senators from coming to Sumner's aid.The second was in 1858, when he attacked and attempted to choke Republican Representative Galusha Grow during an argument on the floor of the U.S.
House.When the Civil War began, he served as a deputy of the Provisional Confederate States Congress and later as a colonel in the Confederate States Army, until he was mortally wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor in June 1864.
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