Fighting in Congress, Actual Fighting

Oh, to be an antebellum politician. South Carolina Senator James Hammond was asked if he thought members of Congress were bringing weapons to work. His response. "The only persons who do not have a revolver and a knife are those who have two revolvers."

Let's start in the House of Representatives in 1858.
In the wee hours of February 6th, 1858, Pennsylvania Representative Galusha Grow and South Carolina Representative Laurence Keitt were in a heated argument. Then they hit each other. In a baseball-style fracas, the benches cleared. Northern representatives and western free soilers squared off with their southern counterparts. The scuffle eventually broke up with more hurt feelings than anything else.

The Senate, however, was a bit more violent.
On May 22nd, 1856, Representative Preston Brooks (S.C.) (accompanied by Laurence Keitt-- boy, he was trouble) walked up Senator Charles Sumner (M.A.) and began beating him with a cane. Sumner had a made a speech a few days earlier calling out supporters of slavery especially Brooks' relative Andrew Butler. Butler was at home in South Carolina recovering from a stroke. Sumner's speech apparently included a line which made reference to the stroke. Brooks thought that Sumner's actions did not deserve the gentlemanly way of resolving these issues; a duel. Brooks was punished by Congress and eventually resigned. He was, however, considered a hero in the South for the attack which is pretty telling of the tensions of the time.