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Robert Smalls—February 17, 2021 the Story of Robert Smalls Is One of My Favorites in American History

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Robert Smalls—February 17, 2021 the Story of Robert Smalls Is One of My Favorites in American History Robert Smalls—February 17, 2021 The story of Robert Smalls is one of my favorites in American History. Robert Smalls was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, on April 5, 1839 and worked as a house slave until the age of 12. At that point his owner, John K. McKee, sent him to Charleston to work as a waiter, ship rigger, and sailor, with all earnings going to McKee. In his teen years, his love of the sea led him to work on the docks and wharves of Charleston. As a result of this work, eventually Smalls became very knowledgeable about Charleston harbor. This arrangement continued until Smalls was 18 when he negotiated to keep all but $15 of his monthly pay, a deal which allowed Smalls to begin saving money. The savings that he accumulated were used to eventually purchase his wife and children from their owner for a sum of $800. In 1861 Smalls was hired as a deckhand on the Confederate transport steamer The Planter captained by General Roswell Ripley, the commander of the Second Military District of South Carolina. The Planter was assigned the job of delivering armaments to the Confederate forts. However, the Union Navy has set up a blockade around much of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. To the Confederate the Northern blockade was another example of northern enslavement of the south. The Confederates were dug in defending Charleston, S.C., and its coastal waters, dense with island forts, including Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired exactly one year and one month before. On May 13, 1862, the crew of The Planter went ashore for the evening, leaving Smalls to guard the ship and its contents. Smalls and seven of the eight enslaved crewmen decided to make a run for the Union blockading ships, when this opportunity presented itself. Smalls dressed in the captain's uniform and had a straw hat similar to that worn by the captain. He sailed The Planter out of what was then known as Southern Wharf, then stopped at a nearby wharf to pick up his own family and the families of other crewmen, who were hiding there. Robert Smalls’ daring escape succeeded. The Planter included approximately 200 rounds of ammunition, a 32-pound pivot gun, a 24-pound howitzer and four other guns intended for a Confederate fort. Even more valuable, however, were the code books containing the Confederate's secret signals, and a map of the mines and torpedoes laid around Charleston harbor. Smalls piloted the ship past the five Confederate forts that guarded the harbor. They suspected nothing, since he had given the correct Confederate signals. The Planter passed Fort Sumter approximately 4:30 am, and he headed straight for the Federal fleet, flying a white bed sheet as a sign of surrender. He was spotted by the USS Onward, which was about to fire until a sailor noticed the white flag. When the Onward′s captain boarded The Planter, Smalls requested to raise the United States flag. He then surrendered The Planter and her cargo to the United States Navy. Smalls daring achievement quickly became well known in the North. Newspapers described his actions, and Congress passed a bill, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, that awarded Smalls and his crewmen the prize money for the Planter. Smalls' share was $1,500, a huge amount for the time. He met President Lincoln two weeks later and gave a firsthand account of his adventure. Smalls’ feat is partly credited with persuading a reluctant President Abraham Lincoln to now consider allowing African Americans into the Union Army. Smalls went on a speaking tour across the North to describe the episode and to recruit black soldiers for the war effort. By late 1863 he returned to the war zone to pilot The Planter, now a Union war vessel. In December 1863 he was promoted to Captain of the vessel, becoming the first African American to hold that rank in the history of the United States Navy. Following his heroic exploits during the Civil War, Smalls continued to push the boundaries of freedom as a first- generation black politician by joining the party of Lincoln. Captain Smalls served in the South Carolina state assembly and senate, and for five nonconsecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1874-1886) before watching his state roll back Reconstruction in a revised 1895 constitution that stripped blacks of their voting rights. Ushering in the period of Jim Crow. Robert Smalls died in Beaufort on February 22, 1915 in his former master's house at 511 Prince St that he purchased soon after the Civil War ended. In the face of the rise of Jim Crow, Smalls stood firm as an unyielding advocate for the political rights of African Americans: “My race needs no special defense for the past history of them and this country. It proves them to be equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life.” .
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