FREEDOM

14 STORYWORKS Nonfiction

FREEDOMOR DEATH efore dawn on May 13, 1862, During the a ship steamed through the harbor of Charleston, South dark days of war, Carolina. The ship was called the Planter. Robert Smalls BThe mood on the water was tense. For more than a year, the Civil War had been risked everything raging in the United States. The states of the North were fighting the states of the South. to free his family Southern ships filled Charleston harbor, guarded by armed soldiers. Just outside the harbor, Northern ships waited with loaded from slavery cannons, ready to destroy any Southern ship that dared approach. BY LAUREN TARSHIS ART BY DAVID PALUMBO The Planter carried ammunition (like cannon balls) for Southern ships. The harbor guards thought it was making a delivery. The guards recognized Captain C. J. UP Taking Risks As you read, look for Relyea (rel-YAY). They saw CLOSE details that tell you why Robert Smalls his familiar gold-trimmed DON’T MISS chose to take a dangerous risk. OUR GREAT jacket. They saw his wide- VIDEO AT brimmed straw hat, tilted STORYWORKS ONLINE! LOOK FOR WORD NERD’S 10 WORDS IN BOLD low over his face. The

STORYWORKS.SCHOLASTIC.COM MARCH/APRIL 2017 15 captain waved as he approached each of five in charge was Robert Smalls. Robert was a checkpoints. Each time, he gave the proper 23-year-old slave. Huddled in the hold of signal with the ship’s whistle—three long, the ship were his wife, Hannah, and their sharp toots followed by one hiss. Each time, children. the guards let the Planter pass. Robert was leading a daring mission. Then something changed. The Planter Within moments, he and his family would picked up speed and headed out to sea. The be free. Or they would be dead. guards at the last checkpoint watched in astonishment. What was Captain Relyea A Life of Slavery doing? Why was he heading toward the In many ways, Robert had been preparing Northern ships? They would surely blast the for this moment since he was a boy. His Planter to bits. mother, Lydia Polite, was one of many slaves In fact, it was not Captain Relyea at the that belonged to Henry McKee of Beaufort, wheel of the Planter that morning. The man South Carolina. Lydia was a “house slave.” She helped care for the McKee children. She and Robert lived in a shack behind the McKees’ home. Compared with most slaves, Robert and his mother were lucky. The McKees were kind to them. But Lydia made sure that her son knew what it meant to be a slave. She told him about the millions of slaves who worked on cotton and tobacco plantations throughout the South. Those slaves worked all day long

with no rest. If they slowed down or asked MPI/ARCHIVE PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES (SLAVE FAMILY); MONDADORI PORTFOLIO VIA GETTY (FIELDS)

A BRUTAL LIFE Above: Enslaved families like this one lived in constant fear of being split up. Right: Children as young as 7 worked alongside adults in the fields. They worked all day long in the hot sun. CREDIT TK

166 STORYWORKSSTORYWORKS for a drink of water, they were whipped. Lydia sometimes took Robert to watch slave auctions. “Look around,” she’d say, pointing to the men, women, and children lined up on a wooden stage to be sold. One day, Robert watched as a young boy was inspected by interested buyers. They checked the boy’s teeth and feet like he was a horse. Nearby, the boy’s mother stood and cried. Once he was sold, she would never see him again. “Thank goodness that’s not you,” MISSION TO Robert’s mother said. END SLAVERY Robert knew that Mr. McKee would When Abraham Lincoln was elected never send him away from his mother. president in 1860, But he also knew that as a slave, he he was known to would never have any say over his be against slavery. “If slavery is not own life. According to U.S. law, he wrong, nothing wasn’t even a person. He was a piece of is wrong,” he property, like a cow or a chair. famously wrote. He told his mother that they should escape to the Northern states, where slavery was banned. He’d heard about slaves who’d made the journey, hiding in forests and caves, dodging slave catchers and bloodhounds. His mother explained that for every slave who managed to escape, hundreds more died or were caught and punished. Robert should be grateful, his earnings. The rest was Robert’s to keep. she said. Their owners were kind. As long as In Charleston, slaves worked alongside the McKees were alive, she and Robert would white people and free black people. Robert be well cared for. “Promise me,” she said to got a job on the Planter, a ship that carried Robert, “you will never run away.” cotton up and down the South Carolina coast. He impressed the owner. Soon he Haunted by Memories learned to pilot the ship. So Robert tried to make the most of Robert fell in love with a vivacious his life. When he was 12, he was sent to woman named Hannah Jones. Hannah was Charleston to work. It was common for a slave. She worked as a hotel maid. Slaves slaveholders to hire out their slaves. The could not legally marry, but Mr. McKee and money Robert earned legally belonged to Hannah’s owner let the couple live together. McKee. Soon, Robert and Hannah had a daughter But Robert and his owner had a deal. and a son. CREDIT TK LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (ABRAHAM LINCOLN); FOTOSEARCH/GETTY IMAGES (NOTICE) Robert paid Mr. McKee $15 a month from The family was happy. But when Robert

STORYWORKS.SCHOLASTIC.COM MARCH/APRIL 2017 17 18 Southern states hadannouncedthat they By Februaryof1861,leaders ofseven Southern statesdidnot wantthattohappen. abolish slaveryallovertheU.S. The President AbrahamLincoln plannedto country apart.Manypeople believedthat A BloodyWar They couldbetakenawayatanytime. Hannah. TheybelongedtoHannah’sowner. their childrendidnotbelongtoRobertand had beensoldawayfromhismother.Bylaw, thought oftheboyatslaveauction,who looked athischildren,hewashauntedbythe end toslavery. side, eagertohelpputan fighting ontheNorthern at right)tookpartinthe soldiers (liketheman African-American fights. Nearly180,000 of battlesanddeadly There werethousands conflict inU.S.history. remains thebloodiest To thisday,theCivilWar FREEDOM FIGHTING FOR

Meanwhile, slaverywastearingthe STORYWORKS end the escape. Or theymightbekilled bythe could beshotatbySouthern shipsduring death. Therewereother dangerstoo.They was caught,heandhis crew wouldbeputto was notjuststealing.It wastreason.Ifhe the Northernshipsoutside theharbor.It commandeer thePlanterandturnitoverto A BoldPlan mother. Hedecidedtotryescape. So hebrokehislong-agopromiseto longed forfreedomhimselfandhisfamily. wanted toendslavery. President Lincoln,andagainstthosewho against theU.S.government, black crewmemberswereforcedtofight ammunition ship.Robertandsomeother took overthePlanteranduseditasan in themiddleofit.Southerncommanders shots, theCivilWarbegan. Charleston calledFortSumter.Withthose Southern soldiersattackedamilitarybasein rather thangiveupslavery.OnApril12, would splitofffromtherestofcountry Robert madeaplan.Hewould To Robert,thiswasintolerable.He The fightingwasbrutal.Charleston

GRANGER, NYC/THE GRANGER COLLECTION (CIVIL WAR BATTLE); ARCHIVE PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES (SOLDIER) Northern fleet before they had a crew: all slaves. chance to surrender. Except they weren’t slaves anymore. But Robert had made up his Robert, his family, and the crew were free. mind. On May 13, 1862, he and his crew put the plan in motion. The End of Slavery Captain Relyea had gone to shore Robert was a hero. The ship, filled with for the night. He had left Robert ammunition, was a prize for the North. in charge of the ship. In the quiet Newspapers praised Robert, and he met predawn hours, Robert ordered President Lincoln. Northern commanders his crew to fire up the ship. They were impressed with Robert’s skills. They moved stealthily through the hired him to lead secret missions. harbor, stopping first at a dock The Civil War raged for three more where Hannah and the children years. More than 750,000 soldiers died. But were hiding. If their plan worked, the U.S. survived as a nation. And in 1865, the whole family would be free. If it slavery was outlawed throughout the land. failed, Hannah had said, it would be After the war, Robert and his family went better that they die together. back to Beaufort. Robert did well in business. Robert wore Captain Relyea’s hat and He was also elected to the U.S. Congress. jacket. He hoped to fool the guards at each Many white Southerners lost everything. checkpoint. It worked—until the Planter The McKees could no longer afford their raced out to sea. grand house. Robert bought the house. At any second, the Southern ships When Mr. McKee died, Robert invited could attack the Planter. Just one Mrs. McKee—then an old woman— cannon ball would smash it to bits. to live with him. He took care of his But soon the Planter was out of range. former owner until she died. It was safe among the Northern In spite of his success, ships. The Northern Robert faced hardships. There commander was amazed was great prejudice against when he met the Planter’s black people, especially freed slaves. Yet Robert remained a strong A RESPECTED LEADER voice for his people. After the war, Robert Smalls “All they need,” he was elected to Congress five times. He died in 1915, in the famously said, “is an same house where he had equal chance in the been born a slave. battle of life.” n WRITE TO WIN FIND AN Use evidence from the text to explain why Robert Smalls ACTIVITY risked his life to commandeer the Planter. Send a short, ONLINE! well-written essay to “Freedom Contest” by May 1, 2017.

Ten winners will each receive a copy of Unbound by TURN THE Ann E. Burg. See page 2 for details. PAGE TO READ

MPI/ARCHIVE PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES (ROBERT SMALLS) ABOUT ANOTHER BRAVE HERO.

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