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 would split off from the rest of the country FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM rather than give up slavery. On April 12, To this day, the Civil War Southern soldiers attacked a military base in remains the bloodiest conflict in U.S. history. Charleston called Fort Sumter. With those There were thousands shots, the Civil War began. of battles and deadly The fighting was brutal. Charleston was fights. Nearly 180,000 African-American in the middle of it. Southern commanders soldiers (like the man took over the Planter and used it as an at right) took part in the ammunition ship. Robert and some other fighting on the Northern side, eager to help put an end black crew members were forced to fight end to slavery. against the U.S. government, against President Lincoln, and against those who looked at his children, he was haunted by the wanted to end slavery. thought of the boy at the slave auction, who To Robert, this was intolerable. He had been sold away from his mother. By law, longed for freedom for himself and his family. their children did not belong to Robert and So he broke his long-ago promise to his Hannah. They belonged to Hannah’s owner. mother. He decided to try to escape. They could be taken away at any time. A Bold Plan A Bloody War Robert made a plan. He would Meanwhile, slavery was tearing the commandeer the Planter and turn it over to country apart. Many people believed that the Northern ships outside the harbor. It President Abraham Lincoln planned to was not just stealing. It was treason. If he abolish slavery all over the U.S. The was caught, he and his crew would be put to Southern states did not want that to happen. death. There were other dangers too. They By February of 1861, leaders of seven could be shot at by Southern ships during Southern states had announced that they the escape. Or they might be killed by the GRANGER, NYC/THE GRANGER COLLECTION (CIVIL WAR BATTLE); ARCHIVE PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES (SOLDIER) 18 STORYWORKS 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.