Robert Smalls
Encyclopedia
Robert Smalls was an enslaved African American who, during and after the American Civil War
, became a ship's pilot, sea captain, and politician. He freed himself and his family from slavery on May 13, 1862, by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, the Planter, to freedom in Charleston harbor. He was born in Beaufort, South Carolina
, and eventually became a politician, serving in both the South Carolina State legislature and the United States House of Representatives
. During his career, Smalls authored legislation that created in South Carolina the first free and compulsory public school system in the United States, founded the Republican Party of South Carolina, and convinced President Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the Union army. He is notable as the last Republican
to represent South Carolina's 5th congressional district
until 2010.
culture of his mother. Smalls' mother, Lydia, was a slave held by John McKee.
, an armed Confederate military transport. On May 12, 1862, the Planters three white officers decided to spend the night ashore. About 3:00 am on the 13th, Smalls and seven of the eight enslaved crewmen decided to make a run for the Union vessels that formed the blockade, as they had earlier planned. Smalls dressed in the captain's uniform and had a straw hat similar to that of the white captain. The Planter backed out of what was then known as Southern Wharf around 3 a.m. The Planter stopped at a nearby wharf to pick up Smalls' family and the relatives of other crewmen, who had been concealed there for some time.
With his crew and the women and children, Smalls made the daring escape. The Planter had as cargo four valuable artillery pieces, besides its own two guns. Perhaps most valuable was the code book that would reveal the Confederate's secret signals, and the placement of mines and torpedoes in and around Charleston harbor.
Smalls piloted the ship past the five Confederate forts which guarded the harbor, including Fort Sumter
. The renegade ship passed by Sumter approximately 4:30 a.m. He headed straight for the Federal fleet, which was part of the Union blockade
of Confederate ports, making sure to hoist a white sheet as a flag. The first ship he encountered was USS Onward
, which prepared to fire until a sailor noticed the white flag. When the Onwards captain boarded the Planter, Smalls requested to raise the US flag immediately. Smalls turned the Planter over to the United States Navy
, along with its cargo of artillery and explosives intended for a Confederate fort.
Smalls became famous throughout the North; numerous newspapers ran articles describing his actions. Congress passed a bill, signed by President Abraham Lincoln
, rewarding Smalls and his crewmen with the prize money for the captured Planter. Smalls' own share was $1,500 ($34,000 adjusted for inflation in 2007 dollars), a huge sum for the time. Robert personally met Abraham Lincoln in late May 1862 (two weeks later) upon which he heralded his personal account to the President. Lincoln was impressed with Smalls' intelligence.
His deeds became a major argument for allowing African Americans to serve in the Union Army
. Smalls served under the Navy until March 1863, when he was transferred to the Army. He was never enrolled in either branch of service but served as a civilian. By his personal account, Robert served in 17 different engagements during the Civil War.
With the encouragement of Major-General David Hunter
, Union commander at Port Royal
, Smalls went to Washington, DC., with Mansfield French in August 1862, to try to persuade President Lincoln and Secretary of War
Edwin Stanton to permit black men to fight for the Union. He was successful and received an order signed by Stanton permitting up to 5,000 African Americans to enlist in the Union forces at Port Royal. These men were organized as the 1st and 2nd South Carolina Volunteers.
Smalls served as a pilot for the Union Navy. In the fall of 1862, Planter had been transferred to the Union Army
for service near Fort Pulaski. Smalls was later reassigned to the USS Planter, now a Union transport.
On April 7, 1863, he piloted ironclad USS Keokuk
in a major Union attack on Fort Sumter. The attack failed, and Keokuk was badly damaged. Her crew was rescued shortly before the ship sank.
In December 1863, Smalls became the first black captain of a vessel in the service of the United States. On December 1, 1863, the Planter had been caught in a crossfire between Union and Confederate forces. The ship's commander, Captain Nickerson, decided to surrender. Smalls refused, fearing that the black crewmen would not be treated as prisoners of war and might even be shot. Smalls took command and piloted the ship out of range of the Confederate guns. For his bravery, Smalls was named to replace Nickerson as the Planter's captain.
Smalls returned with the Planter to Charleston harbor in April 1865 for the re-raising of the American flag upon Ft. Sumter.
In 1866 Smalls went into business in Beaufort with Richard Howell Gleaves
, opening a store for freedmen. That same year in April, the "radical" Republicans who controlled Congress overrode President Andrew Johnson
's vetoes and passed a Civil Rights Act
, along with ratifying the 14th Amendment
, extending citizenship to all Americans regardless of their color.
Smalls identified with the Republican Party
, saying it was "The party of Lincoln which unshackled the necks of four million human beings." In his campaign speeches he said " every colored man who has a vote to cast, would cast that vote for the regular Republican Party and thus bury the Democratic Party
so deep that there will not be seen even a bubble coming from the spot where the burial took place." Later in life he recalled "I can never loose [sic] sight of the fact that had it not been for the Republican Party, I would have never been an office-holder of any kind—from 1862—to present." He was a delegate at several Republican National Conventions and participated in the South Carolina Republican State conventions.
During the Reconstruction era, Smalls was elected a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives
from 1865 and 1870, and the South Carolina Senate
between 1871 and 1874. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives
, where he served from 1875 to 1879. From 1882 to 1883 he represented South Carolina's 5th congressional district
in the House, and from 1884 to 1887 South Carolina's 7th congressional district
. He was a member of the 44th, 45th, and 47th through 49th U.S. Congresses. During consideration of a bill to reduce and restructure the United States Army
, Smalls introduced an amendment that “Hereafter in the enlistment of men in the Army . . . no distinction whatsoever shall be made on account of race or color.” The amendment was not considered by Congress.
After the Compromise of 1877
, and as a part of wide-ranging Southern white efforts to reduce African-American political power, Smalls was charged and convicted of taking a bribe five years earlier in connection with the awarding of a printing contract. He was pardoned as part of an agreement in which charges were also dropped against Democrats
who had been accused of election fraud. [Foner, p. 198]
Smalls was active politically into the twentieth century; he was a delegate to the 1895 constitutional convention. He spoke out against the disfranchisement of black voters. With one break in service, Smalls was appointed U.S. Collector of Customs 1889–1911 in Beaufort, where he lived as owner of the house in which he had been a slave.
Smalls died in 1915 at the age of 75. He was buried in his family's plot in downtown Beaufort.
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, became a ship's pilot, sea captain, and politician. He freed himself and his family from slavery on May 13, 1862, by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, the Planter, to freedom in Charleston harbor. He was born in Beaufort, South Carolina
Beaufort, South Carolina
Beaufort is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston. The city's population was 12,361 in the 2010 census. It is located in the Hilton Head Island-Beaufort Micropolitan...
, and eventually became a politician, serving in both the South Carolina State legislature and the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. During his career, Smalls authored legislation that created in South Carolina the first free and compulsory public school system in the United States, founded the Republican Party of South Carolina, and convinced President Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the Union army. He is notable as the last Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
to represent South Carolina's 5th congressional district
South Carolina's 5th congressional district
The 5th Congressional District of South Carolina is a congressional district in northern South Carolina bordering North Carolina. It includes all of Cherokee, Chester, Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lancaster, Marlboro, Newberry and York counties and parts of Florence, Lee...
until 2010.
Early life
Robert was born in 1839 in a slave cabin behind his master's house on 511 Prince Street in Beaufort, South Carolina. He would grow up in Beaufort as a house slave—also known as Swonga—under the influence of the Lowcountry GullahGullah
The Gullah are African Americans who live in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands....
culture of his mother. Smalls' mother, Lydia, was a slave held by John McKee.
Life in Charleston
Robert was sent to Charleston in 1851 to work for his master (now Henry McKee), where he held several jobs. He started out in a hotel, then became a lamplighter on the streets of Charleston. His love of the water, evidenced in his childhood at Beaufort, led him to work on the docks and wharves of Charleston in his teen years. He became a stevedore (dockworker), a rigger, a sail maker, and eventually worked his way up to being a wheelman (essentially a pilot, though blacks were not called pilots). He became very knowledgeable of the Charleston harbor.Marriage and family
Robert met a hotel maid, Hannah Jones, and married her on December 24, 1856. Hannah was five years his senior and had an adolescent daughter at the time. Hannah and Robert had their first child, Elizabeth Lydia, in February 1858. In 1861 they had another child, Robert Jr., who died in 1863.Escape from the Confederacy
In the fall of 1861, Smalls steered the CSS PlanterUSS Planter (1862)
USS Planter was a steamer taken over by Robert Smalls, a Southern slave and ship's pilot who steered the ship past Confederate defenses and surrendered it to Union Navy forces on 13 May 1862 during the American Civil War....
, an armed Confederate military transport. On May 12, 1862, the Planters three white officers decided to spend the night ashore. About 3:00 am on the 13th, Smalls and seven of the eight enslaved crewmen decided to make a run for the Union vessels that formed the blockade, as they had earlier planned. Smalls dressed in the captain's uniform and had a straw hat similar to that of the white captain. The Planter backed out of what was then known as Southern Wharf around 3 a.m. The Planter stopped at a nearby wharf to pick up Smalls' family and the relatives of other crewmen, who had been concealed there for some time.
With his crew and the women and children, Smalls made the daring escape. The Planter had as cargo four valuable artillery pieces, besides its own two guns. Perhaps most valuable was the code book that would reveal the Confederate's secret signals, and the placement of mines and torpedoes in and around Charleston harbor.
Smalls piloted the ship past the five Confederate forts which guarded the harbor, including Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.- Construction :...
. The renegade ship passed by Sumter approximately 4:30 a.m. He headed straight for the Federal fleet, which was part of the Union blockade
Union blockade
The Union Blockade, or the Blockade of the South, took place between 1861 and 1865, during the American Civil War, when the Union Navy maintained a strenuous effort on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast of the Confederate States of America designed to prevent the passage of trade goods, supplies, and arms...
of Confederate ports, making sure to hoist a white sheet as a flag. The first ship he encountered was USS Onward
USS Onward (1852)
The first USS Onward was a clipper in the United States Navy.Onward was launched 3 July 1852 by James O. Curtis at Medford, Massachusetts, for Reed, Wade, and Co., of Boston, Massachusetts, and operated in the merchant service between New York City, Boston, and San Francisco, California. Purchased...
, which prepared to fire until a sailor noticed the white flag. When the Onwards captain boarded the Planter, Smalls requested to raise the US flag immediately. Smalls turned the Planter over to the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, along with its cargo of artillery and explosives intended for a Confederate fort.
Service to the Union
Because of his extensive knowledge of the shipyards and Confederate defenses, Smalls was able to provide valuable assistance to the Union Navy. He gave detailed information about the harbor's defenses to Admiral Samuel Dupont, commander of the blockading fleet.Smalls became famous throughout the North; numerous newspapers ran articles describing his actions. Congress passed a bill, signed by President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, rewarding Smalls and his crewmen with the prize money for the captured Planter. Smalls' own share was $1,500 ($34,000 adjusted for inflation in 2007 dollars), a huge sum for the time. Robert personally met Abraham Lincoln in late May 1862 (two weeks later) upon which he heralded his personal account to the President. Lincoln was impressed with Smalls' intelligence.
His deeds became a major argument for allowing African Americans to serve in the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
. Smalls served under the Navy until March 1863, when he was transferred to the Army. He was never enrolled in either branch of service but served as a civilian. By his personal account, Robert served in 17 different engagements during the Civil War.
With the encouragement of Major-General David Hunter
David Hunter
David Hunter was a Union general in the American Civil War. He achieved fame by his unauthorized 1862 order emancipating slaves in three Southern states and as the president of the military commission trying the conspirators involved with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.-Early...
, Union commander at Port Royal
Port Royal
Port Royal was a city located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1518, it was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century...
, Smalls went to Washington, DC., with Mansfield French in August 1862, to try to persuade President Lincoln and Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
Edwin Stanton to permit black men to fight for the Union. He was successful and received an order signed by Stanton permitting up to 5,000 African Americans to enlist in the Union forces at Port Royal. These men were organized as the 1st and 2nd South Carolina Volunteers.
Smalls served as a pilot for the Union Navy. In the fall of 1862, Planter had been transferred to the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
for service near Fort Pulaski. Smalls was later reassigned to the USS Planter, now a Union transport.
On April 7, 1863, he piloted ironclad USS Keokuk
USS Keokuk (1862)
USS Keokuk was an experimental ironclad steamer of the United States Navy named for the city of Keokuk, Iowa. Her keel was laid down at New York City by Charles W. Whitney, with the name Moodna . She was renamed while under construction, launched in December 1862 sponsored by Mrs. C. W...
in a major Union attack on Fort Sumter. The attack failed, and Keokuk was badly damaged. Her crew was rescued shortly before the ship sank.
In December 1863, Smalls became the first black captain of a vessel in the service of the United States. On December 1, 1863, the Planter had been caught in a crossfire between Union and Confederate forces. The ship's commander, Captain Nickerson, decided to surrender. Smalls refused, fearing that the black crewmen would not be treated as prisoners of war and might even be shot. Smalls took command and piloted the ship out of range of the Confederate guns. For his bravery, Smalls was named to replace Nickerson as the Planter's captain.
Smalls returned with the Planter to Charleston harbor in April 1865 for the re-raising of the American flag upon Ft. Sumter.
After the Civil War
Immediately following the war, Smalls returned to his native Beaufort, SC, where he purchased his former master's house at 512 Prince St. His mother Lydia lived with him for the remainder of her life. He allowed his former master's wife—elderly and confused—to move back in the home prior to her death.In 1866 Smalls went into business in Beaufort with Richard Howell Gleaves
Richard Howell Gleaves
Richard Howell Gleaves was a prominent Prince Hall mason and Reconstruction-era politician in South Carolina. He was born free in Philadelphia to a Haitian father and an English mother, and died in Washington, D.C....
, opening a store for freedmen. That same year in April, the "radical" Republicans who controlled Congress overrode President Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
's vetoes and passed a Civil Rights Act
Civil Rights Act
Civil Rights Act may refer to several acts in the history of civil rights in the United States, including:-Federal legislation:* Civil Rights Act of 1866, extending the rights of emancipated slaves...
, along with ratifying the 14th Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
, extending citizenship to all Americans regardless of their color.
Smalls identified with the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, saying it was "The party of Lincoln which unshackled the necks of four million human beings." In his campaign speeches he said " every colored man who has a vote to cast, would cast that vote for the regular Republican Party and thus bury the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
so deep that there will not be seen even a bubble coming from the spot where the burial took place." Later in life he recalled "I can never loose [sic] sight of the fact that had it not been for the Republican Party, I would have never been an office-holder of any kind—from 1862—to present." He was a delegate at several Republican National Conventions and participated in the South Carolina Republican State conventions.
During the Reconstruction era, Smalls was elected a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives
South Carolina House of Representatives
The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
from 1865 and 1870, and the South Carolina Senate
South Carolina Senate
The South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives...
between 1871 and 1874. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, where he served from 1875 to 1879. From 1882 to 1883 he represented South Carolina's 5th congressional district
South Carolina's 5th congressional district
The 5th Congressional District of South Carolina is a congressional district in northern South Carolina bordering North Carolina. It includes all of Cherokee, Chester, Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lancaster, Marlboro, Newberry and York counties and parts of Florence, Lee...
in the House, and from 1884 to 1887 South Carolina's 7th congressional district
South Carolina's 7th congressional district
For other uses see SC 7 The 7th Congressional District of South Carolina was a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in South Carolina. It was first eliminated in 1853 as a result of the 1850 Census. After the 1880 Census, it was again reconstituted for 50 years...
. He was a member of the 44th, 45th, and 47th through 49th U.S. Congresses. During consideration of a bill to reduce and restructure the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, Smalls introduced an amendment that “Hereafter in the enlistment of men in the Army . . . no distinction whatsoever shall be made on account of race or color.” The amendment was not considered by Congress.
After the Compromise of 1877
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877, also known as the Corrupt Bargain, refers to a purported informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U.S. Presidential election and ended Congressional Reconstruction. Through it, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the White House over Democrat Samuel J...
, and as a part of wide-ranging Southern white efforts to reduce African-American political power, Smalls was charged and convicted of taking a bribe five years earlier in connection with the awarding of a printing contract. He was pardoned as part of an agreement in which charges were also dropped against Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
who had been accused of election fraud. [Foner, p. 198]
Smalls was active politically into the twentieth century; he was a delegate to the 1895 constitutional convention. He spoke out against the disfranchisement of black voters. With one break in service, Smalls was appointed U.S. Collector of Customs 1889–1911 in Beaufort, where he lived as owner of the house in which he had been a slave.
Smalls died in 1915 at the age of 75. He was buried in his family's plot in downtown Beaufort.
Honors and legacy
- Fort Robert SmallsFort Robert SmallsFort Robert Smalls was a Civil War redoubt built by free Blacks for the defense of Pittsburgh in 1863. It stood at the top of McGuire's Hill at the mouth of Becks Run in Arlington Heights. It is named for Robert Smalls, a slave who commandeered a Confederate transport and brought his family and...
, was named in his honor; it was built by free blacks in 1863 on McGuire's Hill on the South Side of Pittsburgh during the American Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. It survived until the 1940s. - The Robert Smalls House in Beaufort, SC, has been designated a National Historic LandmarkNational Historic LandmarkA National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
for the significance of his life. - A monument and statue are dedicated to his memory in Beaufort.
- The desk which Smalls used as Collector of Customs is on display at the Beaufort Arsenal Museum in Beaufort.
- In 2004, the U.S. named a ship for Robert Smalls. It is LSV-8, a Logistics Support Vessel operated by the U.S. Army. It is the first Army ship named after an African American.
General
- Coker, P. C., III. Charleston's Maritime Heritage, 1670-1865: An Illustrated History. Charleston, S.C.: Coker-Craft, 1987. 314 pp.
- Downing, David C. A South Divided: Portraits of Dissent in the Confederacy. Nashville: Cumberland House, 2007. ISBN 978-1-58182-587-9
- Foner, EricEric FonerEric Foner is an American historian. On the faculty of the Department of History at Columbia University since 1982, he writes extensively on political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African American biography, Reconstruction, and historiography...
ed., Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction Revised Edition. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996). ISBN 0-8071-2082-0. Between 1865 and 1876, about two thousand blacks held elective and appointive offices in the South. A few are relatively well-known, but most became obscure after being omitted from official state histories after Reconstruction. Foner profiles more than 1,500 black legislators, state officials, sheriffs, justices of the peace, and constables in this volume. - Rabinowitz, Howard N. Southern Black Leaders of the Reconstruction Era (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982) ISBN 0-252-00929-0
- Kennedy, Robert F., Jr.Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. is an American radio host, activist, and attorney specializing in environmental law. He is the third of eleven children born to Ethel Skakel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy and is the nephew of John F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy...
Robert Smalls, the Boat Thief (New York: Hyperion, 2008). ISBN 1423108027. A picture book illustrated by Patrick Faricy. - Billingsley, Andrew. Yearning to Breathe Free: Robert Smalls of South Carolina and His Families (University of South Carolina Press, 2007). ISBN 978-1-57003-686-6.
External links
- 'Robert Smalls", African-American history site.
- Lynn Moseley, "Robert Smalls: Warrior and Peacemaker", Lesson created by history teacher in South Carolina.