Robert Smalls
Robert Smalls was born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina. Hired out to work on the docks of Charleston, he learned to pilot boats and developed an intimate knowledge of the harbor and its defenses.
On May 13, 1862, while the white officers of the Confederate transport ship CSS Planter were ashore, Smalls — just 23 years old — donned the captain's hat, gave the correct signals at each checkpoint, and sailed the ship past five Confederate forts to the Union blockade. He delivered 17 enslaved people, including his wife and children, to freedom.
Smalls became a Union war hero, piloting ships and recruiting Black soldiers. After the war, he served five terms in the U.S. Congress during Reconstruction, fighting for the rights of formerly enslaved people. He purchased the house where he had been enslaved and lived there as a free man.
"My race needs no special defense, for the past history of them in this country proves them to be the equal of any people anywhere."— Robert Smalls
Key Milestones
A Life in Firsts
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