The Remarkable Life of Robert Smalls by Stanley Turkel n the coastal town of Beaufort, South seamen who had families in C harleston m anding the Onward, off Charles ton, was Carolina, the m ap of important sites rowed them out to the ship . In the party, startled to see "a steamer coming from the lists the H enry M cKee house, a pre- along with Mrs. Robert Smalls and their direction of Fort Sumter and steering diC ivil War home which, like many others in two young children, were her sister-in-law, rectly for" his ship . H e "immediately beat Beaufort, was spared destruction when the Mrs. John Smalls, wife of the ship's engi- to quarters," swung his ship around so as to U nion Navy captured the Sea Islands along neer, three other women, a man and an- bring her broadside to bear, and was prethe South Carolina coast in 1862. other child. paring to fire when he observed "that the What is fascinating about the M cKee Ever since h e heard that Union General steamer, now rapidly approaching, had a house is that it became the home of Robert D avid Hunter was welcoming slaves into wh ite fl ag set at the fo re." 1 Smalls shouted Smalls-war hero, political activist and their lines, Smalls had been waiting fo r this that they w ere surrendering the Planter to five-term US Congressman-who was the U nion Navy. Soon thereafter, Smalls raised there as the slave of Henry M cKee. gave up command to Captain J . F. Nickels . This bold deed made Robert Smalls a Robert Smalls was born on 5 Apri l 183 9 in Beaufort, South Carolina, the son of n ational celebrity overnight, especially Robert and Lydia Smalls, slaves of the when the C onfederates offered a $4, 000 Henry M cKee family. Smalls was allowed reward for his capture . A southern newspaa limited education . At the age of twelve, per, the Charleston M ercury, referred to Robert was taken from Beaufort to CharlesSmalls's betrayal of trust in stealing the ton where he was hired out. His mother Planter as an exploit which led to "great was pleased with this turn of events because n otoriety for Robert and much caress by Robert did not have the "proper attitude" his new allies." fo r plantation work. Robert was the fourth Robert Smalls's delivery of the Planter American generation of his mother's faminto U nion hands was a sensation at the ily which was taken from the Guinea coast time. H arper's Weekly printed pictures of of West Africa. Smalls worked on the Smalls and the Planter with a prominent Charleston wharves, first as a lamplighter A month after Robert Smalls took the Planter article on the "plucky Africans." 2 and then as a wagon-driver. At fifreen he and his fellow slaves past the guns of Fort T he New Yo rk Commercial A dvertiser became the foreman of a crew of stevedo res Sumter, this portrait of him, created from a wrote: and in the years that followed he learned p hotograph, appeared in Harper's Weekly. "We suppose few events that have taken sail making, riggingand seamanship. Smalls (Photographs and Prints D iv., Schom burg place during the war have produced a lived in the Charleston home of Mrs. Center fo r Research in Black Culture, NY heartier chuckle of satisfaction than the M cKee's sister and had to give most of his Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Fdtn) capture of the rebel armed steamer Planter wages to the M cKees . . ... Ir is a remarkable instance, even in At age 18, Smalls fell in love and mar- opportuni ty. H e knew it would be danger- these rimes, of riches taking themselves to ri ed H annah Jones, a hotel maid whose ous to make the run past the Confederate wing and flying away. H ere were eight regular earnings as a slave went to her harbor forts and guns. The Planter was a "contrabands" made out of the commonowners. After the birth of their daughter, 300-ton side-wheeler which co uld carry est clay imaginable . . . ye t they actually Elizabeth Lydia on 12 February 185 8, 1,400 bales of co tto n or 1,000 soldiers and, emancipated not only themselves, but as Smalls bought freedom for his wife and therefore, could not easily pass unnoticed many others bringing a highly valuable baby fo r eight hundred dollars. by Fort Sumter's guns. present to U ncle Sam. T he fellow who When the C ivil W ar began , Smalls was At daybreak, Smalls bro ke into the managed this affair proves that, in spire of pressed into service by the Confederate Captain's wardro be, put on his dress uni- his name, he is no 'small' man ." 3 Navy on the cotton steamer Planter, first as form, including the captain's familiar floppy Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont wrote to a deckhand and then as a helmsman. Fif- straw hat, and strutted back and forth on Secretary of the N avy G ideon Welles recteen of his sixteen-dollar-monthly salary the bridge, imitating the captain's walk. As ommending that the Planter's crew be given was paid to owner H enry McKee. they passed under Fort Sumter's guns, a substantial reward. "This man, Robert On 12 M ay 1862, in the second year of Smalls gave the p ro per C onfederate salute Smalls," h e wrote, "is superior to any (of the C ivil W ar, the 140-foot Planter was on the ship's whistle. After receiving an the Negroes) who has yet come into the docked in the C harleston, South C arolina, answering signal, the Planter picked up lines, intelligent as many of them have harbor. The ship had been transporting speed as it headed to Beaufo rt via the been. His information has been most intermilitary supplies fo r the rebel army be- inland waterway. O nce past the rebel bat- esting, and portions of it of utmost importance . ... I do not know, whether in the tween Charleston and the outer islands. It teries, Smalls faced the U ni on blockade. was loaded with ammunition and guns to Inside St. Helena Sound and in sight of view of the government, the vessel will be be delivered to Confederate Forts Sumter the U nion fleet, Smalls worried that the considered a prize; but if so, I respectfully and Riley. U nion ship Onward would rhink the Planter submit to rhe D epartment, the claims of In the evening when the white officers was attempting to ram her. Ar sunrise rhar this man R o b ert and his associates." 4 went ashore, Smalls and seven other black day, acting Lieutenant]. F. N ickels, comJ usr six d ays after the Plan ter was sur-
I
28
SEA HISTORY 91 , WINTER 1999-2000