From the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress:
After the Civil War, the Planter of 1860 returned to her cargo-carrying duties in Charles ton H arbor. The steamer was fina lly Lost off Cap e Romain in 1876 (From the coLLection ofRob Napier)
Smalls collector to the town of Beaufo rt. H e held this position almost continuously (with the exception of fo ur years in the 1890s) until the opposition of South Carolina senators Benjamin Tillman and Ellison D . Smith forced him to step down in June 191 3. 11 Smalls remained a political figure in to the twentieth centu ry. H e was one of six black delegates to the 189 5 Constitutional Convention where he spoke our against the disenfranchisement of black voters. Smalls turned down an offer to become the colonel of a Negro regiment during the Spanish-American War. He also declined the post of minister to Liberia, pro bably because he suffered fro m diabetes. In 1900 he took to the campaign trail again to uring the Midwest to work fo r McKinley's reelection. His final test as a communi ty leader came in the sp ring of 19 13. Two Negroes, suspected of murdering a white man, were threatened by a lynch mob marching on Beaufort. Sm alls quickly dispatched blacks to key points th ro ughout theciryand spread the word that the torch wo uld be set to Beaufo rt if the sheriff did not protect his prisoners. T he message got through. T he sheriff posted special guards at strategic places and the white lynch mob was turned back. Two years later, on 22 February 30
Robert Smalls died quietly in his sleep at the age of seven ty-six in the home where he and his mother had once worked as slaves . 12 Smalls' s death had little impact on South Carolina politics because he had outlived the majority of his enemies, rivals and political partners . H e and his Sea Island constituents, by the accident of geography, continued to live in isolation, and "they were spared contacts (with whites) at a time when race relations in America had reached their most disgraceful depths." 13 Following his heroic wartime service to the U nion, he was a major participant in every importan t event fro m the beginning of black political participation in South Carolina. H e rose above his beginnings and, with a vigorous and generous spirit, reached as high in public accomplishment as has any .t black citizen of his state. 14 Mr. Turkel is a NewYork-based hotel consultant whose major avocation is Reconstruction era history. This essay is excerpted from his manuscript "H eroes ofReconstruction. " 1 Offi cial Records of the U nion and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Vol. XII pp. 82 1-25. 2 "The Steamer Planter and H er Captain," Harper's Weekly, Vol. 6 CTune 14, 1862) pp. 372-73. 3New York CommercialAdvertiser, May 1, 1862. 4 Reporr, Du Pont to Welles, M ay 14, 1862
Smalls, Ro1b ert, a Representative from South Carolina; born in Beaufort, S.C. , April 5, 1839; moved to C harleston, S.C., in 18 51 ; appointed pilot in the U nited States N avy and served throughout the C ivil W ar; member of the State constirutional convention in 1868; served in the State house of representatives 1868-1870; member of the State senate 187 0- 187 4; delegate to the Republican N ational Convention in 1872 and 1876; elected as a Republican to the Forry-fourth and Forry-fifth Congress (M arch 4, 187 5-March 3, 1879); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1878 to the Forry-sixth Congress; successfully contested the election of George D . T illman to the Forry-seventh Congress and served from July 19, 1882, to M arch 3, 1883; unsuccessful candidate fo r reelection in 1882; elected to the Forry-eight C ongress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Edmund W. H. M ackey; reelected to the Forry-ninth Congress and served from March 18, 1884, to M arch 3, 1887; unsuccessful for reelection in 1886 to the Fiftieth Congress; collector of the port of Beaufo rt, S.C., 1897- 191 3; died in Beaufo rt, S.C. , February 22, 1915; interment in the T abernacle Baptist Church Cemetery.
ORN Series 1, 12:82 1. 5 Co ngressional Globe, 37th Congress, 2nd session, 1862, 286087, 2364, 2440. 6 Charles Cowley, The Romance of History in the Black County and the Romance of War in the Career of General Robert Smalls (Lowell MA 1882) pp . 9- 10. 7 The Liberator, March 24, 1865. 8 Charleston Courier, September 21 , 1866. 9 Ma urice Christopher, America's Black Congressmen (Crowell, New York 197 1) p. 42 . 10 Black Americans in Congress ] 870-1989 (US Government Printing Office, W ashington D C 1990) 11 Black Americans in Congress. 12 Christopher, p. 53. 13 W illie Lee Rose, Rehearsalfor Reconstruction: The Port Royal Experiment (Indianapolis, The Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1964) p. 403. 14 Edward A. Miller, Jr., Gullah Statesman: Robert Smalls.from Slavery to Congress, 1839-1915 (Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1995) p. 250.
SEA HISTORY 91 , WINTER 1999-2000