Robert Smalls wasrbsmallq_a above all a trusted slave, a man who could be counted on to be loyal to his owners and to the cause of the Confederate States of America. As the pilot of a supply ship, he regularly made deliveries to fortifications along the South Carolina coast under supervision of several white naval officers.

On the night of May 12, 1862, when the officers had left the ship in Smalls’ care, he and the slave crew maneuvered the Planter through Charleston Harbor to pick up family members, then sailed past the walls of the well-fortified Fort Sumter and out into the open sea, where federal ships were maintaining a blockade.

Smalls gave a valuable ship to the Union [Read more...]