ROBERT SMALLS
Robert Smalls was born on April 5, 1839, in a small cottage behind the McKee house at Prince and New Streets in Beaufort, SC. He was the son of Lydia Polite, a house servant who had been working for the McKees since she was taken from her family as a young child on the Ashdale Plantation on Lady’s Island. Robert’s father was very likely to have been Henry McKee, the son of the plantation owner where Lydia’s family lived and worked all of their lives.
Robert’s early life was rather easy as compared with that of other enslaved children. He was taken around town by Henry McKee and had opportunities to play with children in the neighborhood, both black and white. The ease of Robert’s life was disturbing to his mother, as she knew that Robert did not really understand the horrors of slavery. So Lydia made arrangements for Robert to spend time with her family on the plantation where he could see just how slavery could be. On the plantation Robert didn’t sleep on a little cot in the small cottage behind the McKee’s house but slept with the other enslaved family members on the earthen floor. He didn’t play with neighboring children but worked on the plantation picking cotton, rice, and tobacco in the fields from sun up to sun down. He didn’t wear nice clothes but wore the tattered clothing of the other enslaved men, women and children. Robert was being taught the lessons of slavery first hand. When he returned to Beaufort, Lydia took him down to the whipping post so he could see how enslaved people were beaten when they broke the rules. Robert learned the lessons well. He learned that life of enslaved Africans was not the relatively easy life that had been his during the first ten years of his life. The result of this lesson led Robert to defiance, and he began to challenge the local slave laws of the town. Robert frequently found himself in the Beaufort jail, and Henry McKee had to come down to bail him out. Now Lydia began to fear for her son’s safety, so she asked McKee to allow Smalls to go to Charleston to be rented out to work.
At age 12, small Robert Smalls moved to Charleston and began to perform a number of jobs: at first waiting tables in a hotel, then lamp lighting, working on the waterfront, and finally working on the Planter. He had to give all of his money except for $1.00 a week to the McKees. But Robert was industrious, and he saved his money and did other small jobs to make more. On the Planter Robert learned all of the skills needed to become an excellent pilot, and he conducted all of the jobs that should have been done by the ship’s Captain. There were three other enslaved men working on the Planter as well, and together they were capable of maneuvering the Planter without the white crew.
At the age of 19, Robert met and married Hannah Jones. Shortly after their marriage they had two children: Elizabeth Lydia and Robert Smalls, Jr. Robert was aware that white couples who were married lived together in the same accommodations, and he asked permission of the McKees and the Kingmans, with whom Robert and Hannah were enslaved, to allow them to live together. Permission was granted and they moved into a small apartment in Charleston. Robert was still dissatisfied, however, because he realized that although he and Hannah were married and living together with their family, they were not free. The Kingmans could take Hannah and the children away from him at any time. He had to find a way to purchase freedom for his wife and children. But how? Robert approached the Kingmans and requested that they allow him to purchase his wife, Hannah, and their two children. The Kingmans finally agreed to the request. The purchase fee was $800, and Robert only had $100. How long would it take to save up another $700? He needed to come up with another plan. He must find a way to gain freedom for all of them.
On the early morning of May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls put his plan into action. By this time the Civil War had broken out, and the Confederates had commandeered the Planter into service. Robert still worked as an enslaved man on the CSS Planter in Charleston along with three other enslaved men. The Union Navy had blockaded Ft. Sumter, and Smalls and the three other enslaved men could see the Union ships from the Charleston Harbor. Sumter. They knew that freedom was not far away. That night all of the white crew had gone ashore for the evening, and Smalls and the other three enslaved men gathered their families on the Planter for a daring voyage. Robert Smalls eased the ship into the current and headed out of Charleston harbor. He was familiar with the waters and rebel routines and steamed the Planter past five Confederate gun batteries, giving the correct signals for safe passage at each. By dawn on May 13, 1862, 23-year-old Robert Smalls surrendered the CSS Planter to the Union forces, and freedom was theirs!
Smalls’ exploits both won freedom for himself and for his family. As a result of the fame that came from his daring deed, he was awarded an audience with President Abraham Lincoln where he led the effort to enlist Black men to fight for the Union forces in the Civil War. He helped recruit nearly 5,000 African-American men for the Union army, and these former enslaved men fought valiantly during the Civil War. Smalls fought as a pilot on both the CSS Planter, the ship that he had commandeered to freedom, and the ironclad gunship, the USS Keokuk. He led the Union ships to deactivate mines that he had helped plant while enslaved by the Confederacy and guided the Union forces to Confederate outposts. He also assisted in the destruction of railroad bridges in the harbor area.
Robert Smalls was the first African-American hero of the Civil War. He was later appointed to the rank of Major General in the South Carolina Militia during the Reconstruction period.
After the Civil War was over, Smalls returned to Beaufort to live and purchased the McKee house at 511 Prince Street where he and his mother had been enslaved. He lived in this house until his death in 1915.
And get this, after the war, he built upon his fame, doing many things, such as helping establish the first school for African-Americans in his town. He became so famous that he entered politics, and is apart of the slew of Black politicians that were voted into office Post-Civil War, during Reconstruction.
Then what happens? THE SOUTHERN REDEMPTION …. yes, that time when Republicans abandoned Black people and let Southern racist Democrats have there way so that Rutherford B Hayes could be President. This is when segregation laws, lynching, and disenfranchisement became the law of the South. And many of the Black politicians that had been voted into office were chased out, some literally beaten and chased out of town. The South Carolina Democrats got Smalls kicked out of office on false charges of bribery, but Smalls, unlike other Black politicians, fought back. He eventually gained his seat back, but he was under constant opposition.