today we're looking at robert smalls
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questions down in the description robert smalls was born into slavery but rose to become a member
of the united states house of representatives but furthermore smalls is responsible for possibly one
of the most daring escapes from slavery in american history smalls was born april 5th
1839 in beaufort south carolina his enslaved mother lydia served in the house of john mckee
in buford it is not known who his father was but by the age of 19 small's owner john mckee had
agreed to allow robert to go to charleston to be rented out for work again an example
of how slave owners treated enslaved people as property once in charleston robert worked several
different jobs and was allowed to only keep one dollar a week of his wages mckee took the rest
many of small's jobs involved working in and around charleston harbor and by the time the
first shots of the civil war were fired at fort sumter in charleston harbor in april of 1861
smalls knew the harbor arguably better than anyone else it was during this time in charleston that
smalls also met his wife hannah who was also an enslaved person working in a charleston hotel
smalls had hoped to purchase hannah's freedom but simply could not get enough money
shortly after the civil war began in april of 1861 the union or the north put up a blockade of
ships to block any trade or supplies from reaching southern ports having a lot of experience working
in the harbor and steering ships in the fall of 1861 robert smalls was assigned to steer the css
planter which was under the command of confederate general roswell ripley and was captained by
confederate officer cj rayleigh smalls was was to steer the planter on various missions up and
down the carolina coast but in april of 1862 smalls began to devise a plan for escape and he
soon shared his plan with other enslaved people who had been forced to work aboard the planner
on the evening of may 12 1862 the planner was docked near general ripley's headquarters in
charleston harbor the white crew members went ashore to spend the night and left smalls and the
enslaved crew members on board the ship to spend the night there which was a fairly common routine
for them before the before captain rayleigh left the boat smalls asked if the men's families could
visit them on the boat and rayleigh agreed as long as they were off the boat before curfew
the men's families joined them and then later some of the men pretended to leave the boat to
give the appearance that the people were actually you know getting off the boat before curfew at
three a.m on the morning of may 13 1862 smalls put on a uniform and a straw hat to make himself
look like captain rayleigh he then told the other men to hoist a confederate flag over the ship and
he took the helm of the planter and the boat began to slip away into the night smalls did not put the
boat into i guess full speed but rather slowly steered the ship as to not arouse any suspicion
he steered it towards the union blockade but stopped at a wharf along the way to pick up
his wife and children about an hour and a half after starting their escape they sailed past
fort sumner at about 4 30 a.m all along the way there were other confederate ships and checkpoints
but smalls gave the correct signals and even imitated captain rayleigh's manners
so to not arouse any more suspicion from these other confederate ships as the planner made
its way past fort sumner the men took down the confederate flag and hoisted a white bed sheet
small's wife had brought the boat approached the union blockade ship the uss onward which prepared
to fire but then saw the white flag union sailors boarded the planner and smalls asked for a union
flag to hoist above the ship the escape had been a success smalls had led 16 enslaved people to
freedom but not only that the planter had weapons on board which the union now had possession of
smalls immediately became a hero in the north with northern newspapers reporting about the
daring escape after the escape smalls served in the union navy with his extensive knowledge of the
charleston harbor area he was invaluable to the union war effort interestingly smalls continued to
pilot the planter as now it was used for the union for union missions against confederate targets by
1864 smalls in the planter were supporting general william tecumseh sherman's push towards savannah
georgia and then as the war came to an end in 1865 the planter was used by the freedmen's bureau to
aid in their effort to help former enslaved people after the war robert smalls moved back
to beaufort south carolina and actually bought the house of his former master john mckee in 1868
smalls was elected to the south carolina state legislature and then in 1874 he was elected to
the united states house of representatives where he fought for more rights for african americans
robert smalls died february 23 1915 in beaufort south carolina at the age of 75. the life of
robert smalls is truly an inspiring story of a man who was born into the worst possible
of conditions had the courage to make a daring escape and then fought for the rights of those
who were denied rights so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching