As dawn was breaking over Charleston Harbor on the morning of May 12, 1862, sentries on the parapet of Fort Sumter saw a familiar sight, the Planter, a 147-foot side wheel coastal steamer, making her way under a 1st National Confederate flag toward the open ocean. Thinking she was getting an early start on one of the many missions she performed under charter to the Confederate army, they awaited the requisite signals that confirmed that all was in order. Along the parapet were mounted over 20 heavy cannons aimed onto the ship channel. These were complimented by a total of 20 cannons mounted in the first (lower) tier’s left face and right face of the imposing fortification. The second tier of the three-tier fort had been converted into accommodations for the garrison but still, with the first and third tier armament, the fort could easily blow a wooden ship like the Planter apart. The lower tier’s guns could fire projectiles at an angle to skip (ricochet) across the water’s surface; being especially deadly to the small vessel.
As the vessel drew abreast of the fort, the sentries could barely make out the familiar captain of the vessel. Robert Smalls, the ship’s enslaved pilot, had donned the captain’s coat and hat to confuse the guards. They gave the countersign indicating she was free to pass when she sounded the two long and one short blast.
The Planter continued past the fort but instead of turning south along Morris Island as she customarily did, the Planter headed straight toward the blockading ship USS Onward offshore of the Charleston harbor channel. The rising sun reflecting off of the Confederate flag caused alarm on the Onward and her captain, Lt. Frederick Nichols, readied his ship for an attack. The Onward, a recently converted three masted clipper ship mounted eight 32-pounder guns and a 30 pounder Parrott rifle. Fortunately, some speedy action aboard the Planter resulted in a bed sheet replacing the Confederate emblem and the Onward held her fire.
As she approached near enough to call over to the Onward, the Union ship was surprised to see that the captain and crew were all black men. The brave captain of the Planter was Robert Smalls, a familiar face around the Charleston harbor having been sent as an enslaved boy to work on the waterfront for his owner. A month earlier, he had celebrated his 23rd birthday. Robert called to Lt. Nichols that he was turning over the Planter and its cargo of fine guns that had been destined for Fort Ripley in Charleston harbor.
The feat that Robert Smalls had pulled off was nothing short of miraculous. The vessel had been docked at the well-guarded Confederate district headquarters of Brigadier General Roswell Ripley near the Charleston Battery (White Point Gardens) where not two weeks earlier, a group of 11 enslaved workers had escaped with General Ripley’s boat. The lookouts were on high alert. Robert was married at the time to Hanna, a slave of the Kingsman family of Charleston. She had by a previous marriage, a ten-year-old daughter and she and Robert were parents of two small children, Lydia and Robert Jr. Robert could not leave his family if he was going to escape slavery. He was able to rescue his family and several other enslaved people by sailing the Planter up the Cooper River to the North Atlantic Pier where they were hiding with three other men and two women known to the crew. With everyone safely aboard, Robert headed the Planter out of the harbor.
As amazing as the story of the escape of the Planter is, it is just the beginning of what Robert Smalls would do with his new found freedom. He served the US government for the remainder of the war and contributed to the enlistment of thousands of former enslaved men into the Union forces. His information on Charleston’s defenses led to the Union assault on James Island in 1862. He also piloted the USS Keokuk in the US Navy’s unsuccessful ironclad assault on Fort Sumter on April 7, 1863. After the war Robert served in the South Carolina legislature and as a two term US Congressman for the Beaufort District. In Congress, Robert Small lobbied for the creation of a public education system. Robert died in 1915 and is buried in Beaufort - - a true South Carolina hero. The South Carolina legislature has recently authorized a publicly funded statue of Robert Smalls to be erected on the State House grounds. He has been recognized nationally with a US Army transport vessel and a US Navy Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser named in his honor.
