1. Robert Smalls was an American politician who was born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina.
80 Facts About Robert Smalls
1. 2.
Robert Smalls authored state legislation providing for South Carolina to have the first free and compulsory public school system in the United States.
3.
Robert Smalls was a founder of the Republican Party of South Carolina and the last member of that party to represent South Carolina's 5th congressional district until the election of Mick Mulvaney in 2010.
4.
Robert Smalls was born on April 5,1839, in Beaufort, South Carolina, to Lydia Polite, a woman enslaved by Henry McKee.
5.
Robert Smalls gave birth to him in a cabin behind McKee's house, at 511 Prince Street in Beaufort, South Carolina.
6.
Robert Smalls grew up in the city under the influence of the Lowcountry Gullah culture of his mother.
7.
Robert Smalls's mother lived as a servant in the house, but she had grown up working in the fields.
8.
Robert Smalls was favored by McKee over other enslaved people, so his mother worried that he might grow up not understanding the plight of enslaved field workers, and she asked for him to be made to work in the fields and to witness whippings.
9.
When he was 12, at the request of his mother, Robert Smalls's master sent him to Charleston to hire out as a laborer for sixteen dollars a week, of which he was allowed to keep one dollar, the rest of the wage being paid to his master.
10.
Robert Smalls first worked in a hotel, then became a street lamplighter.
11.
Robert Smalls worked as a longshoreman, rigger and sailmaker, and he eventually worked his way up to become a wheelman, more or less a helmsman, though enslaved people were not permitted that title.
12.
At age 17, Robert Smalls married Hannah Jones, an enslaved hotel maid, in Charleston on December 24,1856.
13.
Robert Smalls was five years older than he was, and she already had two daughters.
14.
Robert Smalls aimed to pay for their freedom by purchasing them outright, but the price was steep, $800.
15.
Robert Smalls piloted the Planter throughout Charleston harbor and beyond, on area rivers and along the South Carolina, Georgia and Florida coasts.
16.
Robert Smalls appeared content and had the confidence of the Planters crew and owners, but, at some time in April 1862, he began to plan an escape.
17.
Robert Smalls discussed the matter with all of the other enslaved people in the crew except one, whom he did not trust.
18.
Robert Smalls had known that Smalls longed to escape but hadn't realized that he was formulating a plan and intended to execute it.
19.
Robert Smalls put on the captain's uniform and wore a straw hat similar to the captain's.
20.
Robert Smalls sailed the Planter past what was then called Southern Wharf and stopped at another wharf to pick up his wife and children and the families of other crewmen.
21.
Robert Smalls guided the ship past the five Confederate harbor forts without incident, as he gave the correct steam-whistle signals at checkpoints.
22.
Relyea, and Robert Smalls copied Relyea's manners and straw hat on deck to fool Confederate onlookers from shore and the forts.
23.
Robert Smalls refused, saying that such behavior would almost certainly arouse suspicion.
24.
Robert Smalls steered the ship along its normal path, slowly, as though he were merely enjoying the early morning air and in no particular hurry.
25.
When Fort Sumter flashed the challenge signal, Robert Smalls again gave the correct hand signs.
26.
The fort didn't immediately respond, and Robert Smalls now expected cannon fire to shred the Planter at any moment.
27.
Finally, the fort signaled that all was well, and Robert Smalls sailed his ship out of the harbor.
28.
The alarm was only raised after the ship was beyond gun range, for, rather than turn east towards Morris Island, Robert Smalls had headed straight for the Union Navy fleet, replacing the rebel flags with a white bed sheet that had been brought by his wife.
29.
The Onwards captain, John Frederick Nickels, boarded the Planter, and Robert Smalls asked for a United States flag to display.
30.
Robert Smalls surrendered the Planter and its cargo to the United States Navy.
31.
The Planter and description of Robert Smalls's actions were forwarded by Nickels to his commander, Capt.
32.
Robert Smalls gave detailed information about Charleston's defenses to Du Pont, commander of the blockading fleet.
33.
Robert Smalls, having just turned 23, quickly became known in the North as a hero for his daring exploit.
34.
Immediately after the capture, Robert Smalls was invited to travel to New York to help raise money for formerly enslaved people, but DuPont vetoed the proposal, and Robert Smalls began to serve the Union Navy, especially with his detailed knowledge of mines laid near Charleston.
35.
However, with the encouragement of Major General David Hunter, the Union commander at Port Royal, Robert Smalls went to Washington, DC, in August 1862 with Rev Mansfield French, a Methodist minister who had helped found Wilberforce University in Ohio and had been sent by the American Missionary Association to help formerly enslaved people at Port Royal.
36.
Robert Smalls worked as a civilian with the Navy until March 1863, when he was transferred to the Army.
37.
Robert Smalls was made pilot of the Crusader under Captain Alexander Rhind.
38.
Robert Smalls continued to pilot the Crusader and the Planter.
39.
Robert Smalls was present when the Planter was fired upon at several fights at Adam's Run on the Dawho River and at battles at Rockville, at John's Island, and at the Second Battle of Pocotaligo.
40.
When Union troops took the southern end of the Island, Robert Smalls was put in charge of the Light House Inlet as pilot.
41.
On December 1,1863, Robert Smalls was piloting the Planter under Captain James Nickerson on Folly Island Creek when Confederate batteries at Secessionville opened fire.
42.
Robert Smalls refused to surrender, fearing that the African-American crewmen would not be treated as prisoners of war and instead be summarily killed.
43.
Robert Smalls entered the pilothouse and took command of the boat and piloted it to safety.
44.
Later that spring, Robert Smalls piloted the Planter to Philadelphia for an overhaul.
45.
In 1864, Robert Smalls was seated in a streetcar in Philadelphia and was ordered to give his seat to a white passenger.
46.
Rather than ride on the open overflow platform, Robert Smalls left the car.
47.
Robert Smalls returned with the Planter to Charleston harbor in April 1865 for the ceremonial raising of the American flag again at Fort Sumter.
48.
Robert Smalls continued to pilot the Planter, serving a humanitarian mission of taking food and supplies to freedmen who had lost their homes and livelihoods during the war.
49.
Later sources state that Robert Smalls did receive a commission either in the Army or the Navy, but that he likely was officially a civilian throughout the war.
50.
Later in his life, when Robert Smalls sought a Navy pension, he learned that he had not been officially commissioned.
51.
Robert Smalls claimed that he had received an official commission from Gillmore but had lost it.
52.
In 1883, a bill passed committee to put him on the Navy retired list, but in the end it was halted, allegedly due to Robert Smalls being African American.
53.
Immediately following the war, Robert Smalls returned to his native Beaufort, where he purchased his former enslaver's house at 511 Prince St, which Union tax authorities had seized in 1863 for refusal to pay taxes.
54.
Later, the former owner sued to regain the property, but Robert Smalls retained ownership in the court case.
55.
Robert Smalls later allowed his former enslaver's wife, the elderly Jane McKee, to move into her former home prior to her death.
56.
Robert Smalls purchased a two-story Beaumont building to use as a school for African-American children.
57.
In 1866, Robert Smalls went into business in Beaufort with Richard Howell Gleaves, a businessman from Philadelphia.
58.
Robert Smalls was one of the founders of the South Carolina Republican Party.
59.
Robert Smalls was a delegate at the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention, where he worked to make free, compulsory schooling available to all South Carolina children.
60.
Robert Smalls served as a delegate at several Republican National Conventions, and he participated in the South Carolina Republican State conventions.
61.
In 1868, Robert Smalls was elected as the first black member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
62.
Robert Smalls was very effective, introducing a Homestead Act and a Civil Rights bill, the latter of which he worked to pass.
63.
In 1870, Jonathan Jasper Wright was elected judge of the South Carolina Supreme Court and Robert Smalls was elected to fill his unexpired time in the state Senate.
64.
Robert Smalls continued in the Senate, winning the 1872 election against W J Whipper.
65.
Robert Smalls served on the Finance Committee and was chairman of the Public Printing Committee.
66.
Robert Smalls was elected vice-president of the South Carolina Republican Party at its 1872 state convention.
67.
In 1873, Robert Smalls was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Third Regiment, South Carolina State Militia.
68.
Robert Smalls was later promoted to brigadier-general of the Second Brigade, South Carolina Militia, and to major-general of the Second Division, South Carolina State Militia.
69.
Robert Smalls held this position until 1877, when Democrats took control of the state government.
70.
In 1874, Robert Smalls was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served two terms from 1875 to 1879.
71.
Robert Smalls was elected from the 7th district and served from 1884 to 1887.
72.
Robert Smalls was a member of the 44th, 45th, 47th, 48th and 49th US Congresses.
73.
Robert Smalls was the last Republican elected from the 5th congressional district until 2010, when Mick Mulvaney took office.
74.
Robert Smalls was the second-longest serving African-American member of Congress until the mid-20th century.
75.
Robert Smalls was pardoned as part of an agreement by which charges were dropped against Democrats accused of election fraud.
76.
Robert Smalls successfully contested the 1880 result and regained the seat in 1882.
77.
Robert Smalls was nominated for Senate but defeated by Wade Hampton in December 1884.
78.
Robert Smalls was "the leading colored delegate" to the 1895 South Carolina constitutional convention.
79.
Robert Smalls died of malaria and diabetes on February 23,1915, at the age of 75.
80.
Robert Smalls was buried in his family's plot in the churchyard of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in downtown Beaufort.