Robert Smalls Biography
by Staff EditorRobert Smalls was a free black man who was employed as a harbor pilot in March of 1862. When Smalls was just twelve years old, he was hired by his owner to work in the Charleston, South Carolina, shipyard. By the time Smalls was twenty-three he could sail a steam-powered ship through the waterways around Charleston. While here, Smalls stumbled upon plans for Confederacy in 1862. These plans revealed that Confederate troops were to evacuate and destroy the harbor of the small Florida town of Fernandina upon their withdrawal. Robert Smalls realized that it was important to the Union to keep Fernandina open as a base for Union operations on nearby Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston was one of the only Southern ports with railway access that could transport supplies to Richmond and other notable Confederate supply centers. Thus, he led a solo mission to a Union warship that was docked outside Fernandina, poised to attack.
Acting on the information Robert Smalls provided, Union troops were able to attack Fernandina before the Confederate Navy could destroy the harbor. Smalls' intelligence was considered to be so significant that the Secretary of the Department of the Navy described it in detail to President Lincoln in his annual report.
Robert Smalls did much more for the Navy. On May 13, 1862, along with a few black crewmen and his family, Smalls sailed a Confederate patrol ship operating out of Charleston away from the harbor. He sailed the ship, the “Planter,” out of the harbor after its captain and crew had gone home. Smalls pretended to be the ship's captain and in the dark of night, was able to provide all the proper signaling to avoid suspicion and challenge from other harbor fortifications. He sailed the Planter all the way to Union blockades and promptly turned the ship over to the Union. For this he and his crewmen were rewarded with a check totaling half the appraised value of the ship. In addition to giving the Union the Planter, Robert Smalls revealed any Confederate intelligence he knew. The Union made Smalls the civilian captain of the Planter, which fought in 17 battles. Robert Smalls was considered a war time hero and even met President Lincoln.
Robert Smalls After the Civil War
At the end of the Civil War, Robert Smalls decided to go back to his beginnings. However, this time Smalls bought his once Master’s home including the slave quarters in which he was born. He spent his remaining years residing in South Carolina. Once living in South Carolina, Robert Smalls got involved with politics. He eventually served for 2 years in South Carolina’s house of representatives, and then 3 years in the state senate. As a senator Smalls was sent to prison for accepting a bribe. He was to serve a sentence of 3 years, but he was pardoned. In 1875, Robert Smalls was elected to the United States House of Representatives. Here Smalls served for five terms. For the last 19 years of his life, Robert Smalls served as a collector for a South Carolina port, Beaufort. In 1897, the United States Congress granted him a thirty dollar pension per month. Finally, in 1900, Robert Smalls was awarded an amount of $5,000 for his role in capturing the “Planter.”
