How Former Slave Robert Smalls Seized a Confederate Ship and Sailed it to Freedom

Starbucks You can make a moment. So next time you order your morning coffee. Treat someone else and make their day to tell them you're grateful for them where they've got their back or simply to say thanks share the moment. Download the Starbucks at feeling a little foggy in the mornings little more forgetful. That's junk sleep those tossing and turning on restful nights from sleeping on a mattress that's not right for you to let the highly trained sleep experts at mattress firm help you find the perfect mattress billions mattress mentor technology to connect you with the ideal sleep products. And just like that no more junk sleep talk to a mattress firm sleep expert and on junk your sleep today. Visited mattress firm store near you go to mattress firm.com after the last two years of staying home. No one wants to spend the day inside doing laundry.

That's why all three clear mega packs are bigger with twice the cleaning ingredients compared to a regular pack to give you a confident clean all three clear mega packs are hundred percent free of dyes and perfumes and gentle on skin even while they're tough on stains conquer the laundry and get on with your day purchase all three clear mega packs a day. 00.

This is our American stories we tell stories read everything you're on the show will knowing lots of stories about history and all of our history stories brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College we learn all the things that matter and like all the things that are beautiful in life to get to Hillsville will still come to you with a free and terrific online courses. The Constitution 101 course the best storytelling about founding document Constitution that I've ever seen go to Hillsville.edu find that Hillsville.edu Arctic story comes to us from man who simply known as the history God's videos watched by hundreds of thousands of people of all ages on you to and he's been telling stories regularly here on our American story is a history guy with the tail of an estate slave turned legend name Robert Robert smalls was born into slavery in 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina. His mother was a slave in his father's not know.

Although it may well have been his own and remedy use Mickey rented Robert out as a laborer with McTighe receiving the Robert was fond of the sea, so started taking work at the Charleston docs first as a stevedore unloading ships and working the dogs and then on boats as a sailor, filmmaker, fisherman. Eventually he came to know the waters of the Carolina coast well was a skilled boat pilot. Even though slaves were not given the title in 1856 Robert married another slave hotel maid named Joe.

The couples trust enough to live apart from their older, although the owner still took most of their pay.

They had a daughter and then a son who died at the two Civil War started, just up from his door at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, the Confederacy recognized Robert skill impressed with the services the wheelman were the CSS planter aside real steamer that been converted into an armed dispatch. The planter delivered dispatches troops and supplies as well as laid mines been called torpedoes to protect the harbor. Robert was a trusted member of the crew is piloting skills were valuable given his knowledge and experience with the coast.

But Robert, like almost any person who is being treated as property wanted freedom. This is particularly important to him as him as owner was abusive and he feared she might be sold away. He wished to buy her freedom, but did not have enough money, they had to escape and in May 1862 he saw his chance. Also notice that the Confederate officers made a habit of leaving the ship at night so he and the other eight slaves aboard the plan.

On May 12, 1862. The planter was docked in Charleston. A load of 14 men that were intended at the city's defense when in the evening the officers left the ship smalls in the crew took the boat met with their families at a prearranged spot in the harbor and fled to the Union blockade. This was no simple feet been caught they would all certainly have been executed. The harbor was well defended with five Confederate harbor siege capable of destroying boat smalls knew all the proper signals and even impersonated the End of the front of the boat. Once free of the harbor, they lower the Confederate flag and put up a white sheet hoping the ships of the Union blockade would see it yet they were still nearly fired upon by the federal blockade fleet is the captain of the arm clipper USS onward, seeing the Confederate gunboat ordered the guns to ready but accruing with binoculars. Smalls and his compatriots waving frantically from the deck. Once the captain of the onward reported the planter smalls reportedly asked if they had a union flag for the ship to fly incredibly small citations plan allowed him to not only steely Confederate warship from a well defended port and delivered as a prize to the union but also deliver nine families from slavery. Smalls became a hero in the union, but the Confederacy put a $4000 bounty on his head. His knowledge of the Charleston defenses was invaluable when he immediately went into the service of the Union Navy acting as a pilot abortive number of vessels including aboard the now USS planter having laid mines of Confederacy now helped to remove them.

In 1883 report noted that he participated in 17 Civil War battles and engagement including serving as pilot of the ironclad USS Peacock during the disastrous attack on Charleston April 7, 1863. The ship was savaged by Fort Sumter.Chip was able to withdraw her own power in large part to smalls considerable piloting skills in December 1863, he was back aboard USS planter when the steamer got caught in the crossfire between Union and Confederate troops near Folly Island. The captain of the boat. James Nickerson panic can order the boat to surrender. Smalls refused, knowing that he and the other black sailors would face execution if they were captured, he took command was able to navigate the boat outside the guns, for he is here with them he was made captain of the planter the first black man to command the United States ship during the war he engaged in other heroics as well was instrumental in convincing Abraham Lincoln insectivore Edwin Stanton to allow the recruitment of black troops into the Union army recruit former slaves for the first volunteer South Carolina Regiment, one of the first black regiments.

He supported efforts to raise money to educate former slaves and himself achieved literacy. He was voted an unofficial delegate to the Republican national convention in 1864. Also that year, or one is forced to give up his seat to a white passenger on a Philadelphia streetcar. He left the car rather than sit in the open overflow platform that small act of rebellion help to motivate the state of Pennsylvania to integrate public transportation in 1867.

Following the war.

Smalls was a delegate to the 1868 South Carolina constitutional convention.

He was elected to the state House of Representatives and then to the state Senate and in 1874 was elected to the US House of Representatives. But this was a brutal era in US politics work anti-reconstructionist prequel used violence and intimidation to shadow organizations of the Democrats, such as the Ku Klux Klan of the South Carolina redshirts 35 African-American officials were murdered by such organizations. During the period of reconstruction smalls life was threatened by a group of our redshirts at a political rally in 1876 over his long political career he entered were threats of violence also trumped up charges and open intimidation of voters. The young men who escaped slavery by audaciously stealing a warship never faltered in the face of adversity escaping because he could not afford to purchase his wife's freedom after the war he used some of the money awarded by the union as a prize for the capture of the CSS planter to purchase his former owner's home. The young hero who played a pivotal role in incorporating black soldiers of the federal army was eventually a Maj. Gen. in the South Carolina militia in 2004, when the U.S. Army need a massive best in class logistic support vessel, the US Navy Maj. Gen. Robert smalls became the first US Army vessel to be named after an African-American doing all he faced terrible threats and discrimination in the end even had a fight for his pension spiking the first black captain of United States ship it never actually officially been commissioned because of the color of his skin technically served throughout the war, including 17 engagements as a civilian. Robert smalls died of diabetes 1915, at the age of 75. The inscription on his monument is a quotation from a statement he made to the South Carolina legislature in 1895. My race needs no special effects for the past history of them in this country proves them to be the equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life and a special thanks to the history like to subscribe to his YouTube channel and I urge you to do it. It's a history guy. History deserves to be remembered history guy history deserves to be remembered. And thanks to Greg and the production on the piece in my goodness, what final words. My race needs no special defense for the past history of them in this country proves them to be "of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of and we told a lot of stories here on the show, particularly the iniquities perpetuated by this country on African-Americans story going that needs to be remembered and told and redo it here until all the stories this country from good and not so good and Robert smalls ability to triumph. Despite these difficulties, I goodness.

If anyone of us walk in his shoes and do the same Robert smalls story here on our American stores