Biographical Sidebar:
Robert Smalls

Among the most celebrated black heroes of the Civil War, Robert Smalls (1839-1915) had a political career that stretched into the twentieth century.

Born a slave in Beaufort, South Carolina, Smalls worked on the Charleston docks before the Civil War.

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Employed by the Confederacy as a pilot on the Planter, Smalls and and seven other black sailors secretly guided the ship out of Charleston harbor in May 1862 and delivered it to federal forces. In the process, Smalls succeeded in helping eight other men, five women, and three children to escape from slavery. The Confederacy offered a $4,000 reward for his capture.

He was given a reward of $1,500 and made a second lieutenant in the Union navy. Smalls later earned the rank of captain during the Civil War.