The Confederate Army opened fire on Fort Sumter 150 years ago today, plunging this country into a war intended to preserve the institution of black slavery. It thus feels like a good day to honor the memory of an African American who was true Union hero in the course of the war: Robert Smalls.
In the pre-dawn hours May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls and a crew of black men commandeered a Confederate transport steamer loaded with armaments, and docked outside the home and office of its commander. They gathered Smalls’s wife and children along with 12 other slaves from another port, sailed past Confederate troops, and raised the flag of surrender at the Union blockade, delivering to the Union Navy what the northern press soon referred to as “the first trophy from Fort Sumter.”
Robert Smalls was born in 1839 in a South Carolina slave cabin, the only child of 49 year old Lydia Smalls, his father apparently a white man (possibly either his mother’s owner, or a Jewish merchant named Moses Goldsmith). Smalls worked as a house slave until he was 12, and was thereafter hired out, allowed to keep $1 a month of his pay.
At age 18 (and by now a married man), Smalls negotiated a deal with his owner which allowed him to keep $15 a month; when Smalls’s wife Hannah Jones had their first child, he negotiated a second deal, enabling him to buy Hannah and their little girl for $800. Robert, Jr. was born in 1861.
As a hired hand, Smalls worked in a wide range of professions, including waiter, lamplighter, stevedore, ship rigger and sailor. Hired as a deckhand on a Confederate gun-boat, the Planter, Smalls was made its pilot.
It was Smalls’s knowledge of the ship and the Confederate Navy that allowed him to evade capture once the Planter was under his control: He wore the captain’s hat and stood as a captain would in the pilot house, giving the appropriate whistle signals until he reached the blockade, where he raised a flag of surrender before Union vessels could fire.
‘One of the most heroic acts of the war,’ reported the New York Times on May 19, 1862. Later, the commander of the Union navy along the South Atlantic coast, Rear Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont, pronounced it ‘one of the coolest and most gallant naval acts of war.’ (Historynet.com)
Newspaper editorials citing Smalls’ gallantry shattered stereotypes about the capability of blacks. An editorial in the New York Daily Tribune said, “Is he not also a man – and is he not fit for freedom, since he made such a hazardous dash to gain it? . . . Is he not a man and a hero – whose pluck has not been questioned by even The Charleston Courier or The New York Herald? . . . What white man has made a bolder dash, or won a richer prize in the teeth of such perils during the war? . . . Perhaps [blacks are inferior to whites] but they seem to possess good material for improvement. Few white men have a better record than Robert Smalls.” (The Robert Smalls Foundation)
Smalls continued to serve with distinction at the helm of the Planter throughout the war, eventually returning to South Carolina, where he bought the home of his former masters. He then went on to help found the South Carolina Republican Party, and served in the South Carolina House of Representatives, the South Carolina Senate, and the US Congress.
On a personal level, considering this story, I’m struck by the sheer arrogance involved in hiring a slave to pilot a Confederate vessel. Did the commander and crew think him uninterested in freedom, or lacking in the courage or foresight to try to gain it? This was, after all, a man who had negotiated an actual salary (however small) from his master, and managed to purchase the freedom of his wife and child (to the tune of what would be the equivalent of more than $20,000 in today’s currency) before his 22nd birthday.
I also can’t get over the fact that Lydia Smalls was 49 when Robert was born — even today, that’s pretty late to be having a baby. What’s the story behind his conception? Was it rape, or did Lydia have a relationship — however understood — with either or both of the white men who may have been Robert’s father? Was there joy at finally having a child of her own? Was their sorrow at bringing another person into slavery? And did she — please God — live long enough to see her only child take on the Confederate navy?
I hope she did.
I hope she knew that the child born into a slave cabin ultimately won the freedom of more than a dozen other slaves, and made a crucial contribution to advancing the United States to the day (mere months later, on January 1, 1863) on which President Lincoln would declare that “all persons held as slaves… are, and henceforward shall be free.”
I hope she knew her child was an American hero.
Crossposted at Emily L. Hauser In My Head.
Wow, that was a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing it, Emily.
Thank you! All props to Ta-Nehisi Coates, who last year mentioned four different southerners who were Union heroes, and I realized I’d never heard of any of them, so I edumacated myself! The others were General George Henry Thomas, Elizabeth Van Lew, and Andre Cailloux. (This post is an adaptation of what I wrote about Smalls last year, before ABL & I even knew each other existed — I think it’s much better this time around!)
Thanks for fleshing the story out for me, Emily. I, too, first read about Smalls at TNC’s blog, but the detail you’ve provided is much appreciated.
I’m going to have to take a little credit for tipping you off on Pap Thomas. If you’ve seen him mentioned at either TNC’s place or in the comments on Dennis G’s Civil War posts at Balloon Juice, I’m probably the person who dropped Thomas’ name in the first place. The man has been seriously overlooked by historians, though that seems to be changing. IMO, he was the best general officer on either side during the Civil War.
Ooh, thanks again. I’m gonna check those folks out, too.
Upon your advisement, The Committee has decided to reapportion the props so TNC gets his fair share. However, The Committee, in great appreciation of your work, must insist that you receive a significant amount of props. So, The Committee is pleased to announce that we have doubled the initial award of props, awarded as follows: 1/2 (or all the initial props, per your suggestion) go to TNC, and 1/2 go to you. Congratulations! The prize patrol is on its way.
Heh, seriously though, I always enjoy your writing, but I think this one hit a special place for me.
Keep up the great work.
:) This made me laugh, and as I am neck-deep in pre-Passover cleaning, laughter is much appreciated!
I await the prize patrol with bated breath.
We can leave the bagels on the counter, or put them away while you’re at work.
The prize committee has many pranks ready for your Seder preparation enjoyment….you can also leave the door open and we can send up your props with Elijah.
I’m pretty bushed but Robert Smalls picked me up. Thanks.
Thanks Emily for sharing this excellent story about Robert Smalls.
Emily, thank you so much for this…it’s true, you learn something new–and inspirational–every day.
most excellent, thank you. I cannot believe we don’t learn about them in school….wait, what? jeepers, sorry I forgot the times in which we live. yes, I’m talking to you Texas School Board people who have succeeded in ‘whitewashing’ our history.
you rock Emily
Robert Smalls father is an unknown white man which means his mom most likely was raped by her master his father.
http://www.robertsmalls.org/family-tree.htm
Great story, thanks for sharing…I had never heard of him.
Thanks so much for the post about Robert Smalls, my great great grandfather. I’ll add a few tidbits, if I may. Robert’s mother’s name was Lydia Polite. No one knows where the name “Smalls” came from – perhaps it derived from his stature. You are most certainly right that he was the product of a rape from Lydia’s master. I think the talk about “Goldsmith” is an historical effort to deflect focus from the obvious.
There are lots of stories within the family about how Lydia had an enormous impact on Robert’s development; one can only surmise that without regard to the circumstances of his conception, that she loved him dearly and invested everything she had into helping him become the man he was.
In terms of whether she saw him free – the answer is yes. Curiously, she was actually “free” before he was. As I understand it, the Union army took control of the area around Beaufort during the war and, in effect, liberated the slaves there prior to 5/13/1862 – when Robert was a bit further north in Charleston.
You make a great point about the arrogance/ignorance of the officers of the Planter. This is a key aspect of talks I give about Robert Smalls. It’s as if you took a starving person and put them in front of an amazing buffet, left the room, and expected them to NOT reach out and feed themselves. It illustrates the mindset of America at that time when people of African descent were thought of in the same way that one would think of a horse or ox or mule. Robert’s act shocked so many because it caused them to rethink their ridiculous conceptions about those enslaved.
A couple of interesting points about Robert’s accomplishments – after the acclaim of his feat, he met with President Lincoln and persuaded him to accept former slaves into the Union Army. Some historians suggest that the infusion of those incremental resources was the “boost” that the Union needed to help them win the war. As well, when he was in the SC legislature, he authored legislation that created in SC the first free, compulsory, public schools in the nation. Among other things, one can say that Smalls is the father of public school education in America. A few years ago, the US Army honored Smalls with a ship in his name, the MG Robert Smalls. It’s the only ship named after a Civil War era person or an African American!
Thanks again for the post!!
Thank you so much for coming by with this information! Wow. I was already a great admirer of your great-great grandfather, and am even more so now — I’d love to use your comment as a follow-up post, both here and at my own place. Please email me at elhauser [at] hotmail [dot] com, if that sounds like something you’d like to do!
Thanks so much!