Robert Smalls Essay Research Paper THE LIFE

Robert Smalls Essay, Research Paper

THE LIFE OF A BLACK CIVIL WAR HERO:

ROBERT SMALLS

BY

JIMMY K. A. CROSS

1 OCTOBER 1998

The United States of America was founded on the principles of equality and opportunity for all. In the 1800’s these principles were not strictly adhered to by all and a tremendous battle ensued. That battle was the United States Civil War in which northerners, wishing an end to slavery, found themselves at war with southerners, who wanted slavery to remain in place. The Civil War was a conflict that saw the rich and the poor, the famous and the unknown, and the black and the white pitted against each other in mortal combat. During the war, it was not uncommon for someone to rise from obscurity to being recognized as a war hero. This research paper discusses the life of one of those individuals, a black man named Robert Smalls.

Robert Smalls was born a slave on April 5, 1839, in a slave quarters behind a house at 501 Prince Street, in Beaufort, a coastal town in the Sea Islands of South Carolina. Smalls was known as Small during his early years and until shortly after the Civil War. His mother, Lydia, was a house servant for her owner, John McKee. Although there is great dispute as to who his father was it is generally agreed that he was white. (Miller 7) Upon McKee’s death, Smalls and his mother were inherited by his son, Henry McKee. Henry McKee, according to Smalls, was a very kindly man toward his slaves. Although he did not encourage so, he didn.t aggressively prohibit his slaves from learning to read and write. McKee even made an arrangement with Smalls that gave Smalls the freedom to obtain employment.

In 1861, McKee sold the Prince Street house and fled the area, fearing it.s occupation by Union forces. With his authorization to obtain employment in hand, Smalls moved to Charleston and hired out as a laborer, first as a waiter at the Planter hotel, then as a lamplighter for a city contractor, and, finally, as a stevedore on the Charleston docks. It was his job as a stevedore that led him to employment with John Simmons, who hired Smalls as a ship rigger in the winter and a coastal

vessel sailor in the summer. It was during this employment that Smalls became an expert pilot of boats along the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia.

In 1858, Smalls married Hannah Jones, a slave that was working as a hotel maid. According to Smalls, the marriage was not a bonding as a matter of love on his part, but as a matter of the household services a wife would render to him. (Miller 9) A daughter, Elizabeth Lydia, was born to the couple in 1859 and a son, Robert Jr., was born in 1861. Smalls made an agreement with his wife’s owner to purchase his wife and daughter for the sum of $800. It is not known whether this or any other agreement included the purchase of his son. When Smalls had saved approximately $700 toward the purchase, he fled Charleston with his family, having never made payment toward the agreement.

In 1861, Smalls accepted a job as a deck hand aboard the Planter, a cotton steamer. When the Civil War began, the Planter was pressed into service for the Confederacy. Smalls was soon promoted to wheelman. His position was actually that of pilot, but at the time Southerners did not assign this title to blacks. Smalls, seeking to obtain freedom for himself and his family, began planning to steal away with the Planter and turn it over to Union forces. On the evening of May 12, 1862, the Planter docked in Charleston. District standing orders, at the time, stipulated that at least one white officer remain aboard the boat at all times to prevent an uprising of black slaves and crewmen. On this particular night, however, Captain C. J. Relyea and all of his white officers had gone ashore to attend a party. This provided Smalls and his fellow conspirators with the opportunity they had been planning for. They quickly loaded their families who had been waiting in hiding on other vessels. At approximately 3 a.m. on May 13th, the Planter got up steam, Smalls hoisted the Palmetto and Confederate flags and headed to the north Atlantic wharf to pick up his family and some others. His experiences gained under the employment of John Simmons and in

piloting the Planter served him well in navigating the craft. He successfully navigated down the South Channel, giving the correct steam whistle at Fort Johnson and again at Fort Sumter, past Confederate forces. In a daring move, Smalls actually wore Captain Relyea’s straw hat and stood in plain view in the wheelhouse to increase their chances of success. Finally, in the early hours of the morning, the Planter and her runaway crew approached the Union warship U.S.S. Onward of the blockading fleet stationed off the Charleston coast. Smalls surrendered the ship to the Onward’s commander, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant J. F. Nickels saying “Good morning, sir! I’ve brought you some of the old United States guns, sir!” (Miller 1) The Planter was considered to be a valuable prize as she could carry as many a 1,000 troops, and her shallow draft allowed her to safely navigate most of the coastal waters. The actions of Smalls were considered especially daring as the Planter had served as the headquarters ship for Brigadier General Roswell S. Ripley, commander of the Second Military District of South Carolina, and Smalls had stolen the ship fro