Robert Smalls and Beaufort, South Carolina

One of the reasons I love Beaufort, South Carolina is because former slave and Congressman Robert Smalls lived in Beaufort before the Civil War, on 511 Prince Street. I love his true heroic story from the Civil War.

Robert Smalls (1839 – 1915) was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, on April 5th, 1839, in a slave cabin behind his mother’s master’s house on 511 Prince Street. In 1862 he escaped from

Charleston harbor aboard a steamer called the Planter with his family and several friends too. The boat had to pass by five Confederate check-points and then surrender its contents to the

northern Naval fleet out in the harbor where it was blockading the important southern port.

His escape succeeded and Robert would meet Abraham Lincoln

personally a couple weeks later. Lincoln was quite impressed with a black man (slave) who had learned how to pilot and navigate the coastal waterways around Charleston. Lincoln rewarded Smalls handsomely with bounty-money and a commission into the Union Navy as a captain of a vessel – the Planter! He was the first black Captain of a U.S. Naval vessel.

Three months later Smalls would visit Abraham Lincoln in the Whitehouse to plead the opportunity for

blacks to fight for the Union. Just days afterwards Lincoln approved the raising of the first black troops in the Blue uniform and Robert Smalls was instrumental in helping to start the 1st South Carolina Infantry of U.S. Colored Troops.

Smalls would go on to pilot the Planter for the Union cause and take pace in several important engagements around Charleston and the Sea Islands. After the Civil War he was elected among a few other blacks as they became the freshman class of blacks to serve as U.S. Congressmen.

Robert Smalls’s story is an amazing one of courage, determination, sacrifice, risk and reward – from

slavery to Congressman!

Here is a photo gallery of various images I have taken related to Smalls and Beaufort.

Corner of Carteret and Craven Streets in Beaufort. Site of former slave mart.

Corner of Carteret and Craven Streets in Beaufort. Site of former slave mart.

Model of The Planter; the ship Robert Smalls escaped upon.

Desk belonging to Smalls as a Congressman.

Images of Robert Smalls.

Bust of Robert Smalls; Tabernacle Baptist Church in background.

Robert's master was John and Henry (s0n) McKee. They are buried in nearby St. Helena Parish in Beaufort.

Robert Smalls and Charleston, South Carolina November 11, 2010 in Images | 2 comments (Edit)

The story of Robert Smalls also has deep roots in Charleston.

Robert Smalls would've passed by and observed slaves being sold on this spot.

Now the Dock Street Theatre, Robert Smalls, as a young boy was a waiter in what then was The Planter

Hotel.

When Robert Smalls first moved to Charleston in 1849, he cleaned street lamps for the city of Charleston.

Modern-day Southern Dock area in Charleston; site where The Planter was docked before it escaped.

The Planter had to sail past Fort Sumter's guards around 4"15 am the morning of the escape.

Stereoview of The Planter in 1866.

Signature of C.J. Relyea, captain of the Planter when Smalls escaped.

The actual Planter log book that Smalls sued to record activities of the Planter.