Robert Smalls is recognized as the most significant native Beaufortonian in our long history. His birth was inauspicious; yet his influence has been far reaching and enduring through time.
Robert Smalls began life as a slave in Beaufort, South Carolina on 5 April 1839. He was taken to Charleston by his owner, Henry McKee in 1851. McKee agreed to hire Robert Smalls out as a tradesman for a set commission of $15 a month. By the outbreak of the Civil War, Smalls was able to pay $800 for the freedom of his wife and daughter.
Smalls' keen navigational skills earned him a job as the pilot of the Confederate gunboat The Planter in March 1861. On May 12, 1862, he confiscated The Planter and delivered it and its cargo of artillery to the Union blockade fleet in Charleston Harbor sailing it out under the Confederate sentries. A day later, May 13, Smalls to spoke with Union Admiral DuPont, who afterwards wrote to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that "this man, Robert Smalls, is superior to any who has yet come into our lines, intelligent as many of them have been. His information has been most interesting, and portions of it of utmost importance. … I shall continue to employ Robert as a pilot on board The Planter for inland waters. "
Commissioned as a second lieutenant in Company B, 33rd Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops, Robert Smalls fought in 17 battles in the Civil War, including the Pocotaligo, Coosawhatchie and Combahee raids and the burning of Bluffton. The Planter would often stay just out of range of Confederate artillery guns to taunt the enemy.
Using some of the money he got as a bonus for delivering the Planter to the Union, Robert Smalls bought the house that had once belonged to his owners. As he continued to buy property, Smalls owned most of the block he lived on. The 1870 Census set the value of his real estate at $6,000 (about $83,000 in current value).
After the Civil War, he was elected to the State House of Representatives (1868-1870) and the State Senate (1870-1875), finally serving for five terms (1875-1879 and 1882-1887) in the United States House of Representatives. Smalls backed progressive causes. Smalls's last public office was that of customs collector (1889-1912), when Beaufort was still an active port. Plagued for the last two years of his life by malaria, rheumatism and diabetes, Smalls died in his sleep at home on February 23, 1915.
The Library provides many resources about Robert Smalls.
A curriculum unit on Robert Smalls designed for Gifted and Talented students is available through the Civil War Preservation Trust website.
Don't forget that Penn Center is hosting the "Life and Legacy of Robert Smalls" celebration, concluding with a lecture by Dennis Cannady, ship model builder of the SS Planter, on Saturday, beginning at 10:00am in the York W. Bailey Museum. Contact Penn Center 843-838-2474 or info@penncenter.com for more details about the exhibit and lecture.
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