A brief history of Robert Smalls from the Jan. 26th Beaufort Gazette.
Smalls was born a slave in Beaufort April 5, 1839. During the Civil War, he was the pilot of the CSS Planter operating in Charleston Harbor. On May 13, 1862, Smalls and the black crew took over control of the ship and sailed out of the heavily fortified Charleston Harbor to the Union blockading fleet and turned the vessel over.
The crew and especially Smalls became immediate heroes in the north and even met President Lincoln. Smalls was given command of the USS Planter.
After the war, he returned to South Carolina and entered politics, serving as a state representative from 1868-1870 ans state senator 1870-1874. From 1874 to 1886 he served off and on in the US House of Representatives.
In 1889 he was appointed Collector of Customs at Beaufort. He died February 22, 1915.
Quite a Life. --B-R
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