Further information on yesterday's account of the new army vessel, USS Major General Robert Smalls.
The Planter was an armed Confederate military transport. On May 12, 1862, while three white officers were ashore, Robert Smalls and several other black crew members took the ship and went over to a nearby ship where Smalls' family and relatives of the other crew members were hiding.
They then took the ship and sailed past the Confederate forts guarding Charleston Harbor to the Union blockading fleet and hoisted a white flag in surrender.
Afterwards, Smalls' knowledge of Charleston's defenses provided valuable intelligence to Union operations.
Smalls also was involved in the effort to get Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to permit blacks to serve in the Union Army. This led to the first black regiment formed at Port Royal, SC, the 1st SC Volunteers.
Robert Smalls served as a pilot onboard the USS Keokuk, an experimental monitor, that sank after being struck by 90 projectiles in the April 7, 1863 attack on Charleston.
Blockade-Runner
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