African American Sailor

The Escape.

While their white officers slept peacefully in Charleston, the slave crew aboard the Confederate gunboat Planter made a daring run for Northern vessels anchored off the coast of South Carolina. During the predawn hours of 13 May 1862, the ship's pilot, Robert Smalls, and his crew sailed the vessel from its dock in Charleston Harbor, discreetly slipped past Confederate cannons at Fort Sumter, and surrendered the ship to the Union blockading squadron. Startled by the fast approaching ship, Northern seamen prepared their guns to fire, but quickly stopped after a sailor spotted a white flag. The astonished Northerners seized the ship with its four unmounted guns and crew of eight African American males (five women and three children were also aboard). The remarkable tale of the Planter quickly spread throughout the divided nation, making Smalls a hero in the North and an...