May 13, 1862

May 13, 1862: Charleston, South Carolina - The C.S.S. Planter Caper: On this date, Robert Smalls, a slave who is also a trained and licensed harbor pilot in Charleston Harbor, decides to escape bondage along with a number of his friends and their families. The CSS Planter, a speedy, shallow-draft steamer, had been appropriated by the Confederate Navy and equipped with two swivel guns and used for transport duties around the intercoastal waterways near Charleston. A contingent of white officers and eight slaves were her crew. 

C.S.S. Planter

Smalls is the ship’s quartermaster and chief helmsman. On the evening of May 12, the ship’s captain ties her up at the South Wharf at Charleston, and he, the mate, and the engineer go ashore to spend the night. After Smalls and some of his shipmates pick up their wives and children at another wharf, they steam into the night, blasting the steam whistle signals at the appropriate intervals as they pass Ft. Johnson, then Ft. Sumter, and then past Ft. Wagner at the mouth of the harbor, and Rebel signalmen begin to suspect something is wrong. Smalls pilots the Planter toward the USS Onward, with a white flag at the fore. Lt. Nickels of the Onward comes on board and hoists the U.S. colors on the Rebel vessel. Smalls and the Planter, supplemented by a small prize crew from the USS Augusta, steams to Port Royal and reports to Commodore John Dahlgren, who praises Smalls’ enterprise—and praises Smalls as "superior to any who has yet come into the lines, intelligent as many of them have been." Du Pont even insist that Smalls "continue to employ Robert as a pilot on board the Planter for the inland waters, with which he appears to be very familiar." Smalls is commissioned as Master’s Mate, a warrant officer rank, and eventually is made Captain of the Planter until the end of the war. After the war, Smalls serves in the South Carolina legislature, the State Senate, and then Congress, where he serves for 12 years.

Robert Smalls, USN