Perhaps the most notable act performed by a colored American during
the war was the capture and delivery to the United States forces of
the rebel steamer Planter, by Robert Smalls, of Charleston. Smalls was
employed as pilot on the Planter, a rebel transport, and was entirely
familiar with the harbors and inlets, of which there are many, on the
South Atlantic coast. On May 13, 1862, the Planter came to her wharf
in Charleston, and at night all the white officers went ashore,
leaving a colored crew of eight men on board in charge of Smalls.
Smalls hastily got his wife and three children on board, and at 2
o'clock on the morning of the 14th steamed out into the harbor,
passing the Confederate forts by giving the proper signals, and when
fairly out of reach, as daylight came, he ran up the Stars and Stripes
and headed his course directly toward the Union fleet, into whose
hands he soon surrendered himself and his ship. The act caused much
favorable comment and Robert Smalls became quite a hero. His
subsequent career has been in keeping with the high promise indicated
by this bold dash for liberty, and his name has received additional
lustre from gallant services performed in the war after, and in
positions of distinguished honor and responsibility in civil life. The
Planter, after being accepted by the United States, became a despatch
boat, and Smalls demonstrating by skill and bravery his fitness for
the position, was finally, as an act of imperative justice, made her
commander.
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