Academic Standards

Standard 3-4: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the events that led to the Civil War, the course of the War and Reconstruction, and South Carolina’s role in these events.

Historical Background Notes

As a Civil War hero and politician, Robert Smalls’ career of over forty years coincided with the rise and decline of the Republican Party in South Carolina during the nineteenth century.  Born enslaved in Beaufort on April 5, 1839, Robert Smalls began his life as a house slave for the family of his owner, Henry McKee.  In 1851, he was hired out as a laborer in Charleston, working in a variety of jobs and eventually as a ship rigger and sailor.  In July 1861, he took a job as a deck hand on a harbor boat called The Planter for $16 a month.  The Planter was chartered to run munitions among the widespread Confederate fortifications in the Charleston harbor.  Robert Smalls gained notoriety on May 13, 1863, when he and his crew drove The Planter through and outside of the Charleston Harbor to the Union blockade (Miller 1995, 2).

Among the intelligence information passed on to Union authorities, an important piece was that Confederate fortifications on Cole's Island on the Stono River had been disarmed, allowing Union forces to occupy this area without resistance.  As a skilled pilot who was familiar with the waters, Smalls was able to give important details about the area.

By April 1863, Smalls took part in a Union attempt to take the Charleston Harbor.  A flotilla of ironclads, led by a 3,500-ton battleship, approached the harbor at a point between Forts Moultrie and Sumter.  Shells were exchanged for hours and eventually the Union flotilla retreated in what was the last naval attempt to take Charleston. 

Smalls became a war hero to the Union cause.  In describing his actions in a speech at a later date, Robert Smalls said, “Although born a slave I always felt that I was a man and ought to be free, and I would be free or die.”  He said he felt that “The Planter might be of some service to Uncle Abe.”  (Miller 1995, 3).

After the war, Smalls returned to his native Beaufort, and he purchased the home of his former master.  As one of the founders of the state’s Republican party, Smalls was a delegate to the 1868 Constitution, and he represented Beaufort County in the state House of Representatives and the state Senate.  In 1874, Smalls was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served intermittently until 1886.  As a political force during the turbulent postbellum era, Smalls fought for the interests of his constituents, which consisted largely of formerly enslaved African Americans of the Lowcountry. 

Lesson Plans

Credit

T. Lynn Moseley
Granby Education Center