ROBERT SMALLS
1839-1915
Robert Smalls
Early Life
• Born a slave April 5,1839 in Beaufort, SC
• Son of Lydia Polite, a house slave for John K.
McKee – had a tremendous impact on his life
• At 12 years old, sent to Charleston to hire
himself out for pay; until he turned 18, his owner
received all but $1.00 of Small’s pay. At 18
negotiated with owner to keep $15 per month of
his pay.
• At 17, married Hannah Jones,32, a slave hotel
maid on December 24, 1856.
• After a daughter Elizabeth Lydia was born,
Smalls entered a contract with his owner,
Samuel Kingman, to buy his wife and child
for $800. A son, Robert, Jr. was born in
1861.
• Hired in 1861 as a deckhand on the
Planter, a transport steamer serving
Brigadier General Roswell Ripley,
commander of the Second Military District
of SC.
• Smalls advanced and became a pilot of
the Planter.
USS Keokuk
1863
May 13, 1862
• Commandeered the Confederate transport
ship, the Planter on May 13, 1862.
• Smalls, age 23, along with his wife,
children and 12 other slaves escaped to
Union forces.
Impact of liberating the Planter
• NY Daily Tribune:
• “Is he not also a man – and is he not fit for
freedom, since he made such a hazardous dash
to gain it?....Is he not a man and a hero—whose
pluck has not been questioned by even the
Charleston Courier or the New York
Herald?...What white man has made a bolder
dash, or won a richer prize in the teeth of such
perils during war?...Perhaps [blacks are inferior
to whites] but they seem to possess good
material for improvement. Few white men have
a better record than Robert Smalls.”
• Along with missionary Mansfield French,
Met with Secretary of War Stanton and
President Lincoln in 1862.
– Requested and received permission to recruit
5,000 troops
– Sent on a speaking tour of New York to raise
support for the Union cause.
• Smalls provided valuable information to
Union Forces
– Directed Union Commander Marchand to
“cross the bar with several gunboats and
occupy Stono. The river was occupied as far
up as Legareville, and examinations extended
further, to ascertain the position of the
enemies’ batteries. The seizure of Stono Inlet
and river secured an important base for future
operations, and was virtually a turning of the
forces in Charleston harbor.” (Navy Report to
President Lincoln) May 1862
– Contributions of contrabands
• April 7, 1863 – pilot of ironclad Keokuk
during the failed Union attack on Fort
Sumter. Keokuk struck 90+ times.
• (1st Battle of Charleston Harbor)
• December 1, 1863, Smalls became the
first black captain of a vessel in the service
of the U.S.
– Daughter, Sarah Voorhees, was born on the
same date.
• Smalls taught to read and write by tutors
• After the Civil War, became a major
general in the South Carolina militia and a
state legislator.
• Hanna died in 1883
• Married Annie Elizabeth Wigg in 1890;
they had one son, Robert Smalls
• Annie died in 1895
Political Life
• Member of the U.S. House of
Representatives (SC 5th and 7th Districts)
Republican Party (Beaufort, SC)
• March 1875-March 1879
• July 1862-March 1883
• March 1884-March 1887
• Submitted legislation that created the first
public schools in South Carolina; SC
Public Accommodation Act; U.S.
Legislation that created Parris Island
Marine Base
• Served as U.S. Collector of Customs in
Beaufort, SC for nearly 20 years.
• Was the most powerful African American
male in South Carolina for five decades
“My Race needs no special defense,
for the past history of them in this country
proves them to be equal of any people anywhere.
All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life.”
Robert Smalls, November 1, 1895
The LSV-8 MG Robert Smalls
Largest Army Transport Ship
2004 Christening
FIRST RECONSTRUCTION
LEGISLATURES
State
Black % of state
population (1870)
Black
Legislators
White
Legislators
Black % of
Legislature
South Carolina
59
84
73
53
Mississippi
56
40
75
34
Louisiana
51
49
88
36
Florida
49
19
57
25
Alabama
48
26
58
30
Georgia
46
32
214
13
Virginia
42
27
154
15
North Carolina
37
19
135
12
Texas
31
11
156
6
Tennessee
26
1
94
1
Arkansas
25
0
87
0
ECONOMIC IMPACT OF WAR
• South per capita income decreased by 1/3
• AL, LA, MS, GA, SC lost 45.8% of total
wealth
• No Marshall type plan
CENTRAL THEME
• Central to the national debate over
Reconstruction
Efforts of Southern African Americans
to breathe full meaning into their newly
acquired freedom.
Prodded Americans at their first
attempt to live up to the noble
professions of the Constitution.
SC RECONSTRUCTION
• 1864 – Robert Smalls selected from SC to participate in the
1864 Republican National Convention—denied seating.
• 1867 – New Constitution – Convention of 48 whites and 76
blacks meet. Write a progressive constitution.
• 1869 – Joseph Rainey becomes the first AA in South Carolina
to become a U.S. Representative in Congress. Followed by
seven others before African Americans are driven out of
elected office: Robert C. DeLarge, Robert Brown Elliott,
Richard H. Cain, Alonzo Rainier, Robert Smalls, Thomas E.
Miller, and George W. Murray
Education (Freedmen Bureau)
• Bureau extended in 1866
– Congress included the first educational
provisions, along with a one-half million dollar
appropriation for the “repair and rental” of
school property (law interpreted broadly and
imaginatively and proved flexible).
– Repair and rental resulted in many new
school buildings and old buildings of all sorts
converted into schoolhouses.
Education (Freedmen Bureau)
• Freedmen urged to begin construction of a
building, paying what they could and
providing labor.
– Under the rubric “repairs” the Bureau paid for
the completion of the work often including
windows, flooring, furniture…
In it’s seven years of educational work, it is
estimated that the Bureau spent nearly four
million dollars on school buildings.
AA RESPONSES TO SOCIAL, POLITICAL &
ECONOMIC ISSUES
•
•
•
•
•
Education (Universal, AA and Northern Support)
Labor/Sharecropping
Spiritual (churches)
Economic (Land, Benevolent Societies, Businesses)
Universal Manhood Suffrage
Black Conventions, Sit-ins and Strikes
Note: AA leaders who were former slaves were often more concerned about
land and labor issues; non-former slave AA leaders were often more
concerned about civil rights’ issues.
SC Reconstruction and
Education
SC RECONSTRUCTION
• 1870 – State Legislature, with AA in control, passes a
law to create a state-wide public school system. First
such effort in state.
• 1873 – The first African Americans enter the
University of SC. Most white faculty and students
leave, but the school remains open with the help of
white faculty from North. After Reconstruction, USC
reopened as an all-white school.
Richard Greener
1844-1922
1870 - First African American
graduate of Harvard and dean
of the Howard university
School of Law
1873 - Professor of mental and
moral philosophy at the
University of South Carolina
1877 – Moved to DC as Clerk
in the Treasury Dept. and
Professor in Howard Law
School
1898 – Appointed US
Commercial Agent in
Vladivostok, Russia until 1905
NORMAL SCHOOL STUDENTS,
CIRCA, 1874, COLUMBIA,SC
SC RECONSTRUCTION
EDUCATION
• 1870 – Allen University (AME)
• 1870 - Benedict College (Northern
Baptists)
IMPACT OF RECONSTRUCTION
• First time a national third party emerges (Grant
elected in 1868—charges of corruption and
incompetence created the Liberal Republican Party
(1872); helped prevent reelection of Grant.
• New laws and constitutional amendments
permanently altered federal system and nature of
American citizenship.
• Establishment of state-wide southern public
education systems.