Person · 1839–1915
Robert Smalls
Enslaved ship pilot who escaped by commandeering a Confederate steamer, then became a Union naval hero and a U.S. congressman.
A hero of the [[usct]] era and [[reconstruction-politics]].
In May 1862 Robert Smalls, an enslaved pilot, quietly sailed the Confederate steamer Planter past the Charleston defenses and delivered it to the Union blockade — freeing himself, his family, and the crew, and handing the Union a ship and valuable intelligence.
He went on to serve in the U.S. Navy, won the right of Black men to enlist, and after the war was elected to the South Carolina legislature and five terms in the U.S. House. He helped write South Carolina's Reconstruction constitution and fought disenfranchisement to the end.