Smalls died a proud man. He had achieved much in his own lifetime and had raised three successful children whom he had given a far better chance at living the life they wanted rather than one that was dictated to them.
After Elizabeth served as her father’s secretary while he was in Congress, she worked as a secretary at Penn School, the school for newly freed African Americans that Northern missionaries founded on St. Helena Island during the Civil War.27 Elizabeth married Samuel Jones Bampfield, an attorney who became postmaster of Beaufort, and the couple had eleven children. When Bampfield died, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Elizabeth postmistress of the Beaufort post office, a position she held for many years. She later moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and died at the age of 101 in 1959.28
Sarah, Smalls’ younger daughter, married Dr. Jay Williams. When Smalls needed care during his final years, Sarah looked after him. She later taught music at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg.29
After attending the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Chicago, William taught at several schools. He also served in the Army during World War I as a lieutenant and later joined the National Urban League in Toledo, Ohio, where he worked for equal rights for forty-four years. Like his sisters, William also married. He and his wife, Martineau, had two children.30
When Robert Smalls died, many African Americans across the Sea Islands mourned him; they had looked to Smalls as their leader for decades. So many people paid their respects at his funeral that it was the largest Beaufort had ever seen.
A solemn yet poignant service was held at the First African Baptist Church in Beaufort, where Smalls had been a member for more than ten years. Three ministers and an elder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church spoke of Smalls’ many achievements, particularly on behalf of African Americans, while another leading citizen read telegrams from people across the country who could not attend. When the speakers finished, the mourners passed by Smalls’ body while a choir sang, “Shall We Meet Beyond the River.” At the end of the service, a brass band that had often played at Smalls’ political rallies led the procession as friends carried Smalls’ coffin to the nearby Tabernacle Baptist Church, where he was buried.31
Despite the outpouring of grief by African Americans locally, by the time Smalls died much of the nation had already forgotten his significant contributions during the war and after.
Today, 155 years after Smalls stunned the nation with his heroic act, Smalls is still relatively unknown. He has received occasional honors, including having a U.S. Army support vessel named for him in 2007, the Major General Robert Smalls, the first Army vessel named for an African American.32 He is also featured in the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., and two historic markers in Charleston now honor him.33 But most Americans still do not recognize his name.
Perhaps Smalls said it best when he served as one of the few African American delegates to the 1895 South Carolina Constitutional Convention, which took away the right of black men to vote and laid the groundwork for the South’s infamous Jim Crow laws. In response to attacks on his character, he said, “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.” He was the only delegate who refused to sign the blatantly racist new constitution.34
As the country finally begins to fully honor the stories and contributions of African Americans, Smalls deserves to be celebrated as not just a Union hero but as an American hero.
Acknowledgments
When my youngest brother, Jeff Lineberry, sent me an article about Robert Smalls several years ago, I was fascinated by Smalls’ Civil War story and his incredible courage. Two of my ancestors had fought at Gettysburg—one for the Union, the other for the Confederacy—and it was a period that had always intrigued me. I wanted to know more about this remarkable man and immediately began my journey of learning his story. I was fortunate to have the help of many wonderful people along the way.
First, I wish to express my thanks to my agent, Ellen Geiger, vice president at Francis Goldin Literary Agency, who believed in this story as much as I did. I also thank Karen Wolny, executive editor at St. Martin’s Press, whose insights, guidance, and enthusiasm proved invaluable. The entire team at St. Martin’s made this project a pleasure from the very beginning. My thanks to Polly Kummel, copyeditor; Laura Apperson, editorial assistant; Meryl Sussman Levavi, book designer; Donna Cherry, production editor; Rob Grom, jacket designer; John Nicholas, marketing manager; and Katie Bassel, publicist.
I thank Robert Smalls’ family, including Dr. Helen Boulware Moore, Robert Smalls’ great-granddaughter; and her children, Michael Boulware Moore, the president and CEO of Charleston’s International African American Museum and Robin Moore Jenkins, for sharing their family stories and supporting this project.
I am greatly indebted to Dr. Stephen Wise, Civil War historian and the director of the Parris Island Museum in Beaufort, South Carolina, and Dr. Lawrence Rowland, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History for the University of South Carolina, Beaufort. Dr. Wise and Dr. Rowland spent numerous hours patiently answering my many questions about Beaufort, Charleston, and the Civil War. They also reviewed the manuscript, providing feedback and suggestions that vastly improved the story. I also am grateful for their fascinating and meticulously researched book, Rebellion, Reconstruction, Redemption, 1861–1893, volume 2 of The History of Beaufort County, which proved to be an important source.
I thank Dr. Bernard E. Powers, Jr., professor of history at the College of Charleston. He reviewed the manuscript and offered thoughtful comments and criticism that made this a much better book. His book Black Charlestonians: A Social History, 1822–1885, was a valuable resource that illuminated what life in the city was like for African Americans during that time.
For their assistance with various aspects of my research, I thank Grace Cordial, Beaufort District collection manager at the Beaufort County Library; Lish Thompson, Dr. Nic Butler, and the rest of the staff at the Charleston County Public Library; Lucas Clawson, archivist at the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware; Robert Stockton, adjunct professor at the College of Charleston; Michael Trouche, Charleston historian; Graham Duncan, library specialist at the South Caroliniana Library; Steve Tuttle, archivist at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History; Marty Davis; Willis “Skipper” Keith; James Spirek, state underwater archaeologist, University of South Carolina; Virginia Ellison at the South Carolina Historical Library; Dennis Cannady; Kraig McNutt; Maxine Lutz at the Historic Beaufort Foundation; Laurence Sharpe; Robert Gissell; Everett Presson; John Wilson; Nancy Graham; Bonnie Perry; S.C. Rep. Kenneth Hodges; Karen Emmons, archivist at the Historic Charleston Foundation; Harlan Greene, head of Special Collections, College of Charleston; the staff at the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.; Chianta Dorsey at the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, New Orleans; Kevin Garnett; Kevin Morrow; Karen Needles; Jonathan Moore; Shannon Donohue; and Bob Barrett.
For reading the manuscript and providing insightful comments, I am especially grateful to Charles Lineberry, Cat Lineberry, and Tim Wiersma. I am also thankful to Whitney Dangerfield, Susan Crandell, Dr. Richard Wiegel, Heidi Wiersma, and Elizabeth Lineberry.
I thank my mother, Carol VanWyck White, for encouraging me to pursue this story and for demonstrating her own courage and strength throughout her life and during her battle with cancer. I miss her every day but am forever grateful for her wisdom, kindness, humor, and the immeasurable love she had for her family.
I thank my father, Charles Lineberry, and my stepmother, Cat Lineberry, for their unwavering support. To them and to the rest of my family, including my brothers, Chris, David, and Jeff, their spouses and children, my aunt, Tanya Wagner, and uncle, Bill Schneider, and stepdaughter, Katelyn Wiersma, I am thankful for their presence in my life, which is so much richer becaus
e of them.
And, most of all, I thank my husband, Tim Wiersma, for sharing his life with me and for patiently listening to me, making me laugh, and cheering me on throughout the writing of the book.
Notes
*Please note that some of the links referenced in this work are no longer active.
A BRIEF NOTE ABOUT NAMES, QUOTATIONS, AND SOURCES
Robert Smalls was known by the surnames of Small and Smalls during the war. I have used Smalls throughout the book for clarity and have adjusted quotations to reflect this editorial decision.
The spellings of the names of the crew members who escaped aboard the Planter with Smalls varied depending on the source. For instance, Abram Allston’s name was also given as Abraham Alston and Abram H. Allstone. Alfred Gourdine’s last name also appears as Gradine, while Gabriel Turner’s last name sometimes shows up as Turno. These inconsistencies are likely a result of misreporting and the illiteracy of many enslaved men.
I have corrected the grammar and spelling in a few quotations for clarity.
All interviews and correspondence with Dr. Stephen Wise, Dr. Lawrence Rowland, and Dr. Helen Boulware Moore took place between August 2015 and November 2016.
ABBREVIATIONS
FHL—Family History Library, the genealogical branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, available online at FamilySearch.org as well as through fee-based services such as Ancestry.com.
NARA—National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
ORA—U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, series 1, vol. 14 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901).
ORN—U.S. Naval War Records Office, The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, series 1, vol. 12 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1901).
Prologue
1. “Range of the Thermometer,” Charleston Daily Courier, May 13, 1862.
2. Numerous sources describe the escape. I have relied on the recollections of Smalls and Alfred Gourdine, an engineer, and the military records of the Union and Confederacy whenever possible. Sources include “The Steamer Planter,” Charleston Daily Courier, May 14, 1862; “The Steamer ‘Planter’ and Her Captor,” Harper’s Weekly, June 14, 1862; “The Running Off of the Steamer Planter from Charleston,” Charleston Mercury, September 30, 1862; “A Strike for Freedom,” Detroit Free Press, December 17, 1893; “Stole a Whole Vessel: Daring Feat of Gen. Robert Smalls,” The Boston Daily Globe, October 8, 1903; ORN, 1, 12: 804, 825–26; ORA, 1, 14: 13–15; “Capt. Robert Smalls Addresses the General Conference of 1864, Daniel A. Payne, Presiding,” The A.M.E. Church Review 70 (1955): 23; “Complimentary,” The Liberator, October 24, 1862; “Heroism of Nine Colored Men,” New York Herald, May 18, 1862; Edward A. Miller, Jr., Gullah Statesman: Robert Smalls from Slavery to Congress, 1839–1915 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995), 1–3.
3. “Speech of Hon. Robert Smalls,” July 30, 1886, House of Representatives, 17 Cong. Rec. 319 (1886); Stephen R. Wise and Lawrence S. Rowland with Gerhard Spieler, Rebellion, Reconstruction, and Redemption, 1861–1893, vol. 2 of The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2015), 97–101; House Committee on Naval Affairs, Authorizing the President to Place Robert Smalls on the Retired List of the Navy, 47th Cong., 2nd sess., 1883, H. Rep. 1887; Miller, Gullah Statesman, 1–27.
4. “Report from War Department, Quartermaster General’s Office, Washington, D.C., June 21, 1895,” Case Files of Approved Pension Applications of Civil War and Later Navy Veterans Survivors Certificates, Robert Smalls, NARA, Fold3.com.
5. “Promotion of Robert Small,” New York Tribune, December 14, 1863.
6. DeTreville v. Smalls, 98 U.S. 517 (1878); Wise and Rowland, Rebellion, Reconstruction, and Redemption, 267.
7. Laura M. Towne, The Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne: Written from the Sea Islands of South Carolina, 1862–1884, ed. Rupert Sargent (Cambridge, MA: Riverside, 1912), 240.
Chapter 1: The Escape
1. I have relied on Smalls’ and Gourdine’s recollections and military records of the Union and Confederacy whenever possible. “The Steamer Planter,” Charleston Daily Courier, May 14, 1862; “The Steamer ‘Planter’ and Her Captor,” Harper’s Weekly, June 14, 1862; “The Running Off of the Steamer Planter from Charleston,” Charleston Mercury, September 30, 1862; “A Strike for Freedom,” Detroit Free Press, December 17, 1893; “Stole A Whole Vessel: Daring Feat of Gen. Robert Smalls,” The Boston Daily Globe, October 8, 1903; ORN 1,12: 804, 825–826; ORA: 1, 14: 13–15; “Capt. Robert Smalls Addresses the General Conference of 1864, Daniel A. Payne, Presiding,” The A.M.E. Church Review, Vol. 70 (1955): 23; “Complimentary,” The Liberator, October 24, 1862; “Heroism of Nine Colored Men,” New York Herald, May 18, 1862; Edward A. Miller, Jr., Gullah Statesman: Robert Smalls from Slavery to Congress, 1839–1915 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995), 1–3.
2. “Slavery and the Making of America,” PBS.org, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/experience/family/history.html, accessed January 15, 2016; Heather Andrea Williams, “Freedom’s Story: How Slavery Affected African American Families,” TeacherServe, http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1609–1865/essays/aafamilies.htm, accessed January 15, 2016.
3. Dr. Stephen Wise interviews; Lloyd Duhaime, “1740 Slave Code of South Carolina,” Duhaime.org, http://www.duhaime.org/LawMuseum/LawArticle-1494/1740-Slave-Code-of-South-Carolina.aspx, accessed October 10, 2016.
4. Edward A. Miller, Jr., Gullah Statesman: Robert Smalls from Slavery to Congress, 1839–1915 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995), 2; Stephen R. Wise and Lawrence S. Rowland with Gerhard Spieler, Rebellion, Reconstruction, and Redemption, 1861–1893, vol. 2 of The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2015), 97.
5. “The Steamer Planter,” Charleston Daily Courier, May 14, 1862; Wise interviews.
6. ORN, 1, 12: 825.
7. Ibid., 821.
8. Spencer E. Tucker, ed., American Civil War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2013); Harry Searles and Mike Mangus, “Roswell Sabine Ripley,” Ohio Civil War Central, December 19, 2011, http://www.ohiocivilwarcentral.com/entry.php?rec=916, accessed January 10, 2016.
9. Office of the Historian, “The Blockade of Southern Ports, 1861–1865,” U.S. Department of State, https://history.state.gov/milestones/1861-1865/blockade, accessed December 10, 2015; James R. Soley, “Blockade! The Blockading of Southern Ports during the Civil War,” Civil War Trust, http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/navy-hub/navy-history/blockade.html, accessed December 10, 2015.
10. Peggy Binette, “Mapping Charleston’s Civil War Naval Battlefield,” University of South Carolina press release, September 13, 2012, http://www.sc.edu/news/newsarticle.php?nid=4460#.WB_KdxRqkwc, accessed December 10, 2015; Jamie L. Jones, “The Navy’s Stone Fleet,” Opinionator (blog), New York Times, January 26, 2012, http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/the-navys-stone-fleet/, accessed December 10, 2015.
11. “The Steamer Planter”; “The Steamer ‘Planter’ and Her Captor”; “The Running Off of the Steamer Planter from Charleston,” Charleston Mercury, September 30, 1862; “Stole a Whole Vessel: Daring Feat of Gen. Robert Smalls,” The Boston Daily Globe, October 8, 1903; ORN, 1,12: 807, 824–25; “Complimentary,” The Liberator, October 24, 1862.
12. Smalls’ descendants believe he was of black and white descent. His death certificate says his father was unknown. “South Carolina, Death Records, 1821–1961,” Ancestry.com.
13. “Charles Relyea,” 1860 Census, Charleston Ward 1, roll M653_1216, p. 195, image 25,
FHL Film 805216, Ancestry.com; “Samuel Hitchcock,” 1880 Census, Charleston, South Carolina, roll 1221, p. 10D, FHL Film 1255221, Ancestry.com; “Samuel S. Hancock,” Findagrave, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=44502966&ref=acom, accessed January 5, 2016; “Samuel Pitcher,” 1900 Census, Ward 5, Charleston, South Carolina, roll 1520, p. 8A, FHL Film 1241520, Ancestry.com.; “Samuel Z. Pitcher,” Findagrave, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=55864817&ref=acom, accessed January 5, 2016; Samuel Z. Pitcher, “South Carolina, Death Records, 1821–1961,” Ancestry.com.
14. John Ferguson, “South Carolina, Death Records, 1821–1961,” Ancestry.com; “Capt. John Ferguson,” Findagrave, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=42491894&ref=acom, accessed January 5, 2016.
15. “The Late Captain John Ferguson,” Charleston Courier, August 20, 1869.
16. Service record of Gabriel Turner, Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served with the United States Colored Troops, Infantry Organizations: 31st Through 35th, microfilm M1992, NARA.
17. “The Steamer Planter.”
18. “Report to Accompany S.1313,” April 18, 1898, in “Committee on Claims Report,” Microfiche Publication M1469, Navy Survivors’ Pension Files (Approved), 1861–1910, Abram H. Allstone, NARA.
19. Miller, Gullah Statesman, 6.
Be Free or Die--The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls' Escape from Slavery to Union Hero Page 22