In 1862, a slave named Robert Smalls was working as a pilot on a Confederate steamer named the Planter based in Charleston. The three officers were white, while the rest of the crew was composed of Smalls and six other slaves.
The officers were supposed to stay onboard the ship according to regulations, but they often went ashore to spend the night with their families.
Smalls saw an opportunity for freedom and attempted to convince the rest of the crew to join him. It was a risky proposition considering that Charleston’s harbor was heavily guarded. Then he had to convince his wife. Failure would likely result in Smalls’ execution and it was possible his wife and children could be separated.
He convinced the others to join him.
On May 13, in the hours before dawn. Smalls got the Planter underway and pulled up to a wharf where his wife, their children, and other family members of the crew were hiding and waiting to board. Smalls put on the captain’s hat and steamed past several sentries who had no suspicions. As they approached the fort, Smalls gave the two-whistle signal to pass.
Once clear, the Planter approached the USS Onward, one of the blockading federal ships. Smalls had lowered the Confederate flags and raised a white bedsheet. News of this daring escape quickly made Smalls a celebrity in the North. He and his family and those who had trusted him were free.
Congress authorized a bill that appraised the ship and gave Smalls and his crew half the proceeds ($1,500). Smalls used the proceeds to buy his former master’s house in Beaufort (SC) after the war. The Confederates put a $4,000 bounty on his head.
Smalls joined the Union navy and eventually was named captain and made $150 a month, making him one of the highest-paid black men in military service during the Civil War.
After the war, Smalls was elected to the South Carolina state legislature and served in Congress from 1874-1886. He died in 1915.
Sources:
“A Daily Dose of History”
Gates Jr., Henry L. “Which Slave Sailed Himself to Freedom?” PBS.org