Keeping the men scattered around the harbor fed and equipped was a constant requirement, so military commanders relied on boat traffic nearly continuously. That year (1861) Smalls was hired on board the Planter, a new 147-foot long sidewheel steamship owned by John Ferguson, a wealthy Charleston shipowner and businessman.
Ferguson leased the Planter to the Confederates to use around the harbor. By 1862, Robert Smalls had worked in and around Charleston Harbor for ten years and his skills were evident to the new white officers of the Planter and he was relied upon to move the ship safely around the harbor.
As the military fortifications grew, Smalls and the Planter ferried men, dispatches, supplies and guns from the city to the forts and back again. Smalls watched carefully at how the Confedrates maintained their network of harbor defenses.
He also took note of the increasing number of Union blockading vessels offshore.
--Old B-Runner
No comments:
Post a Comment