Robert Smalls & the Planter-- Part 7: The Plan

Robert Smalls put his plan onto action on May 12, 1862.  That afternoon, the Planter had returned from two weeks of setting up artillery on James Island.   Smalls correctly predicted that the officers would be tired and leave the ship that evening.

As the officers went ashore from the ship's berth at the Southern Wharf, the crew banked the fires in the Planter's boiler and remained aboard.  Smalls' plan was to depart quietly in the pre-dawn hours and pick up the crew's families at the North Atlantic Wharf on the Cooper River.

Their departure  was tricky:  leaving the city just before dawn would put them near the forts at first light, but Smalls knew that of they were moving in the harbor in the darkness they would come under suspicion.  They had one piece of luck:  Smalls had learned that then guard boat, usually outside the harbor entrance, was under repaor and would not be on station that evening.

--Old B-Runner

Robert Smalls & the Planter-- Part 6: Reasons to Make the Attempt

Sometime in early May 1862, Smalls  considered a bold plan to seize the Planter.  

First, any attempt to escape would have to include the families of the crew.    Smalls could not contemplate being separated from  Hannah and his children if he was captured and the other men were risking just as much as he was.

Second, although the Union Army was in Beaufort, just fifty miles away,  Union Navy warships were just off the coast and Smalls knew the harbor defense very well.  Third, the white officers of the Planter trusted the black crew to operate the boat and were in the habit of leaving them aboard  overnight in order to be with their families ashore.  (This was in direct violation of orders from the Confederate Army.)

Fourth, Smalls had learned the signals the ships used to  communicate with harbor sentries standing guard in the forts.  Lastly, the Planter frequently made trips to other ports, so her use of  the outgoing ship channel was not uncommon.

Smalls believed at night, with a little  bit of luck, he and the other black crewmen could make their escape.

--Old B-Runner

Robert Smalls & the Planter-- Part 5: Good Reasons to Escape

Smalls and his black friends aboard the Planter also knew that the army had established a new experiment there.  The black residents were  permitted to live together without white owners or overseers under the protection of the Union army and navy.  They grew and sold cotton and other crops and even built schools and acquired their own property.

News of the progress of this community reached Blacks in Charleston.

Around this time, in March 1862, Union Major General David Hunter, an abolitionist, took command of the Department of the South.  On May 9, he issued a miltary order freeing slaves in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.  Although his order was quickly rescinded by President Abraham Lincoln as premature,  Hunter began to recruit former slaves into volunteer infantry companies.

Word of Hunter's actions reached the slave community still under Confederate control.  It seemed to Smalls that wherever the Union military went, freedom would be there as well.

--Old B-Runner

Robert Smalls & the Planter-- Part 4: The Crew of the Planter and the Beginning of a Plan

Smalls was just one member, albeit very important, of the Planter's crew.  The ship was captained by  Charles J. Relyea.  The other white officers were first mate Samuel Hancock and engineer Samuel Pitcher.  None of the three were from the South, nor were the Confederate Navy officers.  They were merchant sailors hired on as  contractors and reported to Ferguson, the ship's owner.

Six other enslaved  black men, two engineers and four deckhands made up the rest of the Planter's crew.  Three of the six were owned by Ferguson, while the other three and Smalls were emplyed by their owners.

For defense, the Planter was armed with a 32-pounder pivot gun on the bow and a 24-pounder howitzer astern.  Smalls and the other black crewmembers would have been trained  to use those guns if needed.

As Smalls watched the Confederates closely, events would convince him to make a bold move.  

On November 7, 1861, the Union Navy captured Beaufort and the sea islands around the harbor of Port Royal.  Although the town was damaged and most of its white residents fled, Smalls was thankful to learn that his mother was safe among the now ownerless 10,000 former slaves.

--Old B-Runner

Robert Smalls & the Planter-- Part 3: Supplying Charleston Defenses

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

Robert Smalls & the Planter-- Part 2: War Comes to Charleston

For a slave making a meager wage, the price to buy your freedom was expensive, and knowing what plantation life for a slave family was like,  Smalls began to think of other ways to obtain freedom for his wife and family.

Smalls' work led him to the wharves and piers of bustling Charleston where he eventually settled in and worked various jobs as a longshoreman, sailmaker and a rigger.  He grew to like the sea and as he worked on boats, he became intimately familiar with the tides, currents and sandbars of Charleston Harbor.

Harbor pilots were needed to safely guide the big, cotton-carrying ships to and from the piers.  At that time, Blacks could not be hired as pilots, but by all accounts, Smalls was well-qualified to be one.  His experience and navigational skills led him to be trusted by the white shipowners up and down the waterfront along Bay Street.

In April 1861, of course, Fort Sumter was fired upon and forced to surrender, starting the Civil War.  War came to Charleston which became increasingly more fortified.  Confederate defenders built a series of forts and batteries around the harbor.  Many of them were located on low-lying islands only acessible as by boat.

Pilots were in huge demand.  And, Robert Smalls was an emminent one.

--Old B-Runner

Robert Smalls and the Planter-- Part 1

 From the American Battlefield Trust.

Robert Smalls eased the vessel away from the pier and backed into the harbor.  The night air was still, and Smalls could smell the sea life as his ship churned up the brackish water and turned southeast.  As Smalls passed the Confederate batteries, he took note of the soldiers standing their watches as he had a hundred times before.

When the ship entered the main channel, Smalls looked around and was comforted to see his family and many of his friends on board with him.  Moving faster toward the open sea in the first light of dawn, Smalls must have felt the freedom and exhilaration that only the master of a ship at sea can truly feel.

Except that this was not Smalls' ship; and he was not quite a free man.

Robert Smalls was born into slavery in 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina,.  As a boy, he worked with his mother in the relative comfort of their owner's home on the plantation.  His mother had worked hard in the fields, so she made sure that Robert witnessed the horrors that other slaves endured.

When Smalls turned 12, at his mother's request, the owner sent Robert to nearby Charleston to be hired as a worker.  Smalls worked at odd jobs around thecity as a lamplighter, a stevedore and in a hotel, where he met Hannah Jones  Robert and Hannah were married in 1856 and they had two children.

--Old B-Runner

Was the Wreck of Robert Small's Planter Found at Cape Romain?-- Part 3: Capturing the Planter

Robert Smalls was born a slave in the Beaufort area, but far from being a field hand, he became a  river pilot in Charleston, South Carolina, in the 1850s.  He was later conscripted by the Confederates  to serve as the pilot on the Planter.

He took the Planter early on the morning of May 13, 1862, after the Confederate officers on the ship left the ship for a night on the town.  

He steamed upriver to pick up family and friends, then turned around and slipped past five Confederate batteries in Charleston Harbor to reach the Union blockading ships.

Taking Quite the Chance.

Old B-Runner

Was the Wreck of Robert Small's Planter Found at Cape Romain?-- Part 2

Bruce Terrell, a maritime archaeologist and historian,  said scientists used old maps and newspaper accounts to identify the general area where the Planter was thought to have been wrecked by a storm in 1876, eleven years after the war ended.

Using a magnetometer, an instrument that can detect metal beneath the ground, they found a number of objects seeming to correspond to the wreck.  The report said more studies  will be needed before the wreck is positively identified.

The Planter, built in 1860, wrecked when the storm came up as it was trying to tow a grounded schooner  to sea at Cape Romain.  In the following days, many items on board were salvaged.

"We're not sure how much was left of the Planter because contemporary accounts indicate it was pretty well stripped down -- all the way to cushions and blankets and doors," Terrell said.  "It looks like the engines and paddlewheels were taken out."

The items buried in the sand could be boilers  because they would have corroded by the salt water and not much good after the Planter sank, Terrell added.

--Old B-Runner

Was Wreck of Robert Smalls' Planter Found Near Cape Romain?-- Part 1

From the November 28, 2015, Fox News "Wreck of Civil War ship commandeered by slave believed found off SC coast" AP.

Researchers say they think they have found  the wreck of the iconic Civil War vessel Planter.  This was the Confederate ammunition ship commandeered by the slave Robert Smalls, who steamed it out of Charleston Harbor and turned it over to the Union Navy.

Archaeologists woyj the National Marine Sanctuary Program said Tuesday that they have found what is believed to be the wreck of thye sidewheel steamer buried under 15 feet of sand just offshore of Cape Romain, northeast of Charleston.

They released a report of their findings on the anniversary of the day in 1862 (May 13) when Smalls took the vessel.

Smalls would return to Charleston a year later to pilot a Union ironclad in an attack on Fort Sumter.  After the war, he served in the South Carolina General Assembly, the U.S. Congress and as a federal customs inspector.

--Old B-Runner

Push for Robert Smalls Statue in South Carolina

There is a push in South Carolina to erect a statue to Robert Smalls, the black man who seized the Confederate transport Planter in Charleston Harbor during the Civil War, sailed it out and surrendered to the Union Navy blockading the port.  he later commanded the fort.

This was quite a feat of heroism and two state senators, Greg Gregory and Darrell Jackson want it to be erected on the grounds of the state house in Columbia.

I would agree that it is a fitting statue to someone who showed such courage.

However, there are Confederate statues on the grounds and they should be allowed to remain.

--Old B-Runner

Robert Smalls Seizes the Confederate Steamer Planter-- Part 2

"After getting beyond the range of the last guns she quickly hauled down the rebel flags and hoisted a white one.... The steamer is quite a valuable acquisition to the squadron...."

Du Pont added in a letter to senator Grimes:  "You should have heard his [Smalls'] modest reply when i asked him what was said of the carry away of general Ripley's barge  sometime ago.  He said they made a great fuss but perhaps they would make more 'to do' when they heard of the steamer having been brought out."

--Old B-Runner

May 13, 1862: Confederate Steamer Planter Seized at Charleston by Robert Smalls-- Part 1

MAY 13TH, 1862:  The Confederate steamer Planter, with her captain ashore, was taken out of Charleston Harbor by an entirely black crew under Robert Smalls and turned over to the USS Onward, Acting Lt. Nickels, of the blockading Union squadron.

"At 4 in the morning," Flag Officer Du Pont reported, "...she left her wharf close to the Government office and headquarters, with palmetto and Confederate flag flying, passed the successive forts, saluting as usual by blowing her steam whistle."

Quite a Brave Accomplishment.  --Old B-R'er

Secessionville's Importance Often Overlooked

From the June 14th Charleston (SC) Post and Courier by Brian Hicks.

It's not a famous battle, but had the Union won, it might have been huge as Charleston might have fallen.

June 16th is the 150th anniversary of it.

In the spring of 1862, the Union was on the move to take James Island after receiving information froom Robert Smalls that Confederate troops were not properly guarding the mouth of the Stono River.  In early June, 6,000 Union troops landed with little reconnaissance.  For two weeks, small confrontations took place across the island.

On June 16th, two divisions of U.S. troops charged Tower Battery, later renamed Fort Lamar in Secessionville, a James Island area named for an earlier dispute (not South Carolina's secession).

Confederates at the Tower Battery had worked late into the night shoring up defenses and were aided by reinforcements from Fort Johnson.

Although outnumbered three -to-one, they fought off the attacks.  In five hours time, there were three attacks and by 9 AM, the Federals were retreating.

It would be another year before the Union mounted another serious threat to James Island.

I remember driving out to Folly Beach a few years back and seeing a sign for Secessionville, but didn't know anything about it.  Now, I do.

So, That Secessionville.  --Old B-Runner

On the Robert Smalls Thing in Charleston-- Part 1

The next several entries will be about that remarkable, and extremely fortunate event in Charleston Harbor where a slave, Robert Smalls and a group of other slaves were able to commandeer a Confederate ship and take it out to the Union fleet.  This past Sunday marked the 150th anniversary of it.

This was a remarkable accomplishment under any circumstance, but Robert Smalls was the right man at the right place to do it.

From the May 12th Navy Times "Events honor slaves who seized Confederate ship." AP.

Descendants of Robert Smalls were in Charleston this weekend for activities to commemorate his accomplishment.  Just a year later, he was the pilot on a Union ironclad in an attack on Fort Sumter.  After the war, he served in the South Carolina General Assembly and as a U.S. customs inspector.

His descendants spoke at events and a markers were placed where he seized the Planter and where he picked up his family members.  (Taking the ship was one thing, but going elsewhere in the heavily defended harbor to pick up his family and others was really remarkable.)

Sunday, there was a harbor tour retracing the path the Planter took in the harbor and out to the Union fleet.

Remarkable, Nothing Short of Remarkable Accomplishment.  --Old B-R'er

Naval Happenings 150 Years Ago: May 11th to 13th,1862-- The CSS Virginia Blown Up

Another big blow to the Confederacy on top of one after another losses along the coast and rivers.

MAY 11TH

The CSS Virginia, no longer possessing a home port after the capture of Norfolk, is blown up by its crew off Craney Island to avoid capture.  It was discovered that the ship drew too much water to go up the James River.  The ship's commander, Josiah Tattnall wrote, "Thus perished the Virginia and with her many highflown hope of naval supremacy and success."

For the North, the ship's destruction eliminated the continuing threat to Fort Monroe and the Chesapeake Bay, but also allowed Flag Officer Goldsborough's fleet passage up the James River as far as Drewry's Bluff.  This greatly helped the Union's Peninsular Campaign then going on.


MAY 12TH

Union gunboats made a reconnaissance of Pamuckey River in support of an Army advance to a new supply base at White House, Virginia, within 22 miles of Richmond.

Officers and crew of the CSS Virginia ordered to establish a battery below Drewry's Bluff on the lft bank of the river to prevent Union ships from passing.  It was to be under the command of  Lt. Catesby ap R. Jones.


MAY 13TH

The Confederate steamer Planter in Charleston Harbor was taken by its entirely black crew under Robert Smalls to the Union fleet.  The ship's commander was ashore when the ship was taken.  I'll be writing about this tomorrow.

The USS Iroquois occupied Natchez, Mississippi as Farragut's fleet continues ascending the Mississippi River to Vicksburg.

B-R'er