Robert Smalls

Robert Smalls was an enslaved pilot aboard the Confederate steamboat Planter during the American Civil War. Determined to keep his wife Hannah and their children from being separated by sale, he planned a daring escape from Charleston Harbor. When the white officers left the vessel overnight, Robert put on the captain's coat and hat, gathered enslaved crew members and their families, and guided the ship past five armed forts. He copied the proper signals and mannerisms well enough to avoid suspicion. Near the Union fleet, Robert raised a white bedsheet before nervous sailors opened fire. His skill, courage, and careful preparation carried every passenger to freedom and placed a valuable Confederate ship in Union hands.