Forgotten no more: Robert Smalls seized a Confederate ship and led people to freedom. Now, South Carolina will build a monument to the civil rights champion

Gov. Henry McMaster signs Robert Smalls legislation (S.C. governor's office)

As speakers pointed out Thursday at a South Carolina State House bill-signing ceremony, Robert Small’s legacy was not contained to a single act of bravery during the Civil War.

The African-American, born a slave, in March 1862 commandeered a Confederate ship in Charleston Harbor, sailed people to freedom and became a hero to the Union cause. In the 50 years following, he accomplished even more by helping to advance civil rights.

Now the state that was the first to secede from the United States, and was ruled for generations by white supremacists, will place its first monument to a single African-American individual on the Capitol grounds. Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill setting up a commission that will come up with a design, location and private funding for the Smalls memorial.

 “A monument to honor Robert Smalls would represent the remarkable contributions, achievements, and accomplishments of this forgotten son of South Carolina and would serve as an overdue tribute to the many slaves who sacrificed alongside him,” asserts the legislation.

Smalls’ contributions to the Palmetto State are incalculable.

A Harper's Weekly article on Smalls' daring escape in Charleston (Library of Congress)

At the start of the Civil War, Smalls, 23, was a pilot on the steamship CSS Planter. On the morning of May 13, 1862, Smalls led the takeover of the ship by its slave crew, sailed past the harbor's formidable defenses and surrendered the vessel to the Union blockade fleet. His wife and children were among those on board who gained freedom.

Smalls met with President Abraham Lincoln and lobbied him to recruit black men to serve in the Union army. The former slave served as a pilot on the ship USS Crusader.

Smalls returned to his hometown Beaufort and bought his former master’s home. After the war, he served in South Carolina’s Legislature, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served several terms.

The congressman fought against the disenfranchisement of black voters across the South, according to the American Battlefield Trust. He also fought against segregation within the military, advocated for compulsory education in South Carolina, opened a school for black children and published a newspaper, among other accomplishments.

“My race needs no special defense for the past history of them and this country,” Smalls said. “It proves them to be equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life.”

After serving as collector of customs duties, he died in his Beaufort home at age 75 in 1915.

Smalls purchased this Beaufort home that belonged to his enslaver (NPS)

The legislative committee has a few months to make key decisions about the monument. It met for the first time on Wednesday.

As the Post and Courier newspaper pointed out, the monument will be on a 22-acre property in Columbia dominated by Confederate memorials.

“A towering obelisk to veterans of the Confederate army sits directly in front of the Statehouse steps. J. Marion Sims, a pioneer of gynecology who experimented on enslaved women without anesthesia, has a statue in a quiet corner of the grounds,” said the newspaper.

“Confederate Gen. Wade Hampton, who enslaved people, has a statue, as does Benjamin Tillman, the former governor and white supremacist whose brother George used violence and intimidation to rob Smalls of his seat in Congress before his colleagues eventually removed him from office.”

Speakers at Thursday’s ceremony talked about how South Carolina has changed, through racial reconciliation and, in the case of the Small bills, bipartisanship. State Sen. Gerald Malloy said the effort showed progress by citizens “building a more just and equitable society.”

Smalls has gained national stature in recent years, with buildings and a US Army vessel named for him.

State Sen. Chip Campsen said Smalls fought in three different arenas as a slave, pilot and statesman.

“His life was best described as a fight for freedom. And he knew that his freedom would only endure through law,” Campsen said, according to The State newspaper.