South Carolina's monument to Civil War hero Robert Smalls will rival old statues of white supremacists, and his story will be the one that inspires schoolchildren

Basil Watson's rendering of the memorial (Robert Smalls Monument Commission)

The loss of a tree outside the South Carolina State House – whether by chance, or divine intervention – opened a spot for a statue of Civil War hero Robert Smalls, who will stand equal to monuments of white supremacists on the Capitol grounds.

The Robert Smalls Monument Commission, made up mostly of legislators, last week unanimously approved a design and memorial location for the enslaved man who first gained fame for commandeering a Confederate ship in Charleston harbor in March 1862.

Choosing from three finalists, the commission chose a statue that depicts Smalls in a three-piece suit, at the height of his power in Congress.

“This depiction is important because Smalls should be viewed as possessing the same gravitas as historical figures such as Wade Hampton, Ben Tillman, James Byrnes, Strom Thurmond as depicted in monuments on the State House grounds,” said white state Rep. Brandon Cox.

The proposal needs action from a legislative committee and a full vote by the South Carolina General Assembly to become reality. The State Department of Administration and legislators are working to raise private money to build the Smalls monument in Columbia.

No price tag has been determined for the project. As of Tuesday, the commission has received $11,530 in donations, spokesperson Brooke Bailey told the Picket.

Artist Basil Watson of Lawrenceville, Ga., created the approved design.

“(Smalls, left) demonstrated from an early age a spirit of demanding equality, feeling that he was equal and capable,” said Watson, according to the South Carolina Daily Gazette. “I think this was the spirit that he carried throughout his life.”

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.

Brown Memorials of Florence, S.C., submitted this design (Robert Smalls Monument Commission)

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.

As the Post and Courier newspaper pointed out, the monument will be on a 22-acre property in Columbia dominated by Confederate memorials. (Pate Studio design, right, Robert Smalls Monument Commission)

“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.”

Watson’s design was straightforward, with a single likeness of Smalls, rising above panels on the base describing his service and patriotism.

One panel includes a famous line uttered by Small in 1895:

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

Suggested text for one of the statue's panels (Robert Small Monument Commission)

At last week’s commission meeting, a state senator at first favored the two other designs, which featured two to three statues depicting Smalls during different phases of his life, including his Civil War exploit.

Others disagreed.

Mike Shealy, who chairs the commission, and state Sen. Darrell Jackson, who is black, said Smalls should appear as other statues on the ground. A separate African-American monument on the grounds provides a wider story with more figures, they said.

The African-American monument on the Capitol grounds in Columbia (Library of Congress)

“The simplicity of the statue of one man on a pedestal who is equal to the other people that are memorialized on our State House grounds is the best depiction,” said Shealy.

The commission also released a map showing all the nearly two dozen monuments at the Capitol.

Black Rep. Jermaine Johnson said Smalls will stand near the visitor entrance to the State House and will provide a powerful reminder to schoolchildren about equal rights.

And, he said, visitors will be able to see the statues of Hampton and “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman (photo right, Wikipedia) from the location -- a reminder that Smalls overcame cruelties of the racist South.

Tillman, an agrarian populist, promulgated violence from groups who opposed Black rights and voting. A Clemson University biography says of him: "While bringing several progressive reforms to the state, he also was at the forefront of the movement to marginalize and disfranchise black Southerners further in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries." He helped eradicate some reforms championed by Smalls.

According to the Associated Press, despite cries from many to get rid of such memorials, state law requires legislative approval to remove statues of Confederates or white supremacists, or even add language detailing their racist deeds. 

That has been an impossible task in a state dominated by conservative Republicans, according to the AP.

So now a new chapter is being written.

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 its State House grounds.

Click Robert Smalls Monument Commission map below to see where his statue will stand (near the star, on the State House grounds in Columbia.