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. Legislators said the location for the monument became after a tree branch fell. Officials later learned the tree was dying.

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.

'Teachable moment' at federal level?

Democratic U.S. senators plan to introduce bills that would set up a federal commission to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Previous proposals to create such a commission never made it out of committee. • Article

Georgia working on 150th anniversary Web site

A budget shortfall has Georgia late out of the gate in marking the Civil War’s 150th anniversary.

The state’s Department of Economic Development hopes to launch a sesquicentennial Web site in October or early November. Some 16 states already have sites that promote such events and places of interest.

Working with the Georgia Civil War Commission (GCWC), the department also is updating and expanding the book “Crossroads of Conflict,” a book guide to more than 350 sites across Georgia. The revision also should be out in the fall.

Both GCWC Chairman John Culpepper and Barry Brown, heritage tourism specialist with the economic development department, cite the lack of designated state funds to mark the anniversary.

Some $500,000 initially meant to promote events was cut from the state budget. Instead, Brown says, the department is using discretionary money and support from the Georgia Humanities Council to build the Web site and promote events.

Across the country, local governments and tourism leaders hope to bring in money from Civil War re-enactments and heritage tourism. But trying to raise money for marketing campaigns during a recession and major state budget shortfalls has proven difficult.

The GCWC, for example, currently has no funding for next year. It was able to provide less than $50,000 to the state for the Web site and “Crossroads” update.

“We’re in the early stages of developing the Web site,” says Brown. “It is meant to build heritage tourism.”

Georgia’s sesquicentennial Web site will mirror the state’s approach to tourism, breaking it into nine regions. Brown expects the site will include a guide to sites, 150th events, the war day-by-day and soldier diaries. A Civil War timeline also will be posted.

Many cities, including Columbus and Stone Mountain, will sponsor events in 2011, early in the sesquicentennial. Others, including Chickamauga, will handle events in 2013 and 2014.

“The state has no plans to mark the sesquicentennial at this time,” Brown says.

Georgia Civil War Heritage Trails, a non-profit group, has been the state’s leading source for Civil War driving tours and interpretive signs.

Its main mission is education, economic development (tourism) and preservation, says executive director Steven Longcrier. His organization gets little state money, depending more on cities, counties and the U.S. Department of Transportation for interpretive sign grants.

“Our Web site will greatly expand as more of the elements of our trails are in place,” says Longcrier.

“Although Georgia Civil War Heritage Trails is not a heritage tourism program that begins or ends with the Civil War sesquicentennial, the increased public awareness brought about by this significant anniversary is certainly benefitting our efforts, too,” Longcrier says.

CWHT is working to have three of six heritage trails in place by the war’s sesquicentennial: The Atlanta Campaign, the March to the Sea and Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ unsuccessful effort to avoid capture by the troops in blue. The trails are meant to be driven and are supplemented by interpretive markers.

The Georgia Civil War Commission’s Web site is largely dormant.

Culpepper, who also serves as city manager in Chickamauga, recently started the Tri-State Civil War Association to combine resources and promote related sites and events in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. The Battle of Chickamauga re-enactment in 2013 will be the largest in the Deep South.

The Tri-State Web site is selling sponsorships and the group will produce 100,000 rack cards.

So far, the association has brought in $18,000 from member cities and counties in northwest Georgia, southern Tennessee and eastern Alabama, Culpepper says. "By pooling our resources together, we can get the job done," Culpepper told the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Like Brown, he stresses the importance of the Civil War in Georgia. The Confederate loss of Atlanta assured the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln.

“We are promoting the war ended in Georgia,” says Culpepper.