Robert Smalls, a slave and the pilot aboard the 313 ton Confederate side-wheeler dispatch boat Planter, waited till her white captain visited ashore and then in the early hours of the morning, with the African-American crew, steamed the vessel out of Charleston Bay, picking up family members on the way. The defectors surrendered the Planter to the USS Onward of the blockading Federal fleet and subsequently received a portion of prize money for this, the first Confederate naval vessel captured in the Civil War. Smalls later served in the U.S. Congress. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Frank Moore, ed., The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events, with Documents, Narratives, Illustrative Incidents, Poetry, Etc. (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1863), V: 132.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Battles/Soldiers
