The United States was at war in 1862. At that time, Robert Smalls was a slave in Charleston, South Carolina. That changed on May 13. Smalls stole a ship. He sailed to freedom. Now the U.S. Navy named a ship after him!
Smalls was 23 years old when he stole the ship. But he had been a sailor. He began working on the Planter in 1861. That was the start of the Civil War.
Smalls made his plan to escape. He pretended to be a captain. Slowly, the ship left the dock. He piloted the Planter through the harbor. Then Smalls was able to the ship to the Union. The Union was fighting the Confederate side.
Smalls served the Union in the Civil War. The war ended in 1865. Smalls then returned to South Carolina. In 1875, he joined the U.S. House of Representatives. The congressman fought for Black Americans.
The U.S. military honored Robert Smalls. It changed the name of a navy warship. The ship was called the Chancellorsville. Its name came from the Battle of Chancellorsville. Confederate soldiers won that Civil War battle in 1863.
“I am proud to rename the ship after Robert Smalls,” said Carlos Del Toro. He is a U.S. Navy leader. Del Toro called Smalls “an extraordinary American.”
“The renaming is not about rewriting history,” explained Del Toro. He said it teaches about “people in history who may have been overlooked.”
“Robert Smalls deserves a namesake ship,” added Del Toro. “With this renaming, his story will continue to be retold.”
Updated April 12, 2023, 5:01 P.M. (ET)
By Russell Kahn (Russ)
