1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday everyone. For the next two Saturdays, we are 2 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:09,760 Speaker 1: sharing our classic episodes on Robert Small's, a man whose 3 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: life included enslavement, the Civil War, reconstruction, and the rise 4 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,440 Speaker 1: of the racist cast system known as Jim Crow. In 5 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,640 Speaker 1: part one, we talked about Robert Smalls's early life and 6 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:25,080 Speaker 1: his dramatic escape from enslavement in South Carolina. This episode 7 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 1: originally came out on February two thousand sixteen. Welcome to 8 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of I 9 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy 10 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,880 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Maybe I have a story 11 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 1: that spans a lot of United States history. We're going 12 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 1: to talk about Robert Small's, who was enslaved in South 13 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,280 Speaker 1: Carolina and then escaped from enslavement during the United States 14 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: Civil War in a particularly dramatic fashion. Is a escape 15 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: is really only the beginning of the story, though from 16 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: there he went on to serve in both houses of 17 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 1: the South Carolina Legislature as well as in the United 18 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: States House of Representatives. On top of having carried out 19 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: this heroic escape and then gone on to serve in 20 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: both the South Carolina and federal governments. You can look 21 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: at Robert Smalls and his life as sort of a 22 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: microcosm of the world that he lived in because of 23 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: when and how he lived. His story as like an 24 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: overview of slavery in the American South and the Civil 25 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 1: War and reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow. It's 26 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:36,319 Speaker 1: this enormous arc of American history that plays out through 27 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: one person's life. So for that reason, we're going to 28 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: look at this story in two parts, the first covering 29 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:46,680 Speaker 1: Robert Small's childhood, his young adulthood, and his escape, and 30 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: then part two will get into his Civil War service, 31 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: to his post war years in political life, and his 32 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: legacy today. Robert Smalls was born on April five, eight 33 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: thirty nine, in Beaufort, South Carolina. His mother was named 34 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: Lydia Polite, and she was enslaved in the household of 35 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: the McKee family, where she worked as a nanny. She 36 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: had been owned by the McKee family since birth and 37 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:10,360 Speaker 1: had worked in the McKee home since she was about 38 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: ten years old. Prior to that, she had been working 39 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: as a field hand, and she was in her forties 40 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 1: when Robert was born. He had one older brother who 41 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:21,919 Speaker 1: was more than twenty years his senior. I want to 42 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 1: take a brief moment to say that if you were 43 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: from virtually anywhere besides South Carolina, and you know of 44 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: a place spelled b e a U f O RT, 45 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: probably you say at Beaufort, please do not write to 46 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: us you said that we said it wrong. In South Carolina. 47 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 1: For some reason, it is Bufort, even though most of 48 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: these places that most other people say Beaufort are named 49 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: after the same person who pronounced it Beaufort. I have 50 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: no explanation for why this pronunciation in South Carolina is different. 51 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: Also unknown, actually is the identity of Robert's father. Historians 52 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 1: and biographers have suggested several different candidates, but there's no 53 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:05,200 Speaker 1: real evidence to support any of them. The most commonly 54 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: suggested potential father is Henry McKee, the patriarch of the 55 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: McKee family at the time. Much of this speculation is 56 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: because Lydia and Henry lived on the same property for 57 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:19,640 Speaker 1: many years, including the years that surrounded Robert's birth, but 58 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: Lydia actually helped raise Henry, and none of the other 59 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:25,639 Speaker 1: women that Henry owned are supposed to have had a 60 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 1: child by him, So even though he's sort of the 61 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: most popular theorized father we don't actually know, and regardless, 62 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: Henry McKee and the rest of the McKee household treated 63 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: Lydia and her son with a degree of leniency and benevolence, 64 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: including Lydia being able to keep and raise him herself. 65 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:48,360 Speaker 1: Robert grew up playing with Henry McKee's own children. Since 66 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: he and his mother worked in the house rather than 67 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: in the fields, their positions also came with certain privileges. 68 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 1: Mother and son were allowed to attend church and to 69 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: visit Lydia's family, who were enslaved on the nearby Ashdale Plantation, 70 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: a Sea Island cotton plantation, and that was where Lydia 71 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: herself had worked before being moved to the house. However, 72 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: even though by all accounts Robert and his mother were 73 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,640 Speaker 1: treated with some kindness and flexibility, Robert and his mother 74 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 1: were still enslaved. They had no prospects were becoming free. 75 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 1: By this point, slavery in the United States had evolved 76 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: into an institution that was both hereditary and tied to race. 77 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 1: Unless enslaved people were set free by their owners, managed 78 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:35,119 Speaker 1: to purchase themselves, or managed to escape, they were held 79 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: in bondage for life, and any children who were born 80 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 1: to any enslaved person were enslaved as well. Henry McKee 81 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: had inherited lydia from his father, and then Robert had 82 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: been enslaved from birth. So we're not talking about how 83 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:53,760 Speaker 1: they were treated relatively kindly as a way to excuse 84 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:56,840 Speaker 1: the fact that that enslavement was going on. Like that's 85 00:04:56,880 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: the thing that people bring up on the internet, alite 86 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: a lot. Like not all slave owners were awful, That 87 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: doesn't excuse the fact that they were enslaved for life 88 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: with no potential to be free. Because the institution of 89 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: slavery in the United States had become tied to race, 90 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:17,920 Speaker 1: a collection of laws and social attitudes developed that were 91 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: also based on race, and they affected virtually all black people, 92 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: whether or not they were or ever had been enslaved. 93 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:28,839 Speaker 1: For example, a number of fugitive slave laws allowed for 94 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: the capture and return of escaped slaves to their owners, 95 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,799 Speaker 1: and since slavery was tied to race, all black people 96 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: in the United States were at a risk of being 97 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: targeted by these laws, regardless of whether they had ever 98 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: been enslaved. Overwhelmingly, free people of African descent were also 99 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 1: explicitly denied. A number of legal rights and protections, including 100 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:54,719 Speaker 1: the right to vote. So because his owners treated him 101 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 1: comparatively gently in his childhood, and because his mother's work 102 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,160 Speaker 1: in the house meant that they were both afforded more 103 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:04,599 Speaker 1: privileges than many other slaves, the young Robert Smalls was 104 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:06,840 Speaker 1: not really conscious of a lot of these a lot 105 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: of these realities. His mother, on the other hand, absolutely was. 106 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:14,720 Speaker 1: She was afraid that Robert would grow into manhood when 107 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: white society would view him as being inherently threatening without 108 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:21,960 Speaker 1: understanding the realities of enslavement and the risks that were 109 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: inherent in having black skin, especially in a slave state. 110 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 1: She knew that if he was sold to another family, 111 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:30,720 Speaker 1: one that might not be as flexible or treat him 112 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: as kindly. Without understanding these realities, his well being and 113 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,719 Speaker 1: even his life could be in danger. So as part 114 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: of his education, she would take him to Ashdale Plantation, 115 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: where her family was still enslaved, to see and experience 116 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 1: what the lives of field hands were like. The McKey 117 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 1: family had long allowed Lydia to visit her family at 118 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:55,480 Speaker 1: the plantation, and, probably unaware of her motive here, they 119 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: allowed her to take Robert with her when she visited. 120 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: She would also take him to the shin Sight to 121 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: see children, sometimes much younger than set himself, being bought 122 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:07,799 Speaker 1: and sold. She'd also take him to the whipping post 123 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: in Bufort, where enslaved people were publicly whipped as a punishment, 124 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 1: to witness what happened to them there. In one case, 125 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: an enslaved woman who was being publicly whipped turned out, 126 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 1: unbeknownst to him, to be his friends Susan. While this 127 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: did certainly educate Smalls about the reality of slavery, it 128 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 1: also understandably made him really angry. A number of writers 129 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: and historians describe his middle childhood as quote defiant. The 130 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: curfew for slaves was at sundown, and a bell would 131 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: ring every night to signal that it was time for 132 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: the enslaved people to all be at home. Smalls resented 133 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:46,280 Speaker 1: this curfew, especially when he was out playing with white 134 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 1: children who didn't have to go home, so he started 135 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 1: breaking curfew, along with many of the other rules that 136 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: governed the minutia of the slaves lives. By the time 137 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 1: his age reached double digits, he was winding up in 138 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 1: Baufort jail fairly often, with his owner having to bail 139 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:06,560 Speaker 1: him out. Small's mother once again feared for his safety, 140 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:09,640 Speaker 1: so in eighteen fifty one she asked that he'd be 141 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,120 Speaker 1: sent away from Beaufort and instead rented out in Charleston. 142 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: Renting out an enslaved person's labor it was a pretty 143 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: common practice since it allowed owners to continue to profit 144 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 1: from their slaves labor even if they personally didn't have 145 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: any work for them to do. Right then, so McKee agreed, 146 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,920 Speaker 1: and going to Charleston was a huge change in Small's 147 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:32,280 Speaker 1: life and a huge opportunity. And we're going to talk 148 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: about the how and why of that after we pause 149 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:45,720 Speaker 1: for a brief word from a sponsor. Going to Charleston 150 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 1: gave Robert Small's a lot more freedom of movement than 151 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:50,559 Speaker 1: he'd had in Baufort, as well as a lot more 152 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: opportunity to learn and to work. The black population of Charleston, 153 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:58,680 Speaker 1: which included both free and enslaved people, often outnumbered its 154 00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 1: white population, and its economy supported a lot of different 155 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,199 Speaker 1: types of work. There were schools for free black children, 156 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 1: which Smalls couldn't personally attend, but he could learn from 157 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:11,480 Speaker 1: people who went there. He was also able to attend 158 00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 1: church and to participate in community organizations. He also joined 159 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 1: several secret charities that were meant to help Charleston's enslaved 160 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: population work toward freedom. His first jobs were suited to 161 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 1: his youth. He lit lamps, he waited in bus tables 162 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:30,080 Speaker 1: at a restaurant, and he did odd jobs along the waterfront. 163 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:32,800 Speaker 1: He also made a little extra money by buying cheap 164 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: tobacco and candy and reselling them for a higher price. 165 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 1: Eventually he went to work with a man named John Simmons, 166 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 1: where he started getting extremely valuable experience and all sorts 167 00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: of jobs and trades related to the water. He learned 168 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 1: to be a stevedore, a sailmaker, a rigger, and a sailor. 169 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,840 Speaker 1: He became an expert at navigating the complex waterways around 170 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:57,559 Speaker 1: the South Carolina and Georgia coasts. Eventually he was making 171 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: sixteen dollars a month, a dollar of which he was 172 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:02,800 Speaker 1: allowed to keep when he turned the rest of his 173 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:06,760 Speaker 1: pay back over to Henry McKee. When Smalls was sixteen, 174 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:10,160 Speaker 1: he met Hannah Jones, who was aged thirty who worked 175 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 1: as a hotel maid in Charleston. She was being hired 176 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: out to the hotel by her owners, the Kingman family. 177 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: She had two daughters, Clara and Charlotte, whose father is unknown, 178 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: and they all lived together behind the Kingman family home. 179 00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:27,360 Speaker 1: Soon Robert and Hannah were spending most of their free 180 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,319 Speaker 1: hours together, which was mostly Saturday nights and then on 181 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:33,839 Speaker 1: Sundays when they went to church. Within a couple of years, 182 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:36,680 Speaker 1: Robert and Hannah wanted to get married, and they also 183 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 1: wanted to live together as white couples and free black 184 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:42,760 Speaker 1: couples were allowed to do. Enslaved people, on the other hand, 185 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,360 Speaker 1: were generally required to live in quarters provided by their owners, 186 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:50,000 Speaker 1: which were usually separate, regardless of their marital status, so 187 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,359 Speaker 1: before getting married, they first got permission from the Kingman's 188 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:56,760 Speaker 1: and the mckeyes to live together as a couple. That 189 00:10:56,880 --> 00:10:59,880 Speaker 1: was actually the easy part, and both sets of owners agreed, 190 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:02,920 Speaker 1: But the harder part is that Robert and Hannah didn't 191 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:06,200 Speaker 1: just want to live together in slave quarters behind somebody's house. 192 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 1: They wanted to live together in their own home. So 193 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:11,680 Speaker 1: they each also had to get their owners to agree 194 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:14,080 Speaker 1: to allow them to do extra work beyond what they 195 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 1: were hired out to do, and then keep some of 196 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: the profits so that they could afford the rent and 197 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:22,680 Speaker 1: living expenses that would come with their own place. Eventually, 198 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:26,760 Speaker 1: both owners agreed. The couple was married at the McKee 199 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:31,800 Speaker 1: home on December fifty six, with Henry McKee pronouncing them married. 200 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,079 Speaker 1: When they returned to Charleston, they lived over some stables, 201 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 1: and Robert arranged to pay the rent in exchange for 202 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:41,360 Speaker 1: keeping the stables clean, meaning they got to keep the 203 00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:44,240 Speaker 1: money they had negotiated with the McKees and the Kingman's 204 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:47,319 Speaker 1: as needed for their rent. Even though living above the 205 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 1: stables gave them a greater amount of independence and autonomy 206 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:54,400 Speaker 1: than most enslaved couples, their marriage did not offer them 207 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:59,360 Speaker 1: any personal or legal protections. Marriages between enslaved people basically 208 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: had no eagle standing. Smalls knew that if they chose, 209 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:05,640 Speaker 1: the Kingman's could sell Hannah somewhere else, or they could 210 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:09,240 Speaker 1: hire her labor away from Charleston. The possibility of her 211 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:12,760 Speaker 1: being sold or otherwise moved away from him became increasingly 212 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:16,920 Speaker 1: threatening as they had children together over the next few years, 213 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: so Robert first asked his owner if he might have 214 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:23,200 Speaker 1: permission to buy his wife and children, and once that 215 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:25,680 Speaker 1: was secured, in spite of the fact that it was 216 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:29,200 Speaker 1: illegal for slaves to own other slaves, he asked the 217 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:32,560 Speaker 1: Kingman's if he could buy Hannah and their children, and Mr. 218 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: Kingman said yes for eight hundred dollars. Smalls only had 219 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:40,200 Speaker 1: one hundred dollars, which Kingman agreed to accept as a 220 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: down payment. From that point on, Smalls and his wife 221 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:47,040 Speaker 1: put all their resources into saving up the additional seven 222 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: hundred dollars. They never actually had to pay it, though. 223 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:56,440 Speaker 1: On April sixty two, fifteen enslaved persons commandeered a barge 224 00:12:56,559 --> 00:12:59,840 Speaker 1: that belonged to the Confederate Quartermaster Department, and they managed 225 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: to sail that barge to a Union ship. It's possible 226 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:05,560 Speaker 1: but uncertain, that Smalls had heard about this and it 227 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 1: inspired him to take his own action. It's also possible 228 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,520 Speaker 1: that he had heard about Major General David Hunter of 229 00:13:11,559 --> 00:13:15,040 Speaker 1: the Union Army, who, in addition to making several attempts 230 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:17,880 Speaker 1: to just free all enslaved persons in the territory that 231 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:21,200 Speaker 1: he commanded, also ordered that any black person who could 232 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,080 Speaker 1: reach the Union line be considered free and accepted into 233 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:29,000 Speaker 1: military service, regardless of Smalls soon made a similar escape himself. 234 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:33,319 Speaker 1: Robert Small's escape from slavery took place during the United 235 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:36,720 Speaker 1: States Civil War. This war had been brewing for decades 236 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: before it actually began. As tide turned against slavery in 237 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:44,480 Speaker 1: the Northern States, the Northern states began abolishing slavery, passing 238 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 1: laws to prevent the return of escaped slaves to the 239 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 1: states where they had been held in bondage, and otherwise 240 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: trying to pressure the remaining slave states into abolishing the 241 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:58,000 Speaker 1: practice as well. The slave states dissatisfaction with all this 242 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:01,960 Speaker 1: increased dramatically in eighteen five d when California, a free state, 243 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,240 Speaker 1: was admitted into the Union without a corresponding slave state 244 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:08,679 Speaker 1: to preserve the balance of power and Congress. This slave 245 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:11,199 Speaker 1: state free state pairing is something that we talked about 246 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:14,520 Speaker 1: recently in our episode on the Honey War. Every state 247 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:18,040 Speaker 1: admitted after eighteen fifty was also free, and each new 248 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:20,800 Speaker 1: free statement that the slave states had less and less 249 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 1: power and faced greater and greater risk of Congress taking 250 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:28,880 Speaker 1: action to abolish slavery entirely. Slaveholding states had been threatening 251 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:32,920 Speaker 1: to secede from the Union for decades. A number of compromises, 252 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:36,040 Speaker 1: including the Missouri Compromise we also discussed when we talked 253 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:39,320 Speaker 1: about the Honey War, had kept the Union together temporarily, 254 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:43,640 Speaker 1: but as the eighteen sixty presidential election approached, the prevailing 255 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:46,600 Speaker 1: wisdom was that the election of a Republican president would 256 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 1: guarantee that slaveholding states would begin to break away from 257 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:54,480 Speaker 1: the United States. That Republican president was Abraham Lincoln, elected 258 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:58,520 Speaker 1: on November six, eighteen sixty. On December twenty of that year, 259 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 1: South Carolina became the first state to secede. In its 260 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: Declaration of Causes of Secession, South Carolina outlined its reasons 261 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:11,280 Speaker 1: for leaving the Union after citing the Declaration of Independence 262 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: and stressing repeatedly that the Revolutionary War led to each 263 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 1: former colony becoming a quote free, sovereign and independent state. 264 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: The declaration of causes went on to read, quote an 265 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: increasing hostility on the part of the non slaveholding states 266 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:29,760 Speaker 1: to the institution of slavery has led to a disregard 267 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:32,720 Speaker 1: of their obligations, and the laws of the general Government 268 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: have ceased to affect the objects of the Constitution. South 269 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,400 Speaker 1: Carolina's Declaration of causes then raises objections to several other 270 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: states passing laws that fugitive slaves would not be returned 271 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 1: from there to their slaveholding states of origin. By the 272 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:51,520 Speaker 1: time Lincoln was inaugurated on February first, State teen sixty one, 273 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 1: six more states had succeeded. Three of them issued their 274 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:59,240 Speaker 1: own declarations of causes, all of which make expensive references 275 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: to the issue of slavery, the refusal of non slave 276 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 1: holding states to return escape slaves to their former owners, 277 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:09,600 Speaker 1: and efforts took her tail or abolished slavery. The first 278 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,240 Speaker 1: shots of the United States Civil War were fired on 279 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 1: April twelfth, eighteen sixty one, at Fort Sumter, a then 280 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 1: federal fort in Charleston Harbor, where Confederate General P. G. T. 281 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:24,080 Speaker 1: Beauregard opened fire on the fort. The fort's commander, Major 282 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: Robert Anderson, surrendered after two days. With the nation now 283 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 1: actively at war, more states seceded from the Union and 284 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:35,840 Speaker 1: joined the Confederacy Later that year. The Confederacy least a 285 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: wooden steamer named the Planter, from its owner, John Ferguson, 286 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 1: who had been using it to carry cotton along the 287 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: Peade River in South Carolina. The Confederate Navy also conscripted 288 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: its enslaved crew, One of them was it's wheelman, Robert Small's. 289 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:56,280 Speaker 1: Once under the control of the Confederate military, the Planter 290 00:16:56,400 --> 00:17:00,760 Speaker 1: shifted from halling cotton to carrying supplies between various fortifications 291 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: around Charlestown, as well as laying mines then referred to 292 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: as torpedoes in the waterways. Often these supplies consisted of 293 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:12,679 Speaker 1: munitions and ordnance. The Planter itself was also armed with 294 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:17,359 Speaker 1: a cannon and a howitzer ONT eighteen sixty two. In 295 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:20,640 Speaker 1: addition to its own armaments, the Planter was carrying four 296 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 1: guns and a gun carriage. The guns were bound for 297 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: Charleston's middle ground battery at Fort Ripley and the carriage 298 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:31,040 Speaker 1: for Fort Sumter. While working aboard the Planter, Smalls than 299 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:35,600 Speaker 1: twenty three, had proven himself to be extremely reliable and trustworthy, 300 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 1: so much so that on the night of the thirteenth, 301 00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 1: the three white officers who were who were assigned to 302 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 1: the Planter, Captain C. J. Ralia, Pilot Samuel H. Smith, 303 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:49,640 Speaker 1: and Engineer Zarek Pitcher, left it with no white officer aboard. 304 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:52,639 Speaker 1: They went into Charlestown for the night, probably to socialize 305 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:55,879 Speaker 1: or to visit family. This is actually grounds for court martial. 306 00:17:56,960 --> 00:17:59,399 Speaker 1: For a couple of weeks, the Smalls had been putting 307 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:01,879 Speaker 1: together a and that would allow him to take advantage 308 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:04,720 Speaker 1: of just such an opportunity. This was not the first 309 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:07,919 Speaker 1: time that the officers had gone ashore overnight, so at 310 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: about three am, he donned the captain's jacket and his 311 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:14,679 Speaker 1: big straw hat, adopted his usual posture, set a prayer, 312 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:17,640 Speaker 1: and moved the Planter out of the wharf, which laid 313 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:22,480 Speaker 1: directly across from the headquarters of Confederate Brigadier General Roswell Ripley. 314 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:27,160 Speaker 1: From there they proceeded to the North Atlantic Wharf, where 315 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,399 Speaker 1: his wife and children, along with several other enslaved people, 316 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:35,120 Speaker 1: were concealed aboard another boat called the Edawah. Once everyone 317 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:37,920 Speaker 1: hidden in the Edawah was aboard the Planter, their number 318 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:42,320 Speaker 1: totaled nine men, five women, and three children. Their goal 319 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:46,160 Speaker 1: was to reach the Union blockade, ten ships arranged off 320 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:48,880 Speaker 1: the coast to prevent the Confederacy from using the Atlantic 321 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:52,360 Speaker 1: Ocean for things like trade or troop movements. To do so, 322 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:54,800 Speaker 1: they had to run up the South Carolina flag and 323 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:58,959 Speaker 1: Confederate colors, then successfully make their way past five different 324 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,359 Speaker 1: Confederate sentry stations. This required sounding the correct signals and 325 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:08,000 Speaker 1: responding correctly to signals from the outposts. Plus nobody could 326 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,520 Speaker 1: notice that there were no white people on this boat. 327 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:14,080 Speaker 1: You'll see a lot of like memes floating around the 328 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,840 Speaker 1: internet about Robert Smiles and how awesome he was, and 329 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:19,480 Speaker 1: a lot of them claimed that he read a code 330 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: book in order to do this, but at this point 331 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: he was not actually literate, so it's more likely that 332 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:30,000 Speaker 1: he had observed what the officers were doing and memorized 333 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:33,440 Speaker 1: what they were doing, and then recalled all of that flawlessly. 334 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:45,520 Speaker 1: During this escape, the last outpost that they had to 335 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:49,320 Speaker 1: get past was Fort Sumter itself. In theory, they could 336 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:52,160 Speaker 1: have given the fort a wide berth and maybe avoided 337 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 1: this one last exchange of coded signals, but Smalls really 338 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:58,159 Speaker 1: wanted it to look like they were just the normal 339 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:02,280 Speaker 1: ship doing something completely routine, albeit at an extremely early hour, 340 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:06,359 Speaker 1: for as long as possible. Exchanging that last set of 341 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:09,600 Speaker 1: signals with Fort Sumter was not the most dangerous part 342 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:13,160 Speaker 1: of this escape, though. Once they received the okay to continue, 343 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:15,160 Speaker 1: they had to get out of range of the fort's 344 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:19,080 Speaker 1: guns before striking their Confederate colors. If they struck the 345 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:21,479 Speaker 1: colors too soon, they would be shot and sunk by 346 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,439 Speaker 1: the Confederacy. But if they waited too late, the ships 347 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:26,520 Speaker 1: in the blockade would probably think they were on a 348 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,159 Speaker 1: ramming course, so they would be shot and sunk by 349 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: the Union. Instead, they had actually made no plans for 350 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:35,520 Speaker 1: what to do if they wound up being captured. If 351 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 1: it came down to it, they were ready to fight 352 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:39,879 Speaker 1: back against the Confederacy with the armaments that were aboard 353 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:43,400 Speaker 1: the ship, and to blow up the ship's boiler if necessary, 354 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:47,119 Speaker 1: even though that would mean the deaths of everyone on board. Basically, 355 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:50,679 Speaker 1: the only things that they considered to be acceptable outcomes 356 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:54,640 Speaker 1: in this escape were escaping or death being enslaved again 357 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: not on the list. At sunrise, as they approached the 358 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,320 Speaker 1: Union ship onward, Robert Smalls and his men took down 359 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:04,680 Speaker 1: their Confederate flag and they ran up a white sheet 360 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:08,000 Speaker 1: it was possibly stolen from the hotel where his wife worked, 361 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:11,840 Speaker 1: and the Union gladly accepted their surrender and took possession 362 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:15,440 Speaker 1: of the planter. This meant that Robert Smalls, his family, 363 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:18,159 Speaker 1: and their friends who had escaped with them were now free. 364 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,160 Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about what happened after that, because, 365 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,720 Speaker 1: like we said, this is really the beginning of a 366 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:26,200 Speaker 1: much longer story, and we're going to talk about that 367 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: in our next episode. Yeah, he basically just stole a 368 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,680 Speaker 1: Confederate ship out from under the nose of the Confederacy 369 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 1: and handed it over to the Union. Was like, Hi, guys, 370 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: I brought you this boat. Well, and we might get 371 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:42,119 Speaker 1: emails about the wordship versus boat that just we know, 372 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:48,080 Speaker 1: don't bother well, and I just I I love this 373 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: story because it's just the whole thing took such ingenuity 374 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:57,640 Speaker 1: and like craftiness at every turn that you you just 375 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:01,880 Speaker 1: cannot help but be wowed by it. It also shows 376 00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:06,439 Speaker 1: how difficult and dangerous and rare it actually was or 377 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:09,720 Speaker 1: enslaved people to escape. I mean, at this point, this 378 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:13,680 Speaker 1: was during the Civil War, there were perhaps more opportunities 379 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:16,880 Speaker 1: for people to escape, just because there was so much 380 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,240 Speaker 1: more chaosk going on, and there were Union troops who 381 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:23,040 Speaker 1: were actively interested in helping people to escape to freedom. 382 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,439 Speaker 1: But one of the things that that people sort of 383 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:31,600 Speaker 1: misbelieve about enslavement and about the Civil War is that 384 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: there was just an enormous, enormous influx of of of 385 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:40,359 Speaker 1: enslaved people who were successfully escaping all the time. And 386 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:42,600 Speaker 1: one of the reasons for that is that most of 387 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:45,679 Speaker 1: the first person knowledge that we have about enslavement, and 388 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:50,720 Speaker 1: especially like in the United States, the institution of slavery 389 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,880 Speaker 1: is from people who did successfully escape and then went 390 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:57,800 Speaker 1: on to write a slave narrative. And this is like 391 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:00,160 Speaker 1: a tiny it's not a it's not an act. You're 392 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: at sample, right of all enslaved people. It's like the 393 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:07,440 Speaker 1: slave narratives that we have came from the people who 394 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:11,760 Speaker 1: were able to escape and then we're able either able 395 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:13,520 Speaker 1: to learn to read and write, or we're able to 396 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:17,439 Speaker 1: find someone to help them write, um, right down their story. 397 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:21,720 Speaker 1: And it's not an actually representative sample of all of 398 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: the enslaved people in the United States. So uh, still 399 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: an awesome story. Um. And it's it's very intriguing to 400 00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:35,680 Speaker 1: me how because he was from South Carolina and because 401 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:37,159 Speaker 1: of when he was born and where he lived and 402 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:40,560 Speaker 1: what he did, so much of his life parallels the 403 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:45,400 Speaker 1: arc of United States history that ran through these days. 404 00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:52,919 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us today for this 405 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: Saturday Classic. If you have heard any kind of email 406 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:58,280 Speaker 1: address or maybe a Facebook you are l during the 407 00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:00,439 Speaker 1: course of the episode, that might be obs elite, it 408 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: might be doubly obsolete because we have changed our email 409 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,919 Speaker 1: address again. 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