Robert Smalls sailed the Planter to freedom from this harbour

Before dawn on 13 May 1862, Robert Smalls took the Planter, a 149-foot Confederate transport, from a wharf located just east of this spot. The ship’s captain, pilot, and engineer were all ashore for the night, leaving the vessel in the hands of Smalls and six other enslaved crewmen. Smalls donned the captain’s white jacket and wide-brimmed straw hat, pacing the deck to mimic the captain’s posture and betting that the half-light of early morning would prevent anyone from noticing the ruse.

The ship had to pass several Confederate checkpoints to exit the harbour. At each station, Smalls pulled the whistle cord to sound the coded signal he had learned during his previous work as a harbour pilot. When the vessel reached Fort Sumter at about half past four in the morning, he gave the required signal of two long blows and one short one. The guards allowed the transport to pass without further inspection.

Once the ship was within range of the Union fleet blockading the harbour, Smalls lowered the Confederate flag and raised a white bedsheet as a sign of surrender. Sixteen people gained their freedom that night, including Smalls, his six crewmen, a crewman from another ship, and eight additional passengers, among them his wife, Hanna, and their three children. Northern and Southern newspapers described the escape as a bold and daring feat.

Born in Beaufort in 1839, Smalls had been hired out in Charleston by his owner, Henry McKee, who collected his wages. After the escape, the United States Army hired Smalls to serve as captain of the very ship he had seized. He eventually entered politics, serving as a state legislator and completing five terms in the United States Congress before his death in 1915.