September 16, 2021 • 26 mins
In the second part of this series, the guys continue the story of Robert Smalls, from his daring Confederate steamer heist to his later, life-long activism and Congressional career. Listen in to learn more.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
(00:27):
back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always
so much for tuning in. Previously on Ridiculous History, we
dove into the story of Robert Small's If you haven't
heard part one yet, please please please pause, stop what
you're doing now and listen to part one. Perfect. I'm Ben,
(00:56):
that's our super producer, Max Williams. Who's this? Who's this guy? Who? Mean?
It's all and I don't know, man, let's just dispense
with the preamble get right to the heist. So he
knows he's got to have these flags up right, He
raises the Confederate flag, the Palmetto flag. They go towards
the open ocean. They get to the first checkpoint around
(01:17):
a little before three thirty in the morning, place called
Fort Johnson, and this is where the rubber really hits
the road. So he he doesn't know if they'll get caught.
This isn't a scheduled run, right, so he he sounds
a signal on the steam whistle and they just surprise, surprise,
wave him through. So they go deeper into the harbor.
(01:39):
It looks like this plan may actually work and they're
getting to Fort Sumter and he is small as is
playing back in his mind the many times that they
have made runs like this before. Right, just act normal. Also,
this captain's hat is not just the symbolic thing. It's
something that may be the watchman can see right as. Yeah,
(02:04):
it was. It was total of subterfuge. I mean, that
was what they were hoping, is to pass on through
without anything seeming amiss. So he tried to, you know,
maintain he had seen he had been through these checkpoints
many many times. He knew what the protocols were. He
knew how the captain carried himself, so he tried to
carry himself the same way. He stood there on the
(02:25):
deck with his arms crossed and pulled the hat down
over his face a little bit, but not in a
suspicious way. It was also nighttime, obviously, and they're not
passing directly by these folks that are, you know, manning
the checkpoints for fifteen AM. As per the protocols, the
planter blew its steam whistle, and according to a report,
a lot of the information we have about this comes
(02:46):
from this naval report, the Committee on Naval Affairs said
the signal was blown as coolly as if General Ripley,
who was at the time the commander of Charleston's Greater Defenses,
was on board. The guard at Fort Sumter sounded their
signal in return, and they were off. They passed the
checkpoint without any incidents. Yes, yeah, and they ended up
(03:12):
successfully passing five different Confederate gun batteries. So later the
Confederate forces and members of the Confederate Army would argue
that this worked because the Planter was known as a
guard vessel as well as a supply ship. So there
(03:32):
was a gun ship, right. I mean it had like
you know, it had on board, had that immunition, but
it also had guns and a pivot gun. So they
were doing everything right. And once they got out of
rebel gun range, an alarm went off because the Planter
(03:53):
was clearly deviating from the known roots. It was heading
directly for the Union blockade. And at this point, at
this point, the next few events are key and history
hinges on some very small decisions and they're very time sensitive.
Smallest immediately orders the crew to take down that rebel flag,
(04:14):
take down the palmetto flag, and then instead hoist up
a white bedsheet that his wife Hannah has brought on board,
and there's still in this this still like not daylight, right,
these are the wee hours. And so there's this Confederate
ship coming like assume the perspective of the Union sailors.
There's a Union ship called the USS Onward, and they
(04:36):
see this Confederate supply slash gut and vessel just bearing
down on them. They can't see the surrender flag because
the sun's not quite up yet, and they almost fire
on the Planter until thank goodness, someone aboard the Onward says, hey,
I see something. It looks like a white flag, right god. Um.
(05:01):
So the command was rescinded and the tension on the
Planter was palpable, and they I guess we're close enough
at this point that they could tell that they were
no longer being seen as a threat. Um. The Planter
got to the blockade, small step forward, and in that
also that cinematic moment, Beautiful whips off his hat and says,
(05:23):
good morning, sir, I've brought you some of the old
United States guns. Boom, mic drop, incredible, and they the
Onward or someone had a stars and stripes flag and
so they hoist that up and now they are a
treasure trove for the Union forces. Yes, the guns are
(05:45):
are going to help the war effort. Yes to the ammunition,
but perhaps more importantly, the knowledge that this ship and
Robert Small's brings to the Union. Now they know shipping routes, Now,
they know locations were minds have been planted. They know
the schedule upon which Confederate ships based their docking and
(06:07):
their departures. So people had tried this before, They tried
a version of this that were enslaved, people who had
tried to reach the Union fleets by rowing out in canoes.
But no one, absolutely no one had ever taken a
Confederate vessel of this size and turned it over to
(06:29):
the Union. Nobody had ever showed up with just this
many guns, and we're like, here, let me give you
some guns. So this guy quickly, right becomes a hero,
especially in the Union, and folks are gushing about him.
One Navy Admiral S. F. DuPont said, Robert Smalls is
(06:51):
superior to any who have come into our lines. And
the New York Daily Tribune has a great description of
this too. That's right. If each one of the general
in our army had displayed as much coolness and courage
as small as did when he saluted the rebel flag
and steamed past the rebel fort. By this time, the
rebellion would have been among the things that were past lovely.
(07:12):
So there's a lot of words to say a little thing,
but I would say of the time, I gotta say
to you, Ben, it feels like it's a common theme
among racists to underestimate people from other of other races,
you know, And that's the huge thing. And it's a
huge thing that caused them to get their hats handed
to them literally or taken from them. I don't know.
The point is, you never underestim to make the enemy.
(07:35):
And they got a little too cozy, and they thought
that they just had these folks under their thumb. Would
all the while they possessed intellect, They possessed the ability
to listen and learn and to um come up with
this incredible plan that required so much courage and just
logistical you know, planning, you know, and and the ability
(07:55):
to see an opening and take it. All the while,
all these idiot confederates thought they could just you know,
have a good old night on the town and that
that you know, they're underlings who they thought were lesser
than them would just do what they were supposed to
do and just mind the shop. It's so ridiculous. Yet
this is this is an interesting dichotomy because he said,
(08:15):
Smalls is rightly hailed as a hero in Union territory,
not so surprisingly in Confederate territory. They're very much more like,
you're killing me Smalls. And they're there placing bounties on
this guy, like a four thousand dollar bounty just four
(08:37):
perspective to inflation and calculator boop that one just for
the perspective. That's uh, that's almost sixty seven thousand dollars today,
significantly more than he was trying to save to free
his family. And that captain, former captain of the planter
(09:00):
Us finally get court martialed. He is sentenced to three
months in prison. I think this later gets overturned. But
the Confederate brass was honestly, they were honestly bewildered and
confused because you know, racism is a lack of critical thinking,
so they couldn't understand that people, you know, wouldn't want
(09:23):
to be enslaved. That seems to be the part that
they couldn't understand, and they even hatched this conspiracy theory
that was short lived because we're talking about racism, But
how racist is this? One guy? F. G. Ravenel concluded
that two white men and a white woman must have
(09:44):
conspired to make it happen, to make the escape happen,
because in his mind, there was no way that people
could have pulled this off on their own. So oddly enough,
his conspiracy theory is easily disproved. There's no record of
any white passengers on the planter at this time. Smalls
(10:05):
and the planter's crew had acted alone. And now he is, again,
we said, hailed as a hero. On May sixty two,
the US Congress passes a bill authorizing the Navy to
(10:27):
awards Smalls and his crew half of the value of
the Planter in return for rescuing her from enemies of
the government. So he gets fifteen hundred dollars just personally. Uh,
And then he is able to I love these stories
and all, he's able to buy his former owner's house.
That's right, because at this point it's sort of moot
(10:47):
the notion of him having to buy his freedom. I mean,
he he won his freedom by sheer bravery Um, and
you know, absolutely rightfully was looked at as a hero because,
like he said, Ben, he provided so much tactical information
that they never would have gotten otherwise and absolutely helped
the war effort in the Union's favor. And and it
(11:07):
was after the war ended that he was able to
buy his former owner's house in Bufort off of the
tax roles. It would have been I guess the equivalent
of what like a repossession or something like that, like
buying a house on the steps of the courthouse. Yeah, yeah,
I think that's yeah, I think that's a good modern comparison.
He also was underpaid, by the way. Later historians would
(11:33):
find out. One thing that was really important that he
got was something he couldn't put a price on. He
had direct audiences with President Abraham Lincoln, like in a
couple of different meetings. And in one of these meetings,
Frederick Douglas joined the conversation, and Douglas is essentially saying
to Lincoln, look, you have got to let African Americans
(11:57):
joined the military. Uh, this is as who coming to
us from the mental flaw article. And he says, furthermore,
you should have this guy, Robert Smalls lead the cause
and Smalls is on board. So he joins the U. S. Navy,
and he personally recruits around five thousand soldiers to the
(12:17):
war effort. Uh. And it's a strong case to make,
you know, to say we are literally fighting for freedom.
Not to mention this is again, this is still during
the Civil War, you know, we we we fast forward
it a little bit to when he bought the house,
but there is quite a bit of conflict left. And
now Smalls is occupying a strategic position, you know, in
(12:38):
the U. S. Navy where he is using some of
those things that he learned when he was listening, you know,
and being underestimated in Charleston for the benefit of the Union.
And he also recruits around five thousand African American soldiers.
Then in October of eighteen sixty two, he actually goes
back to the Planter and pilots it officially as part
(13:00):
of Admiral DuPont's South Atlantic Blockading squadron Um. And according
to that same eighteen eighty three Naval Affairs Committee report,
Smalls engaged in no less than seventeen military operations, including
a very important strategic one. On April seventh, eighteen sixty three, Um,
(13:21):
the attack on Fort Sumter and another attack on Foley
Island Creek, South Carolina a few months later, where he
so he was the pilot, he wasn't the commander, just
just to get the military turn straight. Before he was
the wheelman to the pilot. Now he is the pilot
to the commander. Um. But when they're getting pinned down
(13:43):
with some was described in that report as very hot fire,
the white man who was the captain of the ship
apparently turned tail and hid in the coal bunker and
Smalls had to take over. Um, and he you know,
won the day essentially, and then the ship was steered
to safety. Um. It's not a good look for the captain.
(14:06):
Well yeah, I mean at this point, even like clearly
the Union is still pretty racist itself, right, But at
this point even the Union brass is like, Okay, this
guy has pretty much been the captain of this ship
like the whole time, right, He's we can just say that,
(14:26):
and so to say, let's make it official. So he
gets promoted to the rank of Navy captain, and he
becomes one of the highest paid black soldiers of the
Civil War because he is earning from eighteen sixty three
on onward. He's earning about a hundred and fifty dollars
a month. That's nothing to sneeze at. And he's not,
(14:46):
by the way, he's not resting on his laurels when
he's not out on the sea. Instead, when he is
not actively working as a Navy captain, he is fighting
for civil rights. And we see stuff about this in
the historical record. Uh. The next year, in December of
eighteen sixty four, he gets booted out of a street
(15:11):
car in Philadelphia because it's supposed to be a white
people only street car. And so he says, you know what,
you messed with the wrong guy. We're gonna protest the
segregation in public transit. We're gonna organize, and we're going
to use the power of the people to make sure
the public transit is actually for you know, members of
the public. Three years later, Uh, those street cars got integrated.
(15:34):
That's right. And when the war did finally come to
an end in April of eighteen sixty five, there was
a ceremony that took place on board the Planter in
the Charleston Harbor where Smalls was in attendance. So full circle.
There um pretty incredible story of a not a heist
for the purposes of you know, personal gain or wealth,
(15:55):
but one with with heart, you know, and with a
absolutely justified goal. Yeah, it's a it's a it's a
hist based in morality and emancipation. Yeah, this is so
Small's life doesn't end when the war ends. So he
returns to Beaufort, South Carolina, and this is when he
(16:19):
purchases that old house he grew up in because it
had been seized by union authorities. His former owners, the
McKey family, try to sue for it, but he puts
together testimony, uh, and he wins the He wins the lawsuit.
He establishes a local school board. It's one of the
(16:41):
first schools for black children in this part of the country.
He opens a general store. He in eighteen sixty eight,
he successfully runs for a seat in the South Carolina
House of Representatives, and then he runs for the state Senate.
Two years later, he starts a newspaper. We're just listing
things off at this point. This is how much stuff
the guys doing. Eighteen seventy two, he starts The Southern Standard,
(17:03):
and then he runs for US Congress just like two
years later. Yeah, talking about a landslide of the vote
UH and served five non consecutive terms where he pushed
for desegregation legislation in the military and restaurants UM from
his post in Washington, d C. And he was a
(17:25):
huge force within the military itself. He successfully pushed for
and led to the opening of the South Carolina Marine
Base at Paris Island, which is also a very important
strategic location. Unfortunately, he was some the target of some
(17:48):
accusations of corruption. UM. He was accused by partisan forces
of taking a five thousand dollar bribe when he was
in the state Senate, and in eighteen seventy seven he
was convicted of that and served three years in prison.
Um he was released after an appeal and in eighteen
(18:09):
seventy nine he was pardoned by the governor. But stuff
like that's hard to you know, wash away, even if
it was, which it seems like it was to me
likely a smear campaign. Yeah yeah, And he was sentenced,
but it was he appealed to that, so he didn't
end up serving the full time, and it speaks volumes
that the governor pardoned him. Unfortunately, Hannah passes away in
(18:31):
eighteen eighty three. Later, in eighteen ninety, Smalls remarries. He
works as a collector for US customs from about eighteen
eighty nine to de early nineteen hundreds nineteen eleven. He
still active in politics. There is one strange moment that
(18:52):
occurs towards the ends of the end of this story.
Miss McKee, from all those years ago, it was still
alive and in later in her years, she suffers from dementia.
And if you've ever encountered someone who is you know
who is afflicted by this, you understand that they can
(19:13):
feel out of time, out of place, they can forget things,
and according to according to one story, she would wander
into his house more than once because it's how she
used to live at and she would think was still
her house, and so instead of kicking her out on
the street, he would often invite her inside until you
(19:36):
know someone could come help her, which I think says
powerful things, you know. And in nineteen fift Robert Smalls
passes away at age in the same house he grew
up in and he passes from diabetes and malaria. His
family goes on to live in the house for the
(19:57):
next ninety years. If you find yourself off out that
way in South Carolina, you can check out the house.
It is a National Historic Landmark today. That's right. And
I think we can close with a with a really
great quote from UM. Robert Small's obviously witnessed the full
gamut of slavery, segregation, emancipation and everything that went along
(20:18):
with it, and the very slow process of obviously that
we're still dealing with today of you know, truly seeing
African Americans as equals and having them be treated that
way across the board. I think we've come a long way,
but sometimes it feels like two steps forward, three steps back. UM.
But this is what he had to say regarding you know,
(20:39):
Jim Crow laws and all and and just literally the
trajectory that I'm kind of describing. UM. He had this
to say, my race needs no special defense for the
past history of them in this country. It proves them
to be the equal of any people anywhere. All they
need is an equal chance in the battle of life.
So we wanted to share some more parts of Robert
(21:01):
Small's story and things related to this, UH, and we
we are getting a lot of this information with the
help of our fantastic research associate, Gabe. So Gabe, if
you're listening, shout out to you, dude, as always. It
turns out that you may not have to travel to
South Carolina to see this house because Amazon is adapting
(21:22):
Robert Small's story into a movie, which I think is
long overdue. I've been familiar with the story in the past,
and my first question was like, why why is this
not already like ten different films totally. I mean, we
we've used the term of cinematic throughout this telling, and
I think it's it's absolutely perfect for that. The film
is called Steal Away, and the filmmaker's name is Charles Burnett,
(21:46):
who is attached to direct, with Cotty Chub and George
Plomondon as producers. This is from an article from Deadline.
And then we have Malcolm m Mays, who I'm not
super familiar with. Young young actor, looks to be um
and he was in a film called snow Fall Um.
He's also a filmmaker. He's he directed some things. He
(22:09):
is writing the script with t I attached along with
John ortiz Um. No specifics are been given yet about
who's gonna play who. Yep, we're we're a little bit
ahead of the curve here. Uh. You can also see
uh memorial to Robert Small's at the Waterfront Park in Charleston.
(22:31):
Don't miss that. And this is just one example of
the stories that you may not have learned in high
school about this period in history. And these stories are
important and they do matter in the modern day. We
would love to hear other stories like this that you
(22:51):
may know from you know, your own family history or
from your neck of the global woods. These sorts of
inspirational heist and escapes. Thank you so much everyone for
tuning into this two parter episode. Uh side note peek
behind the curtain. Noel, Max and I decided that we
(23:12):
would do our own heist for Heist Week, so we've
stolen another week in our hist week. So now we've
got like it's it's just heist time. It's Hist Fortnite,
Heist Fortnite Hist season, so we can't wait for you
to tune in to learn about another heist related to Australia.
Those are all the spoilers will give you. But as
(23:34):
we're thanking people, of course, big big thanks to Casey Pegram,
big big thanks to Max Williams, uh and big big
thanks to Alex Williams who composed this track. As this
is a spoiler alert, now we're we talking about having
Alex on the show. Yeah, we are. We are definitely
gonna do that around a really cool historical episode of
Ephemeral that is already available, so why not check it
(23:56):
out now? Max tell us a little bit about the
episode so people can listen to advance of Alex's appearance. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah,
it's a super exciting episode that we have. It is
called thirty seven Days of Peril. It is based off
of the writing stuff this guy named Truman efforts and
it's actually it's a pretty cool stories about his real
(24:18):
life experience of pretty much getting lost in the middle
of Montana and Wyoming. So it takes place like eighteen
seventy and unfortunately he gets separated from not just this party,
but then loses Actually, you know, I want to cut
off there because you all should go and listen to this,
but you know, just a harring tale of perseverance and
(24:38):
you know, getting through the odds when you shouldn't. Um
amazing sound designed by Alex Williams just sounds absolutely amazing
for fans of this podcast. You may you know hear
familiar voice, which is a pretty good, pretty funny, rather
enjoyable and all in all, I just think it's an
(24:58):
amazing listen. And obviously we'll talk about that some more here,
you know, hopefully in the near future. But yeah, go
check that out once again. It is ephemeral. The episode
is thirty seven Days of Harold. And while you're there,
you know, mus go check out the rest of our content.
We have all seasons one and two out now and
we were releasing a new episode every other week. Check
(25:19):
it out Ephemeral the podcast on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Uh. In
the meantime, huge thanks to you, Max, Huge thanks to
Alex who composed our theme. Ben, thank you as well
for going on this adventure with us. Hey back at
you and old Thank you as always, and of course
(25:42):
a better way to end uh. Big thanks to our
nemessies Jonathan Strickland for not show it enough yep, but
I think you for for a show up for a
drop in. And once again thanks to Gabe Luizier for
finding all these amazing sources. Uh and thanks to all
the you know, originators of all these amazing storces, PBS,
(26:02):
Mental Flaws, History Daily dot org, Battlefields dot org, Smithsonian
mag and NPS dot gov and once more. To learn
more about this and dive deeper into the story of
Robert Smalls, be sure to check out Beef Free or Die,
the amazing story of Robert Small's escape from slavery to
Union hero. We'll see you next time, folks. For more
(26:32):
podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
(00:27):
back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always
so much for tuning in. Previously on Ridiculous History, we
dove into the story of Robert Small's If you haven't
heard part one yet, please please please pause, stop what
you're doing now and listen to part one. Perfect. I'm Ben,
(00:56):
that's our super producer, Max Williams. Who's this? Who's this guy? Who? Mean?
It's all and I don't know, man, let's just dispense
with the preamble get right to the heist. So he
knows he's got to have these flags up right, He
raises the Confederate flag, the Palmetto flag. They go towards
the open ocean. They get to the first checkpoint around
(01:17):
a little before three thirty in the morning, place called
Fort Johnson, and this is where the rubber really hits
the road. So he he doesn't know if they'll get caught.
This isn't a scheduled run, right, so he he sounds
a signal on the steam whistle and they just surprise, surprise,
wave him through. So they go deeper into the harbor.
(01:39):
It looks like this plan may actually work and they're
getting to Fort Sumter and he is small as is
playing back in his mind the many times that they
have made runs like this before. Right, just act normal. Also,
this captain's hat is not just the symbolic thing. It's
something that may be the watchman can see right as. Yeah,
(02:04):
it was. It was total of subterfuge. I mean, that
was what they were hoping, is to pass on through
without anything seeming amiss. So he tried to, you know,
maintain he had seen he had been through these checkpoints
many many times. He knew what the protocols were. He
knew how the captain carried himself, so he tried to
carry himself the same way. He stood there on the
(02:25):
deck with his arms crossed and pulled the hat down
over his face a little bit, but not in a
suspicious way. It was also nighttime, obviously, and they're not
passing directly by these folks that are, you know, manning
the checkpoints for fifteen AM. As per the protocols, the
planter blew its steam whistle, and according to a report,
a lot of the information we have about this comes
(02:46):
from this naval report, the Committee on Naval Affairs said
the signal was blown as coolly as if General Ripley,
who was at the time the commander of Charleston's Greater Defenses,
was on board. The guard at Fort Sumter sounded their
signal in return, and they were off. They passed the
checkpoint without any incidents. Yes, yeah, and they ended up
(03:12):
successfully passing five different Confederate gun batteries. So later the
Confederate forces and members of the Confederate Army would argue
that this worked because the Planter was known as a
guard vessel as well as a supply ship. So there
(03:32):
was a gun ship, right. I mean it had like
you know, it had on board, had that immunition, but
it also had guns and a pivot gun. So they
were doing everything right. And once they got out of
rebel gun range, an alarm went off because the Planter
(03:53):
was clearly deviating from the known roots. It was heading
directly for the Union blockade. And at this point, at
this point, the next few events are key and history
hinges on some very small decisions and they're very time sensitive.
Smallest immediately orders the crew to take down that rebel flag,
(04:14):
take down the palmetto flag, and then instead hoist up
a white bedsheet that his wife Hannah has brought on board,
and there's still in this this still like not daylight, right,
these are the wee hours. And so there's this Confederate
ship coming like assume the perspective of the Union sailors.
There's a Union ship called the USS Onward, and they
(04:36):
see this Confederate supply slash gut and vessel just bearing
down on them. They can't see the surrender flag because
the sun's not quite up yet, and they almost fire
on the Planter until thank goodness, someone aboard the Onward says, hey,
I see something. It looks like a white flag, right god. Um.
(05:01):
So the command was rescinded and the tension on the
Planter was palpable, and they I guess we're close enough
at this point that they could tell that they were
no longer being seen as a threat. Um. The Planter
got to the blockade, small step forward, and in that
also that cinematic moment, Beautiful whips off his hat and says,
(05:23):
good morning, sir, I've brought you some of the old
United States guns. Boom, mic drop, incredible, and they the
Onward or someone had a stars and stripes flag and
so they hoist that up and now they are a
treasure trove for the Union forces. Yes, the guns are
(05:45):
are going to help the war effort. Yes to the ammunition,
but perhaps more importantly, the knowledge that this ship and
Robert Small's brings to the Union. Now they know shipping routes, Now,
they know locations were minds have been planted. They know
the schedule upon which Confederate ships based their docking and
(06:07):
their departures. So people had tried this before, They tried
a version of this that were enslaved, people who had
tried to reach the Union fleets by rowing out in canoes.
But no one, absolutely no one had ever taken a
Confederate vessel of this size and turned it over to
(06:29):
the Union. Nobody had ever showed up with just this
many guns, and we're like, here, let me give you
some guns. So this guy quickly, right becomes a hero,
especially in the Union, and folks are gushing about him.
One Navy Admiral S. F. DuPont said, Robert Smalls is
(06:51):
superior to any who have come into our lines. And
the New York Daily Tribune has a great description of
this too. That's right. If each one of the general
in our army had displayed as much coolness and courage
as small as did when he saluted the rebel flag
and steamed past the rebel fort. By this time, the
rebellion would have been among the things that were past lovely.
(07:12):
So there's a lot of words to say a little thing,
but I would say of the time, I gotta say
to you, Ben, it feels like it's a common theme
among racists to underestimate people from other of other races,
you know, And that's the huge thing. And it's a
huge thing that caused them to get their hats handed
to them literally or taken from them. I don't know.
The point is, you never underestim to make the enemy.
(07:35):
And they got a little too cozy, and they thought
that they just had these folks under their thumb. Would
all the while they possessed intellect, They possessed the ability
to listen and learn and to um come up with
this incredible plan that required so much courage and just
logistical you know, planning, you know, and and the ability
(07:55):
to see an opening and take it. All the while,
all these idiot confederates thought they could just you know,
have a good old night on the town and that
that you know, they're underlings who they thought were lesser
than them would just do what they were supposed to
do and just mind the shop. It's so ridiculous. Yet
this is this is an interesting dichotomy because he said,
(08:15):
Smalls is rightly hailed as a hero in Union territory,
not so surprisingly in Confederate territory. They're very much more like,
you're killing me Smalls. And they're there placing bounties on
this guy, like a four thousand dollar bounty just four
(08:37):
perspective to inflation and calculator boop that one just for
the perspective. That's uh, that's almost sixty seven thousand dollars today,
significantly more than he was trying to save to free
his family. And that captain, former captain of the planter
(09:00):
Us finally get court martialed. He is sentenced to three
months in prison. I think this later gets overturned. But
the Confederate brass was honestly, they were honestly bewildered and
confused because you know, racism is a lack of critical thinking,
so they couldn't understand that people, you know, wouldn't want
(09:23):
to be enslaved. That seems to be the part that
they couldn't understand, and they even hatched this conspiracy theory
that was short lived because we're talking about racism, But
how racist is this? One guy? F. G. Ravenel concluded
that two white men and a white woman must have
(09:44):
conspired to make it happen, to make the escape happen,
because in his mind, there was no way that people
could have pulled this off on their own. So oddly enough,
his conspiracy theory is easily disproved. There's no record of
any white passengers on the planter at this time. Smalls
(10:05):
and the planter's crew had acted alone. And now he is, again,
we said, hailed as a hero. On May sixty two,
the US Congress passes a bill authorizing the Navy to
(10:27):
awards Smalls and his crew half of the value of
the Planter in return for rescuing her from enemies of
the government. So he gets fifteen hundred dollars just personally. Uh,
And then he is able to I love these stories
and all, he's able to buy his former owner's house.
That's right, because at this point it's sort of moot
(10:47):
the notion of him having to buy his freedom. I mean,
he he won his freedom by sheer bravery Um, and
you know, absolutely rightfully was looked at as a hero because,
like he said, Ben, he provided so much tactical information
that they never would have gotten otherwise and absolutely helped
the war effort in the Union's favor. And and it
(11:07):
was after the war ended that he was able to
buy his former owner's house in Bufort off of the
tax roles. It would have been I guess the equivalent
of what like a repossession or something like that, like
buying a house on the steps of the courthouse. Yeah, yeah,
I think that's yeah, I think that's a good modern comparison.
He also was underpaid, by the way. Later historians would
(11:33):
find out. One thing that was really important that he
got was something he couldn't put a price on. He
had direct audiences with President Abraham Lincoln, like in a
couple of different meetings. And in one of these meetings,
Frederick Douglas joined the conversation, and Douglas is essentially saying
to Lincoln, look, you have got to let African Americans
(11:57):
joined the military. Uh, this is as who coming to
us from the mental flaw article. And he says, furthermore,
you should have this guy, Robert Smalls lead the cause
and Smalls is on board. So he joins the U. S. Navy,
and he personally recruits around five thousand soldiers to the
(12:17):
war effort. Uh. And it's a strong case to make,
you know, to say we are literally fighting for freedom.
Not to mention this is again, this is still during
the Civil War, you know, we we we fast forward
it a little bit to when he bought the house,
but there is quite a bit of conflict left. And
now Smalls is occupying a strategic position, you know, in
(12:38):
the U. S. Navy where he is using some of
those things that he learned when he was listening, you know,
and being underestimated in Charleston for the benefit of the Union.
And he also recruits around five thousand African American soldiers.
Then in October of eighteen sixty two, he actually goes
back to the Planter and pilots it officially as part
(13:00):
of Admiral DuPont's South Atlantic Blockading squadron Um. And according
to that same eighteen eighty three Naval Affairs Committee report,
Smalls engaged in no less than seventeen military operations, including
a very important strategic one. On April seventh, eighteen sixty three, Um,
(13:21):
the attack on Fort Sumter and another attack on Foley
Island Creek, South Carolina a few months later, where he
so he was the pilot, he wasn't the commander, just
just to get the military turn straight. Before he was
the wheelman to the pilot. Now he is the pilot
to the commander. Um. But when they're getting pinned down
(13:43):
with some was described in that report as very hot fire,
the white man who was the captain of the ship
apparently turned tail and hid in the coal bunker and
Smalls had to take over. Um, and he you know,
won the day essentially, and then the ship was steered
to safety. Um. It's not a good look for the captain.
(14:06):
Well yeah, I mean at this point, even like clearly
the Union is still pretty racist itself, right, But at
this point even the Union brass is like, Okay, this
guy has pretty much been the captain of this ship
like the whole time, right, He's we can just say that,
(14:26):
and so to say, let's make it official. So he
gets promoted to the rank of Navy captain, and he
becomes one of the highest paid black soldiers of the
Civil War because he is earning from eighteen sixty three
on onward. He's earning about a hundred and fifty dollars
a month. That's nothing to sneeze at. And he's not,
(14:46):
by the way, he's not resting on his laurels when
he's not out on the sea. Instead, when he is
not actively working as a Navy captain, he is fighting
for civil rights. And we see stuff about this in
the historical record. Uh. The next year, in December of
eighteen sixty four, he gets booted out of a street
(15:11):
car in Philadelphia because it's supposed to be a white
people only street car. And so he says, you know what,
you messed with the wrong guy. We're gonna protest the
segregation in public transit. We're gonna organize, and we're going
to use the power of the people to make sure
the public transit is actually for you know, members of
the public. Three years later, Uh, those street cars got integrated.
(15:34):
That's right. And when the war did finally come to
an end in April of eighteen sixty five, there was
a ceremony that took place on board the Planter in
the Charleston Harbor where Smalls was in attendance. So full circle.
There um pretty incredible story of a not a heist
for the purposes of you know, personal gain or wealth,
(15:55):
but one with with heart, you know, and with a
absolutely justified goal. Yeah, it's a it's a it's a
hist based in morality and emancipation. Yeah, this is so
Small's life doesn't end when the war ends. So he
returns to Beaufort, South Carolina, and this is when he
(16:19):
purchases that old house he grew up in because it
had been seized by union authorities. His former owners, the
McKey family, try to sue for it, but he puts
together testimony, uh, and he wins the He wins the lawsuit.
He establishes a local school board. It's one of the
(16:41):
first schools for black children in this part of the country.
He opens a general store. He in eighteen sixty eight,
he successfully runs for a seat in the South Carolina
House of Representatives, and then he runs for the state Senate.
Two years later, he starts a newspaper. We're just listing
things off at this point. This is how much stuff
the guys doing. Eighteen seventy two, he starts The Southern Standard,
(17:03):
and then he runs for US Congress just like two
years later. Yeah, talking about a landslide of the vote
UH and served five non consecutive terms where he pushed
for desegregation legislation in the military and restaurants UM from
his post in Washington, d C. And he was a
(17:25):
huge force within the military itself. He successfully pushed for
and led to the opening of the South Carolina Marine
Base at Paris Island, which is also a very important
strategic location. Unfortunately, he was some the target of some
(17:48):
accusations of corruption. UM. He was accused by partisan forces
of taking a five thousand dollar bribe when he was
in the state Senate, and in eighteen seventy seven he
was convicted of that and served three years in prison.
Um he was released after an appeal and in eighteen
(18:09):
seventy nine he was pardoned by the governor. But stuff
like that's hard to you know, wash away, even if
it was, which it seems like it was to me
likely a smear campaign. Yeah yeah, And he was sentenced,
but it was he appealed to that, so he didn't
end up serving the full time, and it speaks volumes
that the governor pardoned him. Unfortunately, Hannah passes away in
(18:31):
eighteen eighty three. Later, in eighteen ninety, Smalls remarries. He
works as a collector for US customs from about eighteen
eighty nine to de early nineteen hundreds nineteen eleven. He
still active in politics. There is one strange moment that
(18:52):
occurs towards the ends of the end of this story.
Miss McKee, from all those years ago, it was still
alive and in later in her years, she suffers from dementia.
And if you've ever encountered someone who is you know
who is afflicted by this, you understand that they can
(19:13):
feel out of time, out of place, they can forget things,
and according to according to one story, she would wander
into his house more than once because it's how she
used to live at and she would think was still
her house, and so instead of kicking her out on
the street, he would often invite her inside until you
(19:36):
know someone could come help her, which I think says
powerful things, you know. And in nineteen fift Robert Smalls
passes away at age in the same house he grew
up in and he passes from diabetes and malaria. His
family goes on to live in the house for the
(19:57):
next ninety years. If you find yourself off out that
way in South Carolina, you can check out the house.
It is a National Historic Landmark today. That's right. And
I think we can close with a with a really
great quote from UM. Robert Small's obviously witnessed the full
gamut of slavery, segregation, emancipation and everything that went along
(20:18):
with it, and the very slow process of obviously that
we're still dealing with today of you know, truly seeing
African Americans as equals and having them be treated that
way across the board. I think we've come a long way,
but sometimes it feels like two steps forward, three steps back. UM.
But this is what he had to say regarding you know,
(20:39):
Jim Crow laws and all and and just literally the
trajectory that I'm kind of describing. UM. He had this
to say, my race needs no special defense for the
past history of them in this country. It proves them
to be the equal of any people anywhere. All they
need is an equal chance in the battle of life.
So we wanted to share some more parts of Robert
(21:01):
Small's story and things related to this, UH, and we
we are getting a lot of this information with the
help of our fantastic research associate, Gabe. So Gabe, if
you're listening, shout out to you, dude, as always. It
turns out that you may not have to travel to
South Carolina to see this house because Amazon is adapting
(21:22):
Robert Small's story into a movie, which I think is
long overdue. I've been familiar with the story in the past,
and my first question was like, why why is this
not already like ten different films totally. I mean, we
we've used the term of cinematic throughout this telling, and
I think it's it's absolutely perfect for that. The film
is called Steal Away, and the filmmaker's name is Charles Burnett,
(21:46):
who is attached to direct, with Cotty Chub and George
Plomondon as producers. This is from an article from Deadline.
And then we have Malcolm m Mays, who I'm not
super familiar with. Young young actor, looks to be um
and he was in a film called snow Fall Um.
He's also a filmmaker. He's he directed some things. He
(22:09):
is writing the script with t I attached along with
John ortiz Um. No specifics are been given yet about
who's gonna play who. Yep, we're we're a little bit
ahead of the curve here. Uh. You can also see
uh memorial to Robert Small's at the Waterfront Park in Charleston.
(22:31):
Don't miss that. And this is just one example of
the stories that you may not have learned in high
school about this period in history. And these stories are
important and they do matter in the modern day. We
would love to hear other stories like this that you
(22:51):
may know from you know, your own family history or
from your neck of the global woods. These sorts of
inspirational heist and escapes. Thank you so much everyone for
tuning into this two parter episode. Uh side note peek
behind the curtain. Noel, Max and I decided that we
(23:12):
would do our own heist for Heist Week, so we've
stolen another week in our hist week. So now we've
got like it's it's just heist time. It's Hist Fortnite,
Heist Fortnite Hist season, so we can't wait for you
to tune in to learn about another heist related to Australia.
Those are all the spoilers will give you. But as
(23:34):
we're thanking people, of course, big big thanks to Casey Pegram,
big big thanks to Max Williams, uh and big big
thanks to Alex Williams who composed this track. As this
is a spoiler alert, now we're we talking about having
Alex on the show. Yeah, we are. We are definitely
gonna do that around a really cool historical episode of
Ephemeral that is already available, so why not check it
(23:56):
out now? Max tell us a little bit about the
episode so people can listen to advance of Alex's appearance. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah,
it's a super exciting episode that we have. It is
called thirty seven Days of Peril. It is based off
of the writing stuff this guy named Truman efforts and
it's actually it's a pretty cool stories about his real
(24:18):
life experience of pretty much getting lost in the middle
of Montana and Wyoming. So it takes place like eighteen
seventy and unfortunately he gets separated from not just this party,
but then loses Actually, you know, I want to cut
off there because you all should go and listen to this,
but you know, just a harring tale of perseverance and
(24:38):
you know, getting through the odds when you shouldn't. Um
amazing sound designed by Alex Williams just sounds absolutely amazing
for fans of this podcast. You may you know hear
familiar voice, which is a pretty good, pretty funny, rather
enjoyable and all in all, I just think it's an
(24:58):
amazing listen. And obviously we'll talk about that some more here,
you know, hopefully in the near future. But yeah, go
check that out once again. It is ephemeral. The episode
is thirty seven Days of Harold. And while you're there,
you know, mus go check out the rest of our content.
We have all seasons one and two out now and
we were releasing a new episode every other week. Check
(25:19):
it out Ephemeral the podcast on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Uh. In
the meantime, huge thanks to you, Max, Huge thanks to
Alex who composed our theme. Ben, thank you as well
for going on this adventure with us. Hey back at
you and old Thank you as always, and of course
(25:42):
a better way to end uh. Big thanks to our
nemessies Jonathan Strickland for not show it enough yep, but
I think you for for a show up for a
drop in. And once again thanks to Gabe Luizier for
finding all these amazing sources. Uh and thanks to all
the you know, originators of all these amazing storces, PBS,
(26:02):
Mental Flaws, History Daily dot org, Battlefields dot org, Smithsonian
mag and NPS dot gov and once more. To learn
more about this and dive deeper into the story of
Robert Smalls, be sure to check out Beef Free or Die,
the amazing story of Robert Small's escape from slavery to
Union hero. We'll see you next time, folks. For more
(26:32):
podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous History News
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Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
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