Robert Smalls (1839-1915), the son of plantation slaves, was taken by his master in 1851 to Charleston, S.C., where he worked as a hotel waiter, hack driver, and rigger. Impressed into the Confederate Navy at the outbreak of the war, he was forced to serve as wheelman aboard the armed frigate Planter. On May 13, 1862, he and 12 other slaves seized control of the ship in Charleston harbour and turned it over to a Union naval squadron blockading the city. This exploit brought Smalls great fame throughout the North. [some sources use the name Small]

Smalls went to work as a civilian pilot for the Union Navy on the Keokuk, which was sunk during an attack on Charleston. Rescued, he went on as pilot on the Planter, which was a civilian run ship under contract to the Army. During a Confederate ambush of the Planter, her white captain wanted to surrender, but Smalls locked him in the coal bunker and escaped in spite of heavy fire. He was named the ship's captain for his bravery.

After the war, Smalls rose rapidly in politics, despite his limited education. From 1868 to 1870 he served in the South Carolina House of Representatives and from 1871 to 1874 in the state senate. He was elected to the U.S. Congress (1875-79, 1881-87), where he sponsored a bill requiring equal accommodations for both races in interstate transportation. Smalls spent his last years in Beaufort, S.C. where he served as port collector.

African-American Mariners in the Civil War