State Historical Society of Iowa

Robert Smalls: "The Steamer 'Planter' and Her Captor," June 14, 1862

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Courtesy of Library of Congress, "The Steamer 'Planter' and Her Captor," Harper's Weekly, vol. 6, pp. 372, 14 June 1862

Description

The article from Harper's Weekly described the escape of Robert Smalls and several friends and members of his family from slavery. Smalls was an enslaved African American who, during and after the American Civil War, gained freedom and became a ship's pilot, sea captain, and politician. He freed himself, his crew, and their families from slavery on May 13, 1862, by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, CSS Planter, in Charleston harbor, and sailing it from Confederate-controlled waters to the U.S. blockade.

Transcript of "The Steamer 'Planter' and Her Captor"

Source Dependent Questions

  • Summarize the escape of Robert Smalls and all the passengers he took with him in two to five sentences.
  • How was Robert Smalls' escape story similar to and different from other escape stories of "The 'Running of Slaves' - The Extraordinary Escape of Henry Box Brown" and "William and Ellen Craft,"?

Citation Information

"The Steamer 'Planter' and Her Captor," Harper's Weekly, vol. 6, pp. 372, 14 June 1862. Courtesy of Library of Congress Courtesy of Library of Congress