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ROBERT SMALLS, CAPTAIN OF THE GUN-BOAT "PLANTER."
THE GUN-BOAT "PLANTER," RUN OUT OF
CHARLESTON, S.
C., BY ROBERT SMALLS, MAY, 1862.
THE STEAMER "PLANTER" AND
HER CAPTOR.
WE publish herewith an engraving
of the steamer Planter, lately run out of Charleston by her negro crew, and a
portrait of her captain, ROBERT SMALLS-both from photographs sent us by our
correspondent at
Hilton Head. The following, from the Herald correspondence,
will explain the transaction:
One of the most daring and heroic
adventures since the war commenced was undertaken and successfully accomplished
by a party of negroes in Charleston on Monday night last. Nine colored men,
comprising the pilot, engineers, and crew of the rebel gun-boat Planter, took
the vessel under their exclusive control, passed the batteries and forts in
Charleston harbor, hoisted a white flag, ran out to the blockading squadron, and
thence to Port Royal, via St. Helena Sound and Broad River, reaching the
flag-ship Wabash shortly after ten o'clock last evening.
The following are the names of
the black men who performed this gallant and perilous service: Robert Smalls,
pilot; John Smalls and Alfred Gradine, engineers; Abraham Jackson, Gabriel Turno,
William Morrison, Samuel Chisholm, Abraham Allston, and David Jones. They
brought with them the wife and three children of the pilot, and the wife, child,
and sister of the first engineer, John Smalls. The balance of the party were
without families.
The Planter is a high-pressure,
side-wheel steamer, one hundred and forty feet in length, and about fifty feet
beam, and draws about five feet of water. She was built in Charleston, was
formerly used as a cotton-boat, and is capable of carrying about 1400 bales. On
the organization of the Confederate navy she was transformed into a gun-boat,
and was the most valuable war vessel the Confederates had at Charleston. Her
armament consisted of one 32-pound rifle gun forward, and a 24-pound howitzer
aft. Besides, she had on board when she came into the harbor one seven-inch
rifled gun, one eight-inch Columbiad, one eight-inch howitzer, one long
32-pounder, and about two hundred rounds of ammunition, which had been consigned
to Fort Ripley, and which would have been delivered at that fortification on
Tuesday had not the designs of the rebel authorities been frustrated. She was
commanded
by Captain Relay, of the
Confederate navy—all the other employes of the vessel, excepting the first and
second mates, being persons of color.
Robert Smalls, with whom I had a
brief interview at General Benham's head-quarters this morning, is an
intelligent negro, born in Charleston, and employed for many years as a pilot in
and about that harbor. He entered upon his duties on board the Planter some six
weeks since, and, as he told me, adopted the idea of running the vessel to sea
from a joke which one of his companions perpetrated. He immediately cautioned
the crew against alluding to the matter in any way on board the boat, but asked
them, if they wanted to talk it up in sober earnestness, to meet at his house,
where they would devise and determine upon a plan to place themselves under the
protection of the
Stars and Stripes instead of the Stars and Bars. Various plans
were proposed, but finally the whole arrangement of the escape was left to the
discretion and sagacity of Robert, his companions promising to obey him and be
ready at a moment's notice to accompany him. For three days he kept the
provisions of the party secreted in the hold, awaiting an opportunity to slip
away. At length, on Monday evening, the white officers of the vessel went on
shore to spend the night, intending to start
on the following morning for Fort
Ripley, and to be absent from the city for some days. The families of the
contrabands were notified and came stealthily on board. At about three o'clock
the fires were lit under the boilers, and the vessel steamed quietly away down
the harbor. The tide was against her, and
Fort Sumter was not reached till broad
daylight. However, the boat passed directly under its walls, giving the usual
signal—two long pulls and a jerk at the whistle-cord—as she passed the sentinel.
Once out of range of the rebel
guns the white flag was raised, and the Planter steamed directly for the
blockading steamer Augusta. Captain Parrott, of the latter vessel, as you may
imagine, received them cordially, heard their report, placed Acting-Master
Watson, of his ship, in charge of the Planter, and sent the Confederate gun-boat
and crew forward to
Commodore Dupont. The families of the crew have been sent to
Beaufort, where General Stevens will make suitable provision for them. The crew
will be taken care of by Commodore Dupont.
The Planter is just such a vessel
is needed to navigate the shallow waters between Hilton Head and the adjacent
islands, and will prove almost invaluable to the Government. It is proposed, I
hear, by the Commodore, (Next
Page)
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