USS ''Planter'' was a steamer taken over by

Robert Smalls Robert Smalls (April 5, 1839 – February 23, 1915) was an American politician who was born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina. During the American Civil War, the still enslaved Smalls commandeered a Confederate transport ship in Charlesto ...

, a Southern slave and ship's

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

who steered the ship past Confederate defenses and surrendered it to Union Navy forces on 13 May 1862 during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The episode is missing from Scharf's ''History of the Confederate States Navy,'' except for one sentence saying that Smalls "stole" the ship. For a short period, ''Planter'' served as a

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

for the Union Navy. As the ship burned wood, which was scarce where the Navy was operating, the Navy turned the ship over to the Union Army for use at

Fort Pulaski Fort Pulaski National Monument is located on Cockspur Island between Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia. It preserves Fort Pulaski, the place where the Union Army successfully tested rifled cannons in 1862, the success of which rendered brick ...

on the Georgia coast. In 1863 Smalls was appointed captain of ''Planter'', the first black man to command a United States ship, and served in that position until 1866.

Service history

''Planter'' was a

sidewheel steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...

built at

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, in 1860 that was used by the Confederacy as an armed

dispatch boat Dispatch boats were small boats, and sometimes large ships, tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore. Dispatch boats were employed when other means of transmitting a message w ...

and transport attached to the engineer department at Charleston, under Brigadier General Roswell Ripley, CSA. At 04:00 on 13 May 1862, while her captain, C. J. Relyea, was absent on shore,

, a

slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

who was ''Planter''s helmsman (the title "pilot" being reserved for white men trained in navigation of rivers,) quietly took the ship from the wharf, and with a

Confederate flag The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...

flying, steamed past the successive Confederate forts. He saluted the installation as usual by blowing the steam whistle. As soon as the steamer was out of range of the last Confederate gun, Smalls hauled down the Confederate flag and hoisted a white one. Then he turned ''Planter'' over to the of the Union blockading force. Besides Smalls, ''Planter'' carried 15 other slaves to freedom behind Union lines – seven crewmen, five women, and three children. In addition to the cargo of artillery and explosives, Smalls brought

Flag officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which that officer exercises command. Different countries use the term "flag officer" in different ways: * ...

Samuel Francis Du Pont Samuel Francis Du Pont (September 27, 1803 – June 23, 1865) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy, and a member of the prominent Du Pont family. In the Mexican–American War, Du Pont captured San Diego, and was made commander of the Ca ...

valuable intelligence, including word that the Confederates had abandoned defensive positions on the

Stono River The Stono River or Creek is a tidal channel in southeast South Carolina, located southwest of Charleston. The channel runs southwest to northeast between the mainland and Wadmalaw Island and Johns Island, from north Edisto River between Joh ...

The next day, ''Planter'' was sent to Flag Officer Du Pont at Port Royal Harbor, South Carolina, who later assigned Robert Smalls as ''Planter''s pilot. At the time she was taken over by the Union, ''Planter'' was carrying four guns as cargo beside her usual armament. The

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

and

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

passed a private bill on 30 May 1862, granting Robert Smalls and his African-American crew one half of the value of ''Planter'' and her cargo as prize money. At the very time of the seizure she had on board the armament for Fort Ripley. The ''Planter'' was taken by the government at a valuation of $9,000, one-half of which was paid to the captain and crew, the captain receiving one-third of one-half, or $1,500. However, $9,000 was a very low valuation for the ''Planter''. The real value was around $67,000. The report of Montgomery Sicard, commander and inspector of ordnance, to Commodore Patterson, navy-yard commandant, shows that the cargo of the ''Planter'', as raw material, was worth $3,043.05; that at antebellum prices it was worth $7,163.35, and at war prices $10,290.60.

Service in the Union Navy

Du Pont took ''Planter'' into the Union Navy and placed her under command of

Acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad range of sk ...

Master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

Philemon Dickenson. On 30 May he ordered the side-wheeler to North Edisto, where Acting Master Lloyd Phoenix relieved Dickenson. ''Planter'' served the

South Atlantic Blockading Squadron The Atlantic Blockading Squadron was a unit of the United States Navy created in the early days of the American Civil War to enforce the Union blockade of the ports of the Confederate States. It was formed in 1861 and split up the same year for th ...

through the summer of 1862. On a joint expedition under

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

Rhind, the and ''Planter'' carried troops to Simmons Bluff, Wadmelaw River,

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, where they destroyed a Confederate encampment.

''Planter'' transferred to the Union Army

The Southern steamer had been designed to use only wood as fuel, a scarce commodity for the Union blockaders off

. In the fall of 1862, Du Pont ordered her transferred to the Union Army for service near

on the coast of Georgia.Howard Westwood, "Robert Smalls: Commander of the ''Planter''"
''Civil War Times'', 12 Mar 2006, History Net, accessed 10 Jan 2011

''Planter'' under fire

After his escape, Smalls served as a pilot for Union ships in the Charleston area. He was eventually assigned to serve aboard ''Planter'' again. On December 1, 1863, ''Planter'' was caught in a crossfire between Union and Confederate forces. The ship's commander, a Captain Nickerson, ordered him to surrender. Smalls refused, saying he feared her black crewmen would not be treated as

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

and that they might be summarily killed. Smalls took command and piloted the ship out of range of the Confederate guns. As a reward for his bravery, he was appointed captain of the ''Planter'', becoming the first black man to command a United States ship. Smalls served as captain until the army sold ''Planter'' in 1866 after the end of the war.

After the war

On March 25, 1876, while trying to tow a grounded schooner, the ''Planter'' sprang a plank in the bow and began to take on water in the hold. The captain elected to beach the steamer and repair the plank, hoping to get off the beach with the next high tide. However, stormy seas battered the ''Planter'' as the tide rose and the ship was too badly damaged and had to be abandoned. Upon hearing of its loss, Robert Smalls was reported to have said that he felt as if he had lost a member of his family. In May 2014 the

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploratio ...

(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) reported that it believed it had found the ''Planters wreck.

References

External links

Google-based map showing the first part of the escape of the Planter; from Southern Wharf to the North Atlantic Wharf where the Etowah was docked.

Google-based map showing the escape of the Planter from Southern Wharf out into Charleston Harbor {{DEFAULTSORT:Planter 1860 ships American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States Gunboats of the United States Navy Ships built in Charleston, South Carolina Ships captured by the United States Navy from the Confederate States Navy Ships of the Confederate States Navy Ships of the Union Navy Steamships of the United States Navy Tugs of the United States Navy Maritime incidents in May 1862