A production of South Carolina E.T.V.

This is Patriots Point near Mo unt Pleasant, South Carolina.

Here we are surrounded by relics of war.

Towering over this destroyer and submarine, is the U.S.S.

Yorktown, a silent reminder of America's struggles for freedom.

Approximately 100 years before these ships were brought to a permanent berth here at Patriots Point, another ship was leaving its berth across the Cooper River to sail out of Charleston Harbor.

It, too, played a role in the struggle for freedom.

[no audio] In the wee morning hours of May 13, 1862, a large ship backs smoothly aw ay from her Charleston berth, gives a long blast from her steam whistle, and heads downriver toward Beaufort.

At the helm stands a small, shadowed figure wearing a broad-brimmed straw hat.

The large hat, coupled with the early morning darkness, does much to conceal the captain's youthful appearance.

He is only 23.

More importantly, it conceals his true identity.

He stands firm and handles the wheel with utmost confidence as he sails the ship past Confederate sentries into the darkness before early dawn.

Although the captain has sailed th ese waters many times, this time he sets course for a virtually unknown destination.

Today he sails for freedom.

The captain is a slave, Robert Smalls.

♪ ♪ (Wade Witherspoon III) ♪ I watched them come and I watched them go ♪ ♪ from the long ships to the fields, ♪ ♪ their heads hung low and their hearts as cold ♪ ♪ as their chains of gleaming steel.

♪ ♪ From dawn to dark, God knows it's hard, ♪ ♪ when your future's an unmarked grave.

♪ ♪ So they looked to the skies with pleading eyes, ♪ ♪ and they dream... of sailing away.

♪ ♪ ♪ Sail away to freedom, ♪ ♪ sail away.

♪ ♪ ♪ Sail away to freedom, ♪ ♪ sail away.

♪ ♪ Even the lowly gull on his snow white wings ♪ ♪ at the end of a weary day ♪ ♪ can sail away to freedom, sail away.

♪ ♪ ♪ Sail away to freedom, sail away.

♪ ♪ (Mary) Robert Smalls was born April 5, 1839, in Beaufort, South Carolina to a slave named Lydia.

He and his mother lived in a small cottage behind this beautiful home on Prince Street, which belonged to the Henry McKee family.

Lydia worked as a house servant for the family and many believe that the master of the household fathered this slave child.

Be that as it may, it's known that the young boy received preferential treatment and spent a great deal of time in the company of McKee.

Descendants of Robert Smalls remember.

[no audio] I think I heard once that because of his stature-- He was called Smalls; He was a short, chunky fellow, fat-- and they called him Smalls because of that.

I don't know anything other than that, where he got the name.

♪ (Helen Givens) When Robert was a little boy, he was a slave to the McKees.

The McKees carried him around.

He had all the chores a little boy would have, bringing in water and wood, and just any-- (Boulware) Brushing flies at the table.

[laughing] Yes, whatever chore they thought of, Robert had to do and of course, his mother was a servant in the home, and they got along pretty well.

Whenever the McKees went over to the plantation, they would always carry Robert with them, and Robert got a chance to see how his people were getting along.

They were field hands on Lady's Island across the river from Beaufort.

Robert wasn't too happy with his fate.

He always felt that slavery was just not for him.

♪ He was frequently upset by the situation.

Although he never found a solution, he did find a measure of tranquility here on the Beaufort waterfront.

This became a favorite thinking spot for young Robert.

He was able to replace the harsh realities of life and find peace of mind.

He would listen to the gentle lapping of the waves and watch the river craft as they would import and export their valuable cargo.

About a half an hour's row across the Beaufort River was Ashdale on Lady's Island.

This is where Lydia had been raised as a child and where Robert would learn a valuable lesson in life.

♪ Robert often accompanied McKee on his trips to the plantation to distribute goods to the field hands.

On one such weekly visit, with his mind tormented by the horrible things he'd seen in town, Robert began to see the residents of the plantation in a new light.

The living conditions here at Ashdale, in contrast to the pleasures he enjoyed in his master's home, bothered him tremendously.

When he got home that night, He told his mother of his feelings.

Lydia listened with great compassion and then she began to relate her own experiences and stories that she'd heard as a child here at the plantation.

By the time the conversation ended, both had agreed that Robert should experience the life of a slave on the plantation firsthand.

♪ On his next trip to Lady's Island, Robert had permission to spend the night at Ashdale, which was located here.

He had always known life on the plantation was different from his master's home, but until that night he never realized how different.

Living quarters were cramped.

Due to the large families, food was divided sparingly.

Many sights and sounds burned th emselves into the boy's mind, but none more than a speech he heard that night.

A young slave on the plantation had taught himself to read.

He obtained a copy of a speech by Frederick Douglass, a former slave who was touring the Northern states speaking in favor of abolishing slavery.

Robert listened intently as a slave read a portion of that speech.

"The law gives the master absolute control over the slave.

"He may work him, flog him, "hire him out, sell him, kill him.

"In law, the slave has no wife, "no children, no country, and no home.

"He can own nothing, possess nothing, acquire nothing, but what must belong to another."

Until this moment, Robert hadn't given much thought to the powers that McKee held over him and his mother.

But this visit to Ashdale began a process which would forever change the thinking of Robert Smalls.

[no audio] Robert returned to Beaufort with a totally different point of view.

At the city jail, a bell tolled at dusk as curfew for slaves.

They were not allowed on the streets after dusk because this was the time of day set aside for White residents so they would not have to mingle with the Black slaves.

Robert had always obeyed the curfew, but after his visit to Ashdale, one night, he deliberately ignored it.

He was arrested, thrown in jail, and the next morning, McKee paid a fine to get him out.

He was more perplexed than angry with the young man and when they went home, Lydia took one look in her son's eyes and knew what had happened.

In earlier times, She, too, had been indignant at the tolling of the bell.

[no audio] (Helen Givens)His mother saw that things were kinda getting out of hand, and he better do something about it.

So she said, "Well, maybe the best thing is just to send him away and maybe get a job, and he won't be in this situation anyhow.

He would be working somewhere that maybe things will be a little better."

So they sent him to Charleston.

♪ (Mary) Twelve-year-old Robert arrived in Charleston astonished by the majestic sights of the beautiful city.

Prior arrangements had been made for him to board with McKee's in-laws.

His first job was as a lamplighter with the city of Charleston.

Carrying a long ladder, twice a day he trudged through the city.

At dusk he would light the lamps, which illuminated the streets and in the morning he would return and clean the soot from the darkened globes.

Robert made many friends in Charleston, and from them he heard of the roles which Black people had played in the development of the city.

Many of the stately homes and beautiful churches had been built by Black stonemasons, and the magnificent ironwork, which surrounded these structures, had been forged by Black ironmongers.

♪ The years passed, and Robert, now 17, had turned into a serious- minded, responsible young man.

Often worried about his situation, he frequently returned to his favorite thinking spot.

As he stood by the wharves, he noticed the Northern ships bringing in cobblestones with which to pave the city streets.

Then he saw the same ships leaving the harbor, their hulls filled with valuable Sea Island cotton.

Robert soon obtained a job as a stevedore, loading and unloading these ships.

He soon tired of that and found a new position at John Simmons' shipyard, where he became an expert rigger.

Very pleased with his new career and satisfied, his thoughts now turned to marriage.

For six months Robert had been courting Hannah Jones, 15 years his senior, who was a house servant of the Kingman family of Charleston.

The two developed a plan whereby their masters might agree to let them marry.

Hannah was to hire out her time and give Kingman $7 a month.

Robert was to do the same but give $15 a month to McKee.

With both masters in complete accord, Hannah Jones and Robert Smalls were married December 24, 1856.

The wedding was held in McKee's home in Beaufort.

♪ Living in a small apartment above a livery stable, the Smalls suffered severe financial handicaps during the first months of their marriage.

Close friends would stop by to share their pots of oyster stew with the Smalls.

Fishermen would give Robert strings of porgies in exchange for his work on their boats.

With every payday, Robert thought about the words that he had heard at Ashdale.

"In law, the slave has no wife, "no children, no country, no home.

He can possess nothing but what must belong to another."

And so Robert realized Hannah was not only his wife... she was also Kingman's slave.

On February 12, 1858, Hannah gave birth to a baby girl, whom they named Elizabeth.

As Robert looked into the face of his beautiful daughter, he was more than ever determined to find freedom for his family and himself.

♪ On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln became President of the United States.

For weeks Robert had heard rumors that prominent Southerners were planning a rebellion against Northern oppression.

These rumors concerned Robert because he didn't understand how they would affect him and his family.

The answer was apparent within the next few weeks.

Stronger restrictions than ever were placed upon slaves.

They were not allowed to gather freely and were not allowed to leave the city for any reason.

It was also rumored that free Blacks might be enslaved again.

In answer to this, many sold all of their possessions and booked passage on ships heading north.

[footsteps] [gunfire] The sparks of rebellion in South Carolina now burst into towering flame.

On the night of April 12, 1861, gunfire was exchanged between a Confederate battery at Fort Johnson, which was here on James Island, and the Union troops at Fort Sumter.

The bombardment continued throughout the night with the bursting of shells bright in the sky.

On April 14th when the billowing dark clouds had cleared, the ruins of Fort Sumter could be seen.

When President Lincoln learned of the Fort Sumter fall, he ordered additional Federal troops into the area to end the rebellion.

♪ During her work hours at the Mills' house, Hannah overheard conversations between prominent Southerners.

In the evenings she would tell Robert what she heard.

Many slave owners were highly angered by the new rulings of the North against slavery.

They were determined to take every precaution against it.

She also read Robert a quote from a newspaper by Alexander Stephens, vice president of the Confederacy.

"Our government is founded upon the great truth "that the Negro is not equal to the white man, "that slavery, subordination to the white race "is his natural and moral condition.

"This, our new government, "is the first in the history of the world based on that great physical, philosophical, and moral truth."

♪ These words greatly disturbed and angered Robert, and he began searching for ways to follow the convictions he had held since first seeing the plight of the slaves on Ashdale Plantation.

Robert Smalls had reached a crucial point.

He was no longer property to be bought and sold at public auction.

He was a man with human feelings, and a man who now knew himself.

He would not be denied the dream that he had held for so long.

Robert Smalls was ready for freedom.

♪ Robert returned to his favorite thinking place.

He noticed that the Northern ships no longer brought in loads of cobblestones.

The only ships to enter the harbor were British merchant vessels who dared to run the blockade of the Union forces along the Atlantic coast.

Bales of cotton were piled high and rotting along the piers.

John Simmons' shipyard was converting cotton boats into vessels of war.

Robert realized that this couldn't last, and so in July of 1861, he went aboard a 140-foot, side-wheel steamer called the "Planter."

The "Planter" was owned by Captain John Ferguson and piloted by C. J. Relyea.

It was a large vessel, well- known in the coastal trade.

It was the largest ship Robert had worked on.

As a deckhand, he received $16 per month, but McKee received 15 of this, leaving Robert only $1 per month to care for a wife and young child.

[no audio] During this time, the "Planter" was engaged in transporting troops to the forts in Charleston.

Robert watched carefully as Relyea handled the ship, smoothly guiding it through the worst nautical conditions.

Soon Robert was allowed to handle the wheel and, proving very capable in this duty, was promoted to wheelsman.

He began to study maps and charts and became a mastermind at plotting the most favorable routes in the Atlantic waterways.

He served following the routes between Charleston and Savannah, assisted in destroying Federal lighthouses on Hunting Island and in laying torpedoes in the Stono and Edisto Rivers.

[no audio] One afternoon in November of 1861 as Robert was returning from Beaufort, he turned in time to see a fleet of Union vessels led by the USS "Wabash" enter Port Royal Sound.

The Union ships ignored the "Planter" as they began firing on Fort Walker.

When Robert let down anchor here in Charleston, he noticed an unusual silence along the waterfront.

Later he learned that Union forces had conquered Beaufort.

[no audio] In Beaufort, panic-stricken families quickly packed their belongings an d headed to the waterfront.

Ships were filled to capacity with those booking passage out of the city.

Homes were abandoned, and slaves were deserted.

A few slaves attempted to board sh ips only to be turned away.

Others, mostly house servants, sternly refused their master's insistence to accompany him.

With their masters gone, the Blacks were no longer considered slaves.

But neither were they free.

They were now classified by the United States government as contraband of war.

[no audio] When Robert went into Charleston to turn his wages over to McKee's sister-in-law, he found his master there in her home.

McKee told him that Lydia refused to join him, saying Beaufort was her home and there she intended to stay.

Robert immediately understood Lydia's reasoning.

Lydia was closer to freedom than she had ever been, and Robert understood now was his turn to seek his freedom.

The "Planter" was being used as a dispatch boat for Brigadier General Roswell Ripley, who was second in command in Charleston.

A 32-pound pivot gun and a 24-pound howitzer had been mounted on the "Planter."

The steamer was now an integral part of the South's defenses.

But in the destiny of Robert Smalls, it was to play an even greater role.

[no audio] (Helen Givens) He decided he was just going to run away.

He said, "If I run, where am I going?

How am I going to run?"

He finally decided that he'd be bold enough to take that boat.

He talked to some of the Blacks who were on the boat and asked them what did they think of the plan.

Some of them agreed, and some of them were chicken and wouldn't go.

They didn't want to go.

He talked to his wife, and his wife said, "We'll try it."

He said, "Hannah"-- that was her name-- "Hannah, if anything happens, "we're not going to try to do one thing but jump overboard.

"There's no need for them to get us, "'cause they'll kill us.

We'll take it in our own hands."

So they decided on a certain night, the first night that the boat was loaded with ammunition and that the officers were not aboard, that they were going to take that night to try to run away.

[no audio] On May 12, 1862, the perfect opportunity presented itself, and Robert put his plan into action.

On that evening, Captain Relyea and the other commanders were attending a party being given in their honor by the ladies of the city.

Robert told Hannah and the other women to go aboard the steamer "Etiwan" and hide away as they had planned.

They were to remain there until the "Planter" was secured.

Hannah had wisely packed, along with other things, a white sheet, which, if necessary, could be used as a flag of surrender.

[no audio] Robert Smalls waits.

He knows that with Relyea and the others gone for the night he must make his move.

In the wee morning hours of May 13, 1862, at approximately 3 a.m., Robert and the others initiate action.

He receives the signal for full steam.

Robert smoothly backs the "Planter" from her berth, gives a tug on the steam whistle, and steers the ship into open waters.

He lets the steamer drift while he sends a tugboat to get the women and children.

When the craft returns and all are aboard, Robert points the bow toward the bar, where the Union forces wait, and begins to sail away to freedom.

[no audio] The "Planter" nears its first crucial mark, Castle Pinckney.

Robert takes a deep breath and steadies himself at the wheel.

When he approaches the fort, he gives the usual salute by blowing the whistle.

The guard in the tower accepts the signal and waves the "Planter" on.

As the ship passes by the fort, Ro bert waves to the guard.

The "Planter" now puts off steam, slowing enough to coast up to the next entry mark at Fort Johnson.

Before Robert can give the signal, the guard in the tower waves to him.

Robert's heart pounds.

He fears the sentry is going to speak.

A moment of silence passes, and, thinking quickly, Robert pulls hard on the steam whistle.

The guard silently acknowledges th is proper signal and passes the "Planter" through.

Robert now finds it hard to hide his anxiety.

Just ahead lies the most crucial mark of the voyage, Fort Sumter.

If there are problems here, the entire journey will prove to be a tragedy.

The sky takes on a reddish glow, as the sun prepares to ascend the eastern horizon.

Eight men, five women, and three children aboard the "Planter" now approach the guard tower at Fort Sumter.

Robert Smalls steadies himself at the wheel, takes a deep breath, and signals.

♪ (Witherspoon) ♪ Sail away to freedom, sail away.

♪ Program captioned by: CompuScripts Captioning, Inc. 80 3.988.8438