Robert Smalls Hijacks the CSS Planter

###Robert Smalls Hijacks the CSS Planter

Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, 1862 — An enslaved pilot disguised himself as the captain and casually sailed a heavily armed Confederate warship right out of enemy territory.

In 1862, enslaved pilot Robert Smalls was forced to steer the CSS Planter, a heavily armed Confederate transport ship in Charleston Harbor. On the night of May 12, the ship’s white officers broke military rules and decided to sleep ashore, leaving Smalls and the enslaved crew unguarded.

Smalls seized his chance. He gathered the crew, picked up their families from a nearby wharf, and threw on the captain’s wide-brimmed straw hat. To escape, they had to sail right past five heavily armed Confederate forts, including the massive Fort Sumter.

Instead of panicking and rushing, Smalls kept his cool. He calmly steered the ship at a normal speed, blowing the exact secret whistle codes at every checkpoint to avoid raising suspicion. At dawn, he reached the Union blockade, lowered the rebel flag, hoisted a white bedsheet, and surrendered.

How It Went Down
Officers leaveship unguardedMay 12, 1862Families boardin secretNightBlowing thesecret whistlesNightHoisting awhite bedsheetDawn, May 13
Crazy-o-Meter
Certified bananas
No.26
A tense cartoon scene on the deck of a heavily armed steamboat sailing at night. At the ship's massive steering wheel, Robert Smalls stands tall and confident, his silhouette disguised by a ridiculously wide-brimmed straw captain's hat. He is casually tugging a rope to blow steam from the ship's whistle. Down below on the deck, the rest of the crew and their families are hiding behind giant cannons and stacks of cannonballs, sweating nervously, biting their nails, and peeking out at a massive brick fort looming in the dark background.

Robert Smalls Hijacks the CSS Planter — Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, 1862