Lest We Forget - “I have brought you some of the old United States’ guns, sir!”
By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
Robert Smalls was born a slave on a South Carolina plantation, and when he turned 12, his master sent him to Charleston to hire out. Smalls worked at various jobs, sending most of his earnings back to his master. He eventually married a hotel maid, also a slave, and in 1861 was hired as a deckhand on the former cotton steamer Planter , then serving as a military transport for the Confederate Navy. He soon proved his worth and was promoted to “wheelman” (actually a pilot, but as an African-American he was not permitted to hold that title).
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