In 1862, the port city of Charleston, South Carolina, witnessed one of the most impressive feats in the Civil War. An African-American named Robert Smalls stole an entire ship from the Confederacy and escaped to freedom with his wife, two young children, and several other enslaved people. He did this right under the noses of the white Confederate guard.

Robert Smalls had been enslaved and conscripted into the Confederate navy. He along with six other African-Americans had been working alongside the white crew of the steamship _Planter_, which had been anchored in Charleston’s port due to a Union blockade. Working with his black crew on the plans in the weeks preceding the escape, Smalls waited until the ship’s white captain and white crew members left the vessel. Perhaps the captain might not have imagined that Smalls would be so daring, or so capable.

Robert Smalls put on the captain’s straw hat and successfully gave out the Confederate signal to pass when the ship glided into Confederate waters. Once they had set out, the crew quickly posted a white flag to signal surrender to the Union side.

Smalls eventually faced a bounty of $4,000 from the Confederate Government, but they never got him. Instead, Robert Smalls worked to recruit black soldiers to fight for the Union side. After the war, he became a successful businessman, and served as a congressman for the U.S. House of Representatives for several terms, writing up legislation that created the first free and compulsory public school system in the United States.