With Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton’s letter in hand, Rev. Mansfield French and Robert Smalls arrived in Washington, D.C., around the last week of August 1862. They found the city overflowing with reminders of the war. Rickety wagons filled with soldiers poured into the city and jammed the streets, pitched tents covered the city’s hills and valleys, and the sound of drums boomed from almost every corner. The sick and wounded from Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s campaign in Virginia filled schools, hotels, churches, and private homes that had been turned into hospitals to care for the overwhelming number of patients, while formerly enslaved men and women who had fled Virginia and Maryland searched for a better life in the capital.
Many newly arrived African Americans “came with a great hope in their hearts, and with all their worldly goods on their backs,” wrote Elizabeth Keckley, a former slave who had become Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker. They soon found that the North was not always what they had hoped it would be. “Many good friends reached forth kind hands,” Keckley wrote, “but the North is not warm and impulsive. For one kind word spoken, two harsh ones were uttered; there was something repelling in the atmosphere, and the bright joyous dreams of freedom to the slave faded—were sadly altered, in the presence of that stern, practical mother, reality.”1
Smalls’ trip to Washington, however, was unlike any other former slave’s. During the next few days he and French would meet with Lincoln as well as several of his cabinet members, including Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, and, of course, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. The meetings must have been set up by Saxton or French, both of whom were trying to get support for the Port Royal Experiment.
It was an extraordinary time for Smalls, who just three months earlier had been enslaved and working for the Confederacy aboard the Planter. Now he was meeting with the president of the United States and some of the most senior members of the Lincoln administration. Until this trip Smalls had never traveled far from his home on the coast of South Carolina; now he was in the nation’s capital and meeting national leaders whose decisions would change the future of the country.
Details of Smalls’ meeting with Lincoln are not known, but he and French almost certainly met with the president at the White House. Mary Lincoln had just lavishly redecorated the mansion, which had been rebuilt after the British burned it during the War of 1812, but she had far exceeded her budget, much to the dismay of her husband and Congress. The now-refurbished stairways and corridors of the White House were often crammed with visitors, many of whom were office seekers hoping for a few minutes with the president.2
Lincoln was already familiar with Smalls’ story. The president had signed the bill in May authorizing prize money for Smalls and the others for turning over the Planter and had no doubt read many accounts of Smalls’ escape in the newspapers that spring. It is not hard to imagine Smalls telling his tale to Lincoln, as Smalls had a natural talent for storytelling.
That same week Smalls and French also met with Chase, and Smalls again recounted his escape from slavery. His telling of the events was so powerful that French wrote to a colleague that Smalls “entertained Sec. Chase nearly an hour with his story.”
They also met with Welles, who may have given Smalls the prize money he was owed, as he received it around this time. It was a triumphant moment for a man who had worked so hard for so many years and had received so little in exchange. Money bought some security, and now Smalls had enough to provide for his family. But Smalls would keep only $300 as he had decided to invest $1,200 of the $1,500 in government stocks.3 Welles may have influenced or even determined Smalls’ decision, given that the act awarding Smalls the prize money specifically allowed the Secretary of the Navy to invest the money in U.S. securities if he thought it best.
Smalls and French also met with the stern and often cantankerous Stanton so they could deliver the letter from Saxton requesting the enlistment of blacks to help at Port Royal. When they spoke with the bearded and bespectacled secretary of war, they were surprised by what happened.4 Rather than simply taking the letter and reading it, Stanton urged French and Smalls to personally deliver dispatches from him to Saxton and Hunter. This request would temporarily cut short their speaking tour as they returned to Port Royal, but it was one they could not turn down. The dispatch to Saxton, dated August 25, 1862, gave the first authorization by the War Department to enlist black soldiers. Smalls and French were thrilled by the news and honored to carry the message that would allow black men to join the fight to end slavery.
Stanton was well aware of the gravity of his order and its potential political repercussions. He attached a note to it that said, “This must never see daylight, because it is so much in advance of public opinion.”
In the order Stanton authorized Saxton to enlist as many as five thousand African American laborers. He also allowed him to enlist as many as five thousand troops:
In view of the small force under your command and the inability of the Government at the present time to increase it, in order to guard the plantations and settlements occupied by the United States from invasion and protect the inhabitants thereof from captivity and murder by the enemy, you are also authorized to arm, uniform, equip, and receive into the service of the United States such number of volunteers of African descent as you may deem expedient, not exceeding 5,000, and may detail officers to instruct them in military drill, discipline, and duty, and to command them.5
This was far more men than Saxton could have imagined.
Several factors likely influenced Stanton’s decision to authorize Saxton’s request. The need for troops in the Sea Islands and in the Union military in general was desperate. In July the War Department had asked for 300,000 new volunteers for three years of service, but this call to arms did not receive the same enthusiastic response as the one in 1861. On August 4 Lincoln had asked for another 300,000 men to serve for a term of nine months and threatened to draft men from states that did not meet their quota.6 Several states that were unable to supply the number required would begin drafting in mid-September. Also, during his July cabinet meeting Lincoln had stated that blacks should be allowed to defend their homes, which, technically, was all Saxton’s request to Stanton had sought.
It is also possible that Smalls’ role in delivering the request reminded Stanton that blacks were willing to fight for their freedom. This was almost certainly part of Saxton’s reasoning in asking Smalls and French to personally deliver his request.
Also influencing Stanton was the knowledge that Lincoln had told his cabinet in July that he was planning to issue an emancipation proclamation. It would declare that if the Confederate states did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863, all people enslaved in the rebellious states would be free. The proclamation was primarily designed to deny the Confederacy its major source of labor and to bring more troops into the Union Army. Since the Union could not enforce the proclamation in Confederate-held areas, the number of people officially freed in January would be limited to those already in areas under Union control.
The proclamation would also make ending slavery an official aim of the war. If Great Britain and France, which had been considering recognizing the Confederacy as a sovereign state, were to help it once the proclamation had been issued, they would be seen as backing slavery, which both countries had already abolished.
The cabinet’s response to Lincoln’s proposal to issue the proclamation had been mixed; some found it far too radical. As a result Lincoln had agreed to wait to issue the preliminary proclamation until after a Union victory. The Union had lost several important battles, and Lincoln wanted the Union to appear strong when he made his announcement. That victory would come in September at the Battle of Antietam.7
* * *
Although Smalls’ trip to Washington was successful, it was not without controversy, and he was making headlines before he left the city. This time they involved Lincoln’s plan to send African Americans to colonize present-day Panama. At the time Lincoln believed that while emancipation was a moral imperative, colonization of blacks outside the country was necessary to preserve the Union. Recently he had even told a delegation of black clergy invited to the White House that both races were suffering from living together. It was one of the most debated moments of his presidency. Lincoln said, “Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If this is admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated.”8
Smalls was brought into the colonization debate when a Washington newspaper, the Daily National Republican, reported that Smalls was one of the African Americans applying to leave the country.9 The story was not true and may have been a deliberate effort to encourage blacks to volunteer for colonization. If this hero of the Union was willing to go, others might as well.
Northern newspapers republished the story as well as Smalls’ denial:
I wish it understood that I have made no such application; but, at the same time, I would express my cordial approval of every kind and wise effort for the liberation and elevation of my oppressed race. After waiting apparently in vain, for many years for our deliverance, [my] party … conferred freedom on ourselves; and to the government of the United States we gave the Planter … We are all now in the service of the navy … where we wish to serve till the rebellion and slavery are alike crushed out forever.10
Given that Smalls still was illiterate, his diplomatic words must have been written with the assistance of Reverend French, but the tone was clearly Smalls’.
While in Washington Smalls would also have the chance to give his first public speech, another major milestone for a man who had essentially just won his freedom. The event took place before an audience of twelve hundred at Israel Bethel African Methodist Episcopal, one of the largest black churches in the capital.
The crowd on that late August night included both blacks and whites. Rev. Henry McNeal Turner, who would later become the first black chaplain in the U.S. Army, gave a powerful sermon, which was followed by an inspirational speech from Reverend French, who spoke about the success of the Port Royal Experiment and praised the men in Hunter’s unauthorized black regiment.11 The floor was then turned over to Smalls.
Smalls was somewhat apprehensive when he addressed the large group, but he maintained his composure. His nerves were to be expected; he had never before spoken in public and was now addressing an audience that was well educated, while Smalls had never had a single day of schooling. But as he did so often, Smalls handled the evening with determination and courage, and his performance that evening was as entertaining as it was informative.12
* * *
A few days after Smalls’ successful first speech, he and French triumphantly returned to Port Royal and delivered Stanton’s groundbreaking dispatch. Saxton, Hunter, and Du Pont were surprised to learn that they had what they wanted and more: Saxton would be able to enlist black troops, and the Union would be able to continue occupying the various Sea Islands and keep its commitment to the freedmen. Meanwhile the dispatch had done far more than solve an immediate need for more men. It had also opened the door for other African Americans to join the military. By the end of the war, roughly 179,000 black men had served as soldiers in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 had served in the Navy.13
* * *
As those in Port Royal anticipated relief from the scorching summer temperatures, French and Smalls prepared to return to the North and continue with their original plan to conduct a speaking tour on behalf of the Port Royal Experiment. On September 7 they boarded the steamer McClellan once again. This time, however, Hannah, Elizabeth, and Robert, Jr., who was now nine months old, were also with Smalls.
Smalls and Hannah may well have been apprehensive about the trip north and the many unknowns, but they could be together as a family for a remarkable opportunity to see the places they could only have dreamed of a few months earlier.
From French’s perspective, having Hannah and the children along would draw bigger crowds for the talks he and Smalls would give. These were the loved ones who had motivated Smalls to make the dramatic escape on that early morning in May.
Also aboard the McClellan that day were Hunter and Saxton, both headed to New York. Hunter had been granted a sixty-day leave while his request for reassignment was evaluated. Saxton, the military governor, had been “ill with fever” and was going “for the benefit of his health for a sea voyage.”
Because Hunter was leaving his command at Port Royal and did not then know if he would return, Du Pont ordered his sailors on the Wabash to “man the yards.” The sailors climbed the masts and stood on the spars of the Wabash as the ship fired a fifteen-gun salute when the McClellan passed by. Although the gesture was specifically for Hunter, it was a grand send-off for all four men whose lives had intersected in recent months as they championed the cause of recently freed African Americans.14
* * *
The McClellan arrived in New York City two days later. When Smalls and Hannah emerged from the steamer, they were in awe of the city. Nearly everywhere they looked, they saw buildings, residents, uniformed soldiers, and horse-drawn carriages as the city bustled with business from the war.
Charleston’s population was about 40,000, but New York City’s stood at more than 800,000. Many were recent European immigrants, but a little more than 12,000 were free blacks.15 Both groups often lived in overcrowded tenements and competed for the same jobs while tensions between them simmered. Less than a year later, in July 1863, these tensions would explode in the New York draft riots. Rioters, many of whom were Irish immigrants, were angry that blacks, who were not yet considered citizens, were exempt from the draft, while wealthy whites could pay $300 to get out of their duty. During the four-day riot the mob would target black men in particular. More than one hundred African Americans would be killed; at least eleven men would be lynched.16
When Smalls arrived in September 1862, the city was already divided by the war. Some vehemently opposed slavery and had organized against it, but many New Yorkers sympathized with the South. It was not just working-class whites who feared competition from blacks for jobs. It was also those who had made large fortunes from manufacturing textiles and clothing and did not want to lose access to the South’s cotton. New York’s ties to the South were so great that in early January 1861, a few weeks after South Carolina seceded, the mayor of New York City had proposed that the metropolis secede too. His plan, which was never realized, was for the city to form an independent commonwealth made up of Long Island, Staten Island, and Manhattan Island so it could continue to do business with the slaveholding South.17
Reverend French and Smalls began their fund-raising efforts almost immediately after arriving in New York. Although the climate was hostile at times, the antagonism brewing beneath the surface did not seem to affect them. Smalls would be kept so busy in New York that he would not return to Port Royal for more than seven weeks, far longer than Du Pont had hoped and Smalls had promised.
One of French’s and Smalls’ first talks in New York was at the Church of the Puritans. On the night of the event, people crammed together in the aisles to make room for the large crowd. French spoke for two hours about the Port Royal Experiment before Smalls gave his account of his escape. He spoke with ease and confidence. The nerves that had rattled him in Washington during his first speaking engagement seemed to have vanished, and his natural talent for storytelling mesmerized the audience.
At the conclusion of Smalls’ speech, French introduced Hannah and the children along with four other people who had escaped slavery, including a Charleston couple who had hidden in rice casks. The evening was considered a grand success as contributions flowed in and the crowd embraced its guests.18
Smalls, his family, and French were still in New York fundraising on September 22 when Lincoln issued his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which would go into effect on January 1 if the Confederate states had not ceased the rebellion. As Smalls and Hannah celebrated the news, they must have been reminded of their own journey to freedom and all the opportunities that had already come with it.
Shortly after the proclamation was published, Lincoln addressed supporters from the White House balcony: “I can only trust in God I have made no mistake … It is now for the country and the world to pass judgment on it.”19
Many in the country cheered; others seethed with anger at the announcement. Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune printed “God Bless Abraham Lincoln” on its front page, while the Louisville Journal wrote, “The measure is wholly unwarrantable and wholly pernicious.”20
Saxton, who had returned from his respite to Port Royal, was, of course, overjoyed. The proclamation left no doubt that the formerly enslaved people under his charge would be legally free in January when it went into effect. Saxton wrote, “The glorious Proclamation of our honored President comes like a gleam of sunlight through the darkness which has enveloped us, bidding us to be of ‘good cheer.’”21
Despite the good news, the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation would not help the black families in Port Royal who needed support, and French and Smalls continued their tour to Philadelphia to help raise money.
Philadelphia was another busy Northern city whose economy, like New York’s, was thriving from the war. It was the second-largest city in the country after New York with a population of about 600,000. Blacks numbered about 22,000, giving Philadelphia the largest African American population of any Northern city.22
Like New York, Philadelphia had close ties to the South before the war. The Southern states sent lumber, turpentine, and cotton north, and Philadelphia sent south a variety of items, from clothing to carriages. But once the war began, the city developed strong anti-Southern sentiments.
Even so, the City of Brotherly Love, known as a leader in the antislavery movement, did not always look upon African Americans with favor.23 In fact, many considered it the most segregated and racist city north of Baltimore. Frederick Douglass wrote in 1862, “There is not perhaps anywhere to be found a city in which prejudice against color is more rampant than in Philadelphia.”24
Despite the prejudice of some Philadelphians, the city embraced Smalls during his visit, which included a speech at the National Hall on Market Street. The night Smalls arrived, the city’s district attorney, George A. Coffee, introduced him to several prominent citizens. Another admirer of Smalls declared, “I would rather vote for this man Smalls for President than for any democrat in the land!”25
In late September Smalls, Hannah, and the children went back to New York, while French returned to Port Royal. Both French and C. C. Leigh, another officer of the National Freedmen’s Relief Association, had written to Du Pont asking permission to keep Smalls away from his duties for a little longer. But by the time the letter arrived, Du Pont did not have time to respond and “was not pleased” when Smalls did not return with French to resume his piloting duties.26 The rear admiral had no choice, however, but to wait patiently for Smalls to return.
* * *
Smalls remained busy on his second trip to New York. One of his most significant events was held on October 2. He was “received with deafening cheers” by members of New York’s African American community, who had packed themselves into Shiloh Presbyterian Church to celebrate him. After prayers, speeches, and songs, including “John Brown’s Body,” and “There’s a Better Time a-Coming,” Smalls was presented with a large gold medal. One side depicted Charleston Harbor with the Planter headed toward Fort Sumter and the Union fleet. The other side was inscribed: “Presented to Robert Smalls by the colored people of NY, Oct. 2d. 1862, as a token of their regard for his heroism, his love of liberty, and his patriotism.”27
Smalls was moved by the accolades and the gift. In what was described as a “very modest and touching address,” he recounted the details of his escape from Charleston and hoped that he would one day lead the Union into Charleston Harbor.28
But even as many cheered for him, Smalls was reminded that the racism of some in the North was equal to that of any Southerner’s, and with that hatred often came violence. The New York Tribune reported the next day that rowdies had assaulted one man near the church and that a planned riot had been foiled because the instigators had started their attack before the meeting adjourned.
The South, too, was unhappy with Smalls’ growing fame. When Confederate newspapers became aware of Smalls’ speaking tour and the reception he was getting, they sharply criticized the North for glorifying him.29
* * *
Smalls and his family finally returned to Port Royal in late October and soon learned that the South’s anger at an enslaved man’s making his escape by taking a Confederate ship had not abated. He was still a wanted man.
At least one attempt was made to seize Smalls shortly after he returned when a group of men arrived in Beaufort and inquired about the location of Smalls’ house. Someone raised an alarm, and Union soldiers were able to capture the group.30
Smalls refused to be intimidated, however, and quickly returned to resume his duties as a pilot for the Union. But he found the Union facing another threat equal to that of the Confederates—yellow fever. An outbreak had started at headquarters at Hilton Head about a week before Smalls returned to the area. At the time doctors were still unaware that mosquitoes spread yellow fever, also known as yellow jack. Some even speculated that the cause of this latest epidemic had been the turning of dirt for new fortifications at Hilton Head.
Since the beginning of the war the Union had feared the toll that warm-climate diseases such as yellow fever and malaria would take on its soldiers fighting in the South. When Hunter became commander of the Department of the South in the spring of 1862, he gave specific directives for his soldiers to follow during the hot summer months. This included rising shortly after sunrise, receiving “quinine in prophylactic doses, each dose combined with half a gill of whisky” during the hottest hours of the day, and enjoying “good cooking.” He also recommended fishing in the early morning and at night.31 Hunter believed that if they followed these rules and maintained good hygiene, the soldiers would have nothing to fear.
These precautions, of course, failed to save many men, including Maj. Gen. Ormsby Mitchel, from the bites of infected mosquitoes. Ormsby had replaced Hunter as commander of the Department of the South in early September 1862. (Brig. Gen. John Milton Brannan was briefly in charge between Hunter and Mitchel.) At the beginning of the outbreak, Mitchel had moved his staff from Hilton Head to Beaufort. Five days later he succumbed to the disease.
On October 31, the day after Mitchel died, Smalls ran into Du Pont and another Union officer, Capt. John Rodgers, in Beaufort. Smalls had not seen Du Pont since his return. The two Union officers had arrived by boat from Port Royal that morning to serve as pallbearers at Mitchel’s funeral.
Rodgers must have shared Du Pont’s concern about the effect on Smalls of his trip to the North, and Rodgers patronizingly asked Smalls if his head had been turned by the attention he had received. Smalls’ reaction was as calm as it was brilliant. Du Pont reported that Smalls “replied it was turned one way all the time he was North—towards Port Royal.”
Smalls was using his charm and diplomatic skills, but he was also sincere in his efforts to help the Union in whatever way he could. As a free man he and his family could easily have stayed in the North rather than return to the South, where the hefty bounty hung over his head and threatened his life.32
* * *
Soon after Smalls returned, he learned that the Planter was no longer under the Navy’s control. While Smalls was away, Du Pont had turned the Planter over to the Army’s Quartermaster Corps because of the Navy’s difficulty in supplying the vessel with the wood it needed for fuel.33 Without access to the Planter Smalls probably was piloting other vessels for the Navy.
Smalls was ambitious and now had some money, so it was not surprising that he also found a way to own a store for freedmen during this time, even though property was not for sale in occupied Beaufort. The formerly enslaved men and women were earning money as part of the Port Royal Experiment and needed supplies, and Smalls’ store provided them. He was soon making a large weekly profit.
But for Smalls financial success was not enough, and his patriotism and commitment to ending slavery was evident in a story Saxton told about him at a November celebration in Beaufort. On that clear fall day hundreds of former slaves, along with white plantation superintendents and missionaries, had packed themselves into a Baptist church in the middle of a grove of live oaks. The reason for the gathering was to honor the continued success of the Port Royal Experiment and the new regiment of black soldiers Stanton had authorized Saxton to create.34
The regiment, which was named the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment, incorporated the men from Hunter’s regiment who had been furloughed and those he had kept under arms. The rest of the regiment, which was headquartered at the former John Joyner Smith plantation on the Beaufort River, was made up of new recruits from Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina and would soon number six hundred.
Saxton had set aside that November day as one of “thanksgiving and praise.” It would be another year before Lincoln issued his Thanksgiving Proclamation dedicating the last Thursday of November as a holiday. Until then the celebration had been observed mostly in New England and other Northern states and usually on different dates.
The Thanksgiving festivities in Beaufort included the singing of the spiritual “Roll, Jordan, Roll,” followed by a sermon and a speech given by Saxton encouraging young black men to enlist in the new regiment. Saxton tried to further inspire the crowd that had packed the church by discussing the bravery of the regiment’s white leader, Col. T. W. Higginson, a radical abolitionist and Unitarian minister from Massachusetts. Saxton also shared a story about Smalls.
When Smalls had come to see Saxton the day before, Saxton had asked how his store was faring, and Smalls told him he was making “fifty dollars a week, sometimes.” It was a large amount of money by anyone’s standards, but Smalls wanted something more. He told Saxton that instead of continuing with the store, he was going to enlist as a private in Saxton’s new black regiment. The news came as a surprise to Saxton, particularly since Smalls was doing so well. When Saxton asked him why, Smalls displayed the patriotism and courage for which he had become known. He replied, “How can I expect to keep my freedom unless I fight for it? Suppose the Secesh should come back here, what good would my fifty dollars do me then? Yes, sir, I should enlist if I were making a thousand dollars a week.”
By sharing the story with the audience, Saxton hoped to encourage even more young black men to join. Smalls was a hero to many across the country, and especially to African Americans in Port Royal, and his willingness to join would surely motivate others. Charlotte Forten, the first African American teacher from the North to arrive in the South to help the former slaves, was there that day and found Saxton’s speech stirring and thought it would “prove very effective.”35
The early success of the regiment was also likely to inspire young men to join. By the time of Saxton’s speech, several companies of the regiment had already seen action and had proved their courage and skill beyond any question. Saxton wrote to Stanton: “It is admitted upon all hands that the negroes fought with a coolness and bravery that would have done credit to veteran soldiers. There was no excitement, no flinching, no attempt at cruelty when successful. They seemed like men who were fighting to vindicate their manhood and they did it well.”36
Despite Smalls’ interest in joining the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, he ultimately did not enlist in the regiment. Smalls may have decided that he could be more effective as a pilot, or Du Pont may have convinced Smalls of how desperately his skills were needed in the Navy.
A few months later Du Pont would put Smalls’ considerable talents into action in the first Battle of Charleston.