Robert Smalls, the Boat Thief

At 3:30 am on the morning of May 13, 1862, the Planter, a Confederate ship, loosed its lines and left its spot at the wharf in Charleston harbor. Confederate guards on patrol expected the ship's early departure and did nothing. Fortified Confederate checkpoints in the harbor heard the Planter sound the correct coded signals and did nothing. Piloting the ship was Robert Smalls who, along with fourteen other slaves, escaped to freedom and, in the process, stole a ship carrying thousands of pounds of ammunition and six cannons. The rest of Smalls's life, told in this detailed biography, is equally impressive. Map. Bibliography. Full-color and black-and-white illustrations.