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Article: Chronicles of Black Courage.(African American Confederate sailor Robert Smalls)
- Article from:
- Ebony
- Article date:
- November 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Johnson Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Robert Smalls sailed Confederate ship out of Charleston harbor
HISTORIAN Benjamin, Quarles said the feat was "unparalleled in audacity."
A contemporary reporter said it was "one of the most daring and heroic adventures" of the war.
A Union admiral hailed it in a special dispatch to the secretary of the navy.
The heroic feat that attracted the attention of contemporaries, cabinet officers and latter-day historians was the "abduction" of a Confederate ship by a bold slave who sailed it out of the heavy fortified Charleston harbor to the ring of Union ships blockading the Atlantic coast. The slave's name was Robert Smalls, and his act ...