People

Susan Small was a seventeen-year-old wife and mother when she escaped to freedom with her infant son Philip aboard the Confederate steamer the "Planter."

John Small freed himself, his wife Susan, and their infant son Phillip during a dangerous escape aboard the Confederate steamer, Planter. As the ship’s engineer, John was instrumental in the success of the mission in which he and pilot Robert Smalls brought a total of sixteen men, women and children out of slavery and into freedom.

The story of an enslaved man in Charleston liberating himself aboard a stolen Confederate vessel, who came to Beaufort, purchased property, served in the military, owned a business, and was elected to political office – sounds like a familiar story to many in the South Carolina Lowcountry. However, most people have never heard of William C. Morrison.

Abram Allston piloted his way to freedom onboard the Planter, and then joined the Navy, but spent the rest of his life fighting for recognition and a military pension.

Robert Smalls shocked the Confederacy when he piloted the CSS Planter to the Union naval blockade outside of Charleston Harbor. He later returned to Charleston Harbor as a Union naval pilot and fought in several naval engagements in South Carolina waters. After the Civil War, Smalls represented his native Beaufort district in the US Congress.

A moment of freedom becomes a lifetime of service – and a mystery. From his escape on the Planter with Robert Smalls to a long history of military service, learn Gabriel Turner's story in this article.

Annie White made her daring escape from slavery to freedom aboard the Confederate steamer, "The Planter" in the early hours of May 13, 1862. Annie was one of two single women who joined the crew that night seeking freedom.

Louden S Langley served in the 54th Massachusetts and 1st South Carolina Volunteers. After the Civil War, he became one of the Black political leaders in Reconstruction era South Carolina, and in 1880 served as the Assistant Lighthouse Keeper for the iconic lighthouse in Beaufort County, SC.

Octavius Catto was a Civil War and Reconstruction era civil rights activist, professional athlete, and civic leader who was assassinated in an act of political violence in 1871.

Harriet Tubman has long been associated with her extraordinary work with abolitionist causes and as the Underground Railroad's most famous "conductor." Her heroic efforts in personally leading approximately 70 people out of slavery to freedom in the North defined her as the "Moses of her People."