BEAUFORT, S.C. (WCBD) – The home of a former Lowcountry slave who went on to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives will be added to the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network.
Smalls was born a slave in Beaufort, but was sent to Charleston to work on the CSS Planter, a steamboat chartered by the Confederate Army. He is credited with turning the tide of the war in favor of the Union when on May 13, 1862, he stole the ship and surrendered it to Union soldiers.
After his brave endeavor, Smalls met with President Abraham Lincoln and allegedly convinced him to allow slaves to fight in the Union army.
After the war, Smalls returned to his native Beaufort. He was elected to the state legislature then went on to serve five terms in the United States House of Representatives before returning once again to Beaufort to live out his retirement.
Small’s Beaufort home is one of four properties being added to the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network.
The other sites being added include two churches with ties to Smalls. The First African Baptist Church in Beaufort, of which Smalls was a member, served as a school for former slaves. The Tabernacle Baptist Church in Beaufort, where Smalls is buried, also served as a school during the Civil War and played an important role in Beaufort’s reconstruction following the war.
Historic Brattonville in York County is also being added to the network. The 800-acre plantation “interprets the lives of formerly enslaved people living and working” there in the years after the war.