Details
Contributor McAllister, John A. 1822-1896, collector.
McAllister & Brother, publisher.
Title Robert Small, pilot of the steamer Planter, Charleston, S.C. [graphic].
Publisher Philadelphia : McAllister & Brother, 728 Chestnut St
Publisher PA. Philadelphia. 1862
Date 1862
Physical Description 1 photograph : albumen on card mount ; mount 10 x 7 cm ( 4 x 2.5 in.) (carte de visite format)
Description Bust-length portrait of the formerly enslaved and later South Carolina congressman who commandeered and harbored fifteen enslaved people on the Confederate steamer, "Planter," consequently escaping to freedom across the Charleston Bay in May 1862. Smalls, a "Planter" crew member who impersonated the Confederate Captain, surrendered the vessel to a flotilla of the Union Blockade after navigating passed several Confederate fortifications. The nationally publicized escape sparked a military campaign to recruit African American volunteers in South Carolina. Small, attired in a white shirt and a dark-colored jacket, looks at the viewer.
Notes Title from item.
Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by McAllister & Brother, 728 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.
See account of escape with illustrations in Harper's Weekly, June 14, 1862, p. 372. (LCP **Per H, 1863).
Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886.
Description revised 2021.
Access points revised 2021.
Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Subject Smalls, Robert, 1839-1915 -- Portraits.
African American ship captains.
Freedmen -- United States.
Legislators -- South Carolina -- Portraits.
Slavery -- United States.
Enslaved people -- United States.
Free men -- United States -- Civil War, 1861-1865.
Freedom seekers -- United States.
Geographic subject United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Participation, African American.
Genre Albumen prints -- 1860-1870.
Cartes de visite -- 1860-1870.
Portrait photographs -- 1860-1870.
Printer McAllister & Brother, publisher.
Provenance McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| cdv portraits -sitter-Small [(3)5750.F.44b]
Accession number (3)5750.F.44b