The U.S. Navy renamed a warship after legendary African-American sailor Robert Smalls.
The warship was previously named the USS Chancellorsville after a Confederate victory during the Civil War.
- Smalls was born a slave in South Carolina in 1839.
- When the Civil War broke out, he was conscripted into the Confederate Navy to serve aboard a steamship called the Planter.
- On May 13, 1862, Smalls commandeered the Planter and sailed it out of the Charleston harbor with his family and other slaves aboard.
- He turned the ship over to the Union Navy and ultimately became the boat's captain.
- After the war, he served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
- Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro said that Smalls' story should be "retold and highlighted."
- The U.S. military is renaming U.S. bases and ships that were previously named after Confederate victories or leaders.
- The
effort aims to "remove the focus on the parts of our history that
doesn’t align with the tenets of this country, and instead allows us to
highlight the events and people in history who may have been
overlooked," del Toro said.
