USS Planter ( 1862 ) USS " Planter " ( 1860 ) was a steamer taken over by Robert Smalls , a Southern slave and ship ' s pilot who steered the ship past Confederate defenses and surrendered it to Union Navy forces on 13 May 1862 during the American Civil War . For a short period , " Planter " served as a gunboat for the Union Navy . As the ship burned wood , which was scarce where the Navy was operating , the Navy turned the ship over to the Union Army for use at Fort Pulaski on the Georgia coast . In 1863 Smalls was appointed captain of " Planter " , the first black man to command a United States ship , and served in that position to 1866 . Service under the Confederacy . " Planter " was a sidewheel steamer built at Charleston , South Carolina in 1860 that was used by the Confederacy as an armed dispatch boat and transport attached to the engineer department at Charleston , under Brigadier General Ripley , CSA . Robert Smalls , pilot . At 04 : 00 on 13 May 1862 , while her captain , C . J . Relyea , was absent on shore , Robert Smalls , a slave who was " Planter " s pilot , quietly took the ship from the wharf , and with a Confederate flag flying , steamed past the successive Confederate forts . He saluted the installation as usual by blowing the steam whistle . As soon as the steamer was out of range of the last Confederate gun , Smalls hauled down the Confederate flag and hoisted a white one . Then he turned " Planter " over to the of the Union blockading force . Besides Smalls , " Planter " carried 15 other slaves to freedom behind Union lines : seven crewmen , five women , and three children . In addition to the cargo of artillery and explosives , Smalls brought Flag officer Samuel Francis Du Pont valuable intelligence , including word that the Confederates had abandoned defensive positions on the Stono River . Smalls pilots " Planter " to Samuel DuPont in South Carolina . The next day , " Planter " was sent to Flag Officer Du Pont at Port Royal Harbor , South Carolina , who later assigned Robert Smalls as " Planter " s pilot . At the time she was taken over by the Union , " Planter " was carrying four guns as cargo beside her usual armament . Smalls and his crew are awarded half the value of " Planter " . The United States Senate and House of Representatives passed a private bill on 30 May 1862 , granting Robert Smalls and his African - American crew one half of the value of " Planter " and her cargo as prize money . At the very time of the seizure she had on board the armament for Fort Ripley . The " Planter " was taken by the government at a valuation of $ 9 , 000 , one - half of which was paid to the captain and crew , the captain receiving one - third of one - half , or $ 1 , 500 . Upon what principle the government claimed one - half of this capture can not be divined , nor yet how this disposition could have been made of her without any judicial proceeding . However , $ 9 , 000 was a very low valuation for the " Planter " . The real value was around $ 67 , 000 . The report of Montgomery Sicard , commander and inspector of ordnance , to Commodore Patterson , navy - yard commandant , shows that the cargo of the " Planter " , as raw material , was worth $ 3 , 043 . 05 ; that at antebellum prices it was worth $ 7 , 163 . 35 , and at war prices $ 10 , 290 . 60 . For this cargo the government has never paid one dollar . Service in the Union Navy . Du Pont took " Planter " into the Union Navy and placed her under command of Acting Master Philemon Dickenson . On 30 May he ordered the side - wheeler to North Edisto , where Acting Master Lloyd Phoenix relieved Dickenson . " Planter " served the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron through the summer of 1862 . On a joint expedition under Lieutenant Rhind , the and " Planter " carried troops to Simmons Bluff , Wadmelaw River , South Carolina , where they destroyed a Confederate encampment . " Planter " transferred to the Union Army . The Southern steamer had been designed to use only wood as fuel , a scarce commodity for the Union blockaders off Charleston , South Carolina . In the fall of 1862 , Du Pont ordered her transferred to the Union Army for service near Fort Pulaski on the coast of Georgia . " Planter " under fire . After his escape , Smalls served as a pilot for Union ships in the Charleston area . He was eventually assigned to serve aboard " Planter " again . On December 1 , 1863 , " Planter " was caught in a crossfire between Union and Confederate forces . The ship ' s commander , a Captain Nickerson , ordered him to surrender . Smalls refused , saying he feared her black crewmen would not be treated as prisoners of war and that they might be summarily killed . Smalls took command and piloted the ship out of range of the Confederate guns . As a reward for his bravery , he was appointed captain of the " Planter " , becoming the first black man to command a United States ship . Smalls served as captain until the army sold " Planter " in 1866 after the end of the war .