SC’s Robert Smalls monument breaks ground. It needs money to rise from it
Wednesday marked the 164-year-anniversary of when Robert Smalls, a South Carolina man enslaved on a Confederate ship, commandeered the USS Planter and steered himself and other passengers to freedom.
He sailed the USS Planter past several gun batteries in Charleston Harbor by knowing the correct signals before surrendering the ship to the Union.
Smalls, a Beaufort native born into slavery, later served in the Union Navy, the state legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives.
“He became a businessman, an educator, a legislator right here and a congressman. The fierce advocate of public education and equal rights,” said state Sen. Margie Bright Matthews, D-Colleton. “And throughout his life, he fought to make this state live up to its highest ideals.”
After years of planning, South Carolina broke ground on a monument honoring Smalls on Wednesday morning. But the monument stills faces a long journey before it stands over the State House grounds, near the visitor entrance.
“Robert Smalls belong here,” said former state Sen. Gerald Malloy “He belongs, not as a footnote, not as an afterthought, as a giant of South Carolina history.”
Malloy is leading fundraising for the monument. The final cost of the 12-foot bronze statue is unknown, but estimates are $1 million to $2 million. The commission so far raised $41,223, Department of Administration spokesperson Brooke Bailey wrote in an email Wednesday.
“I am very pleased to announce that all legislative approvals have been attained, and the commission is now beginning a new phase of fundraising to make the Robert Smalls monument a reality,” said Mike Shealy, chairman of the Robert Smalls Memorial Commission.
The design and location of the monument was approved earlier this year by the General Assembly, paving way for a Robert Smalls statue to become a reality when fundraising is complete.
The commission selected Georgia-based artist Basil Watson to design the monument to Robert Smalls. Watson also designed the “Desegregation Monument” on the University of South Carolina Horseshoe.
When built, the monument will be the first dedicated to an individual Black South Carolinian on the State House grounds.
“For far too long, the contributions of Black South Carolinians were overlooked, minimized or left out entirely from the public spaces of power in this state, but not today,” Matthews said. “Today we take another step toward correcting that history.”
The monument will help South Carolinians and visitors have a more complete view of the state’s complex history, Matthews and Malloy said.
“Long after we’re all gone, children will walk these State House grounds and see his statue standing there,” Matthews said. “They will ask who Robert Smalls was. And because of what we’ve done today, South Carolina will finally answer the question the right way.”
This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 3:19 PM.