Robert Smalls published a newspaper , established a transportation company and served five terms in the United States Congress. Before those laudable accomplishments, though, Smalls had to secure his freedom. Born into slavery in South Carolina in 1839, Smalls escaped during the Civil War when he commandeered the Planter, a Confederate transport ship, and surrendered to the Union Navy at Charleston Harbor in May 1862. Smalls went on to do great things, but none of them would have been possible