Robert Smalls House

Civil War hero Robert Smalls gained fame for escaping slavery by piloting a Confederate ship, that also carried his brother John and their families, past rebel forces at Charleston Harbor and delivering it to Union forces in Beaufort. After the War, Smalls was among the first African Americans elected to the US Congress and he served in the state senate. A memorial to Smalls’ life stands in the churchyard of Beaufort’s Tabernacle Baptist Church, where he is buried.