Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Today's interview is about an enslaved man

during the Civil War who escapes. Not only does he escape slavery, but he also steals a Confederate ship.

What's wild is that we're not even halfway through his life story. He joins the military,

becomes the first

African American to command a vessel, becomes a state legislator in South Carolina, he creates

the first statewide public school system in the nation, and then gets elected to the House of

Representatives. Some people really do live life to the fullest. His story is the subject of a book by his great-great-grandson,

Michael Bullware Moore, titled Freedom on the Sea. Up ahead, more talks to hear now is Anthony Brooks

about his ancestor's wild life story. Let's take a moment now to tell the story of a true

civil war hero. Robert Smalls was born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina.

During the Civil War, the still enslaved Smalls was working aboard a steamboat, commissioned by the

Confederacy called the Planter. On a May evening in 1862, the planter's captain and crew

disembarked to go into town.

Seeing an opportunity to escape, Small seized control of the ship and sailed into Charleston

Harbor, where he connected with Union soldiers and freedom. After his escape, Smalls helped

convince President Lincoln to enlist formerly enslaved men in the Army, and he eventually

served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Robert Small's remarkable story of his

daring escape and all that followed was almost lost to history. But now there are plans to preserve

and celebrate it. Next year, a new monument honoring Smalls will be unveiled outside

the South Carolina State House. We're joined now by Michael Bullware Moore. He is the great, great

grandson of Robert Smalls, an author of the book Freedom on the Sea, the true story of the Civil

War hero Robert Smalls and his daring escape to

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