Military Officer - December 2007 - (Page 77) pagesofhistory Giving a Hero His Due A new Army ship is named after Robert Smalls, who escaped slavery at the beginning of the Civil War by commandeering a Confederate ship and surrendering it to the Union Navy. A new Army ship, the largest in the Army inventory, has been named after a former slave. The logistics support vessel Major General Robert Smalls, known more commonly as the MG Smalls — the first ship in the Army named after a black citizen — was commissioned this fall at a ceremony at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Several dignitaries and descendents of Smalls attended the ceremony. On May 13, 1862, while the crew of the Confederate ship Planter was ashore, Smalls and 12 other slaves boarded the ship and set sail north. Smalls navigated the ship with loaded armaments through dangerous rebel territory and was hailed a hero by President Lincoln. Smalls became the captain of the Planter, making him the first black captain of a vessel in U.S. service. He later served as a major general in the South Carolina militia, a state legislator, and a U.S. representative for five terms. Kitt Haley Alexander, a writer and an artist, spearheaded a seven-year effort to have a military vessel named after the Civil War hero. After its commissioning, the MG Smalls joined the Army Reserve’s 203rd Transportation Detachment. At 314 THIS MONTH IN HISTORY ■ On Dec. 25, 1776, George Washington led his feet long and 60 feet wide and 5,412 tons, the ship has two Caterpillar engines producing 5,000 horsepower. H Chosin Reservoir Marine Identified e lost his life in one of history’s toughest fights, and more than 50 years later, his remains have been buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Va. Marine Pfc. Carl Amos West was 23 when he was killed Dec. 8, 1950, near the Chosin Reservoir in Korea. West was buried with his dog tags in a cemetery near the battlefield with other fallen servicemembers. He remained there until 1954, when his remains were repatriated in “Operation Glory,” an exchange of war dead with North Korea that brought home nearly 3,000 soldiers and Marines. However, American officials could not reconcile discrepancies between West’s medical charts and his dental remains, so he was buried with some 800 unknown Korean War veterans at the National Memorial Cemetery in Hawaii. Recently, his remains were exhumed, and in March 2007, researchers positively identified them as West’s. West grew up near Seattle and joined the Marine Corps in the waning days of World War II. His niece and her family attended the ceremony. MO DECEMBER 2007 Robert Smalls was a Civil War hero and the first black U.S. citizen to have an Army ship named after him. troops across the Delaware River to successfully attack a Hessian force in Trenton, N.J. After many defeats for Washington’s army, the victory raised the spirits of the colonists. PHOTO: U.S. NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER MILITARY OFFICER 77
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.