d several
attained to the rank of regularly commissioned officers. Conspicuous in
Negro annals of that time is the case of Charles E. Nash, afterwards a
member of congress. He received a primary education in the schools of
New Orleans, but had educated himself largely by his own efforts. In
1863 he enlisted in the 83rd regiment, United States Chasseurs d'Afrique
and became acting sergeant-major of that command. At the storming of
Fort Blakely he lost a leg and was honorably discharged.

Another, William Hannibal Thomas, afterwards became prominent as an
author, teacher, lawyer and legislator. His best known book was
entitled, "The American Negro: What he was, what he is, and what he may
become." He served as a soldier during the Civil War and lost an arm in
the service.

The exploit of Robert Smalls was so brilliant that no amount of
unfairness or prejudice has been able to shadow it. It is well known to
all students of the War of the Rebellion and is recorded in the
imperishable pages of history.

Smalls was born a slave at Beaufort, South Carolina, but managed to
secure some education. Having led a sea-faring life to some extent, the
early part of the war found him employed as pilot of the Rebel transport
Planter. He was thoroughly familiar with the harbors and inlets of the
South Atlantic coast. On May 31, 1862, the Planter was in Charleston
harbor. All the white officers and crew went ashore, leaving on board a
colored crew of eight men in charge of Smalls. He summoned aboard his
wife and three children and at 2 o'clock in the morning steamed out of
the harbor, passed the Confederate forts by giving the proper signals,
and when fairly out of reach, ran up the Stars and Stripes and headed a
course for the Union fleet, into whose hands he soon surrendered the
ship. He was appointed a pilot in the United States navy and served as
such on the monitor Keokuk in the attack on Fort Sumter; was promoted to
captain for gallant and meritorious conduct, December 1, 1863, and
placed in command of the Planter, a position which he held until the
vessel was taken out of commission in 1866. He was a member of the South
Carolina Constitutional Convention, 1868; elected same year to the
legislature, to the state senate 1870 and 1872, and was a member of the
Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses.

Among the most inspiring pages of Civil War history written by the
Negro, were the campaigns of Port Hudson, Louisiana; Fort Wagner,