The Brother of Robert Smalls

I rode with Brother Smalls in 1867 to attend what I believe was the first meeting of the Republican Party in South Carolina. It would not be inaccurate, I think, to call Robert Smalls the founder of the South Carolina Republican party, for no man at that meeting did more to see to its establishment and viability, and, certainly no man has ever done as much in loyal service to said party.

At that first meeting Brother Smalls was in an element to which he was clearly unaccustomed. You would never guess he would become the eloquent, fiery politician he was in future years. At that time, he was a sea captain, only recently returned from the war, and a man quite busy with his many business ventures throughout the sea islands. He was far from the most talkative man in the assembly, and, frankly, he was hampered by his own lack of education.

I have since learned he was taking determined strides at that very juncture to overcome this impediment. I understand a tutor visited his home for two hours every morning, teaching Brother Smalls how to read and write, and that Brother Smalls studiously read a newspaper every morning after the tutor left.

Politics is a dirty business, unfortunately, and in the years to come after the war, it would become far dirtier than any of us imagined. But I remember Brother Smalls when he rose to speak at that first meeting. He evoked the memory of the Great Emancipator himself. Smalls said that we, as receivers of the Emancipator's gift of grace, must do everything in our power to spread, cultivate, and maintain that gift in this world and amongst the future generations.

There are times when a man speaks the truth, and everyone listening knows it is the truth, and they just fall silent. Such was Brother Smalls's impact upon that meeting.