Culture

The Slave Who Stole the Confederate Codes—and a Rebel Warship

GREAT ESCAPES

When three Confederate officers decided to go ashore for a night in Charleston, they left their gunboat in the hands of an enslaved pilot. It was a critical mistake.

articles/2016/07/23/the-slave-who-stole-the-confederate-codes-and-a-rebel-warship/160722-dickey-cloak-dagger-tease_ittwux
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast

We don’t know precisely why the three white officers on board a Confederate transport and gunboat called the CSS Planter decided to go ashore in Charleston, South Carolina, the night of May 12, 1862.

Maybe they went to see their families.

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