Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
Audiobook8 hours
Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls' Escape from Slavery to Union Hero
Written by Cate Lineberry
Narrated by JD Jackson
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Facing death rather than enslavement—a story of one man's triumphant choice and ultimate rise to national hero.
It was a mild May morning in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1862, the second year of the Civil War, when a twenty-three-year-old slave named Robert Smalls did the unthinkable and boldly seized a Confederate steamer. With his wife and two young children hidden on board, Smalls and a small crew ran a gauntlet of heavily armed fortifications in Charleston Harbor and delivered the valuable vessel and the massive guns it carried to nearby Union forces. To be unsuccessful was a death sentence for all. Smalls' courageous and ingenious act freed him and his family from slavery and immediately made him a Union hero while simultaneously challenging much of the country's view of what African Americans were willing to do to gain their freedom.
After his escape, Smalls served in numerous naval campaigns off Charleston as a civilian boat pilot and eventually became the first black captain of an Army ship. In a particularly poignant moment Smalls even bought the home that he and his mother had once served in as house slaves.
It was a mild May morning in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1862, the second year of the Civil War, when a twenty-three-year-old slave named Robert Smalls did the unthinkable and boldly seized a Confederate steamer. With his wife and two young children hidden on board, Smalls and a small crew ran a gauntlet of heavily armed fortifications in Charleston Harbor and delivered the valuable vessel and the massive guns it carried to nearby Union forces. To be unsuccessful was a death sentence for all. Smalls' courageous and ingenious act freed him and his family from slavery and immediately made him a Union hero while simultaneously challenging much of the country's view of what African Americans were willing to do to gain their freedom.
After his escape, Smalls served in numerous naval campaigns off Charleston as a civilian boat pilot and eventually became the first black captain of an Army ship. In a particularly poignant moment Smalls even bought the home that he and his mother had once served in as house slaves.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherTantor Media, Inc
Release dateJan 24, 2018
ISBN9781977371485
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Reviews for Be Free or Die
Rating: 3.9821428000000005 out of 5 stars
4/5
28 ratings1 review
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5
Oct 3, 2023
The life of Robert Smalls might make an interesting book (or maybe magazine article) but this book tried to cover a lot more than that. Smalls was barely in the book after the two beginning chapters. I wasn't looking for a general book about the Civil War and I gave up at around the 25% point.