- Author notes from the novel: what is historical and what is imagined
- “The Thrilling Tale of How Robert Smalls Seized a Confederate Ship and Sailed it to Freedom”
(Smithsonian Magazine)
- “Which Slave Sailed Himself to Freedom?”
(PBS)
- “The Steamer Planter and Her Captor”
(Harper’s Weekly, June 14, 1862)
- “The Hero of the Planter”
(The New York Times, Oct. 3, 1862)
- “Disgusting Treachery and Negligence”
(write up in Confederate newspaper the Charleston Mercury, May 14, 1862, by way of “Dead Confederates” blogger Andy Hall)
- “This day in history: Former Rep. Robert Smalls dies in South Carolina, Feb. 22, 1915”
(Politico)
- “How a slave made off with a Confederate war ship and became an American hero”
(New York Post)
- “Wreck of Confederate ammunition ship commandeered by slave who surrendered it to the Union Navy discovered off South Carolina”
(Daily Mail)
- Gullah Culture in Beaufort, South Carolina
- Robert Smalls: Wikipedia