cotton manufacture, and has carried it to its fullest development, so
the United States was the last to enter the list of cotton-producing
countries, and has been for nearly a hundred years the foremost of them
all. The powerful influence that the production of cotton has had upon
the commerce, industrial development, and civil institutions of the
United States can scarcely be realized by one unfamiliar with the
subject.
It is doubtful whether cotton is indigenous to any part of this country,
as we have no authentic record of the precise time of its introduction.
Cotton seed was brought in from all quarters of the globe, and the
American plant, the result of innumerable crossings, remains, as to its
origin, a puzzle to botanists.
The beginning of the culture of cotton in the United States occurred
about one hundred seventy-five years before the industry became at all
important. The first effort to produce cotton on the North American
continent was probably made at Jamestown the year of the arrival of the
colonists. In a pamphlet entitled _Nova Britannica; Offering Most
Excellent Fruits of Planting in Virginia_, published in London in 1609,
it is stated that cotton would grow as well in that province as in
Italy. In another pamphlet, called _A Declaration of the State of
Virginia_, published in London in 1620, the author mentions cotton,
wool, and sugar-cane among the "naturall commodities dispersed up and
downe the divers parts of the world; all of which may also be had in
abundance in Virginia."
According to Bancroft, the first experiment in cotton culture in the
colonies was made in Virginia during Wyatt's administration of the
government. Writing of that period he says: "The first culture of cotton
in the United States deserves commemoration. In this year (1621) the
seeds were planted as an experiment, and their 'plentiful coming up' was
at that early day a subject of interest in America and England."
Cotton-wool was listed in that year at eightpence a pound, which shows
that it may have been grown earlier, for it is scarcely possible that it
could have been grown, cleaned, and received in market in the same year.
Seabrook states that the "green-seed," or upland, variety was certainly
grown in Virginia to a limited extent at least one hundred thirty years
before the Revolution. Some of the early governors of that colony were
especially energetic in their efforts to encourage its cultivation.
Among these were Sir William Berkeley; Francis Morrison, his deputy, and
Sir Edmund Andros. The latter, says one authority, "gave particular
marks of his favor toward the propagation of cotton, which since his
time has been much neglected."
The exports of the Virginia colony during the first thirty years of its
existence were confined almost exclusively to tobacco, but there is
evidence that in the latter half of the seventeenth century cotton was
cultivated and manufactured among the planters for domestic consumption.
Burk states that "after the Restoration (1660) their attention was
strongly attracted to home manufactures as well by the necessities of
their position as by the encouragement of the assembly and the bounty
offered by the King. But the zeal displayed in the outset for these
products gradually cooled, and if we except the manufacture of coarse
cloths and unpainted cotton, nothing remained of the sounding list
prepared with so much labor by the King and recommended by legislation,
premium, and royal bounty."
Among the earliest historical references to cotton in this country is
that contained in _A Brief Description of the Province of Carolina, on
the Coasts of Florida, and More Particularly of a New Plantation Begun
by the English at Cape Feare, on that River, now by them called Georges
River_, published in London in 1666. The author of this tract, whose
name is not given, says: "In the midst of this fertile province, in the
latitude of 34 deg., there is a colony of English seated, who landed there
May 29, 1664." After giving an account of the fertility of the soil and
its natural products, he adds: "But they have brought with them most
sorts of seeds and roots of the Barbados, which thrive in this most
temperate clime. They have indigo, very good tobacco, and cotton-wool."
Robert Home mentions cotton among the products of South Carolina in
1666. In Samuel Wilson's _Account of the Province of Carolina in
America_, addressed to the Earl of Craven, and published in London in
1682, it is stated that "cotton of the Cyprus and Smyrna sort grows
well, and good plenty of the seed is sent thither," and among the
instructions given by the proprietors of South Carolina to Mr. West, the
first governor, is the following: "You are then to furnish yourself with
cotton-seed, indigo, and ginger-roots." He was also instructed to
receive the products of the country in payment of rents at certain fixed
valuations, among which cotton was priced at three and one-half pence
per pound.
In 1697, in a memoir addressed to Count de Pontchartrain on the
importance of establishing a colony in Louisiana, the author, after
describing the natural productions of the country, says: "Such are some
of the advantages which may be reasonably expected, without counting
those resulting from every day's experience. We might, for example, try
the experiment of cultivating long-staple cotton." The presumption is
that the short-staple variety had already been tried. In the very
beginning of the eighteenth century cotton culture in North Carolina had
reached the extent of furnishing one-fifth of the people with their
clothing. Lawson, speaking of the prosperity of the country and
commending the industry of the women, says: "We have not only provision
plentiful, but clothes of our own manufacture, which are made and daily
increase; cotton, wool, and flax being of our own growth; and the women
are to be highly commended for industry in spinning and ordering their
housewifery to so great an advantage as they do."
About this time cotton became widely distributed and cotton-patches were
common in Carolina. In fact, it is said to have been one of the
principal commodities of Carolina as early as 1708, but its culture was
only for domestic uses, and the same authority speaks of its being spun
by the women.
Charlevoix, in 1722, while on his voyage down the Mississippi, saw "very
fine cotton on the tree" growing in the garden of Sieur le Noir; and
Captain Roman, of the British Army, saw in East Mississippi black-seeded
cotton growing on the farm of Mr. Krebs, and also a machine invented by
Mr. Krebs for the separation of the seed and lint. This was a
roller-gin, and possibly the first ever in operation in this country.
Pickett says that in 1728 the colony of Louisiana, which at that date
occupied nearly all the southwest part of the United States, including
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, was in a flourishing condition, its
fields being cultivated, by more than two thousand slaves, in cotton,
indigo, tobacco, and grain.
Peter Purry, the founder of Purryville, in South Carolina, in his
description of the Province of South Carolina, drawn up in Charleston in
1731, says, "Flax and cotton thrive admirably."
In 1734 cotton-seed was planted in Georgia, being sent there by Philip
Nutter, of Chelsea, England. Francis Moore, who visited Savannah in
1735, in his description of that place, says: "At the bottom of the
hill, well sheltered from the north wind and in the warmest part of the
garden, there was a collection of West Indian plants and trees, some
coffee, some cocoa-nuts, cotton, etc."
About the same time the settlers on the Savannah River, about twenty-one
miles north of Savannah, are said to have experimented with cotton, the
date being fixed by McCall as 1738. One of the striking features
connected with the early culture of cotton in the American colonies is
that it was grown as far north as the 39 deg. of latitude. Trench Coxe, of
Philadelphia, who contributed so greatly to the early success of the
culture and manufacture of cotton in the United States, says: "It is a
fact well authenticated to the writer that the cultivation of cotton on
the garden scale, though not at all as a planter's crop, was intimately
known and thoroughly practised in the vicinity of Easton, in the county
of Talbot, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, as
early as 1736."
Its cultivation was so well understood in this part of the country that,
according to the same authority, the necessities of the Revolutionary
War occasioned it to be raised for army use in the counties of Cape May,
New Jersey, and Sussex, Delaware, and it continued to be raised, though
only in small quantities, for family use. At the time of the Revolution,
the home-grown cotton was sufficiently abundant in Pennsylvania to
supply the domestic needs of that State. Cotton was also cultivated in
Charles, St. Mary's, and Dorchester counties, Maryland, as late as 1826.
And at a later date (1861-1864) upland cotton was cultivated, and at the
prices current at that date was a most profitable crop on the eastern
shore of Maryland. Cotton was grown with very good results in
Northampton County, on the eastern shore of Virginia, in those years.
The culture and improvement of cotton had received considerable
attention by the planters of South Carolina and Georgia as early as
1742. In 1739 Samuel Auspourguer attested under oath that the "climate
and soil of Georgia are very fit for raising cotton." William Spicer
also certified to the adaptability of the country for cotton production,
and that he had "brought over with him (to London) several pods of
cotton which grew in Georgia."
A tract entitled _A State of the Province of Georgia, Attested Under
Oath in the Court of Savannah_, published in 1740, says of cotton that
"large quantities had been raised, and it is much planted; but the
cotton, which in some parts is perennial, dies here in the winter;
nevertheless the annual is not inferior to it in goodness, but requires
more trouble in cleansing from the seed." In the same tract it was
"proposed that a bounty be settled on every product of the land, viz.,
corn, peas, potatoes, wine, silk, cotton," etc. In _A Description of
Georgia, by a Gentleman who has Resided there Upward of Seven Years and
was One of the First Settlers_, published in London in 1741, the author
states that "the annual cotton grows well there, and has been by some
industrious people made into clothes."
Samuel Seabrook, in _An Important Inquiry into the State and Utility of
Georgia_, published in 1741, says, "Among other beneficial articles of
trade which it is found can be raised there, cotton, of which some has
also been brought over as a sample, is mentioned." In his description of
St. Simon's Island the same author says: "The country is well
cultivated, several parcels of land not far distant from the camp of
General Oglethorpe's regiment having been granted in small lots to the
soldiers, many of whom are married. The soldiers raise cotton, and their
wives spin it and knit it into stockings."
A publication in London in 1762 says: "What cotton and silk both the
Carolinas send us is excellent and calls aloud for encouragement of its
cultivation in a place well adapted to raise both."
Captain Robinson, an Englishman who visited the coast of Florida in
1754, says the "cotton-tree was growing in that country." The Florida
territory then extended from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River. That
it was cultivated in East Florida about ten years after this is
evidenced by William Stork, who says, "I am informed of a gentleman
living upon the St. John's that the lands on that river below Piccolata
are in general good, and that there is growing there now (1765) good
wheat, Indian corn, indigo, and cotton."
Cotton early attracted the attention of the French colonists in
Louisiana. In the year 1752, Michel, in a report to the French minister
on the condition of the country, gave interesting details of the
cultivation of cotton and the difficulty found in separating the wool
from the seed.
In 1758 white Siam seed was introduced into Louisiana. Du Prate says,
"This East India annual plant has been found to be much better and
whiter than what is cultivated in our colonies, which is of the Turkey
kind."
Letters from Paris to Governor Roman state that there is among the
French archives at Paris, Department of Marine and Colonies, a most
curious and instructive report on cotton in 1760. It was found to be a
very profitable crop in Louisiana, for in the year 1768 the French
planters, in a memoir to their Government, complained that the parent
Government had turned them over to the Spaniards just "at the time when
a new mine had been discovered; when the culture of cotton, improved by
experience, promises the planter a recompense of his toils, and
furnishes persons engaged in fitting out vessels with the cargoes to
load them."
In 1762 Captain Bossu, of the French marines, said: "Cotton of this
country (Louisiana) is of the species called the 'white cotton of Siam.'
It is neither so fine nor so long as the silk cotton, but it is,
however, very white and very fine."
In 1775 the Provincial Congress of South Carolina recommended the
cultivation of cotton, and in the same year a similar enactment was
passed by the Virginia Assembly, which declared that "all persons having
proper land ought to cultivate and raise a quantity of hemp, flax, and
cotton, not only for the use of their own families, but to spare to
others on moderate terms." This legislation no doubt was suggested on
account of the changed relations of the colonies with Great Britain.
In 1786 Thomas Jefferson, in a letter, says: "The four southernmost
States make a great deal of cotton. Their poor are almost entirely
clothed with it in winter and summer. In winter they wear shirts of it
and outer clothing of cotton and wool mixed. In summer their shirts are
linen, but the outer clothing cotton. The dress of the women is almost
entirely of cotton, manufactured by themselves, except the richer class,
and even many of these wear a great deal of homespun cotton. It is as
well manufactured as the calicoes of Europe."
At the convention at Annapolis in 1786 James Madison expressed the
conviction that from the experience already had "from the garden
practice in Talbot County, Maryland, and the circumstances of the same
kind abounding in Virginia, there was no reason to doubt that the United
States would one day become a great cotton-producing country." This year
Sea Island cotton-seed was introduced into Georgia, the seed being sent
from the Bahama Islands to Governor Tatnall, William Spaulding, Richard
Leake, and Alexander Pisset, of that State. The cotton adapted itself to
the climate, and every successive year from 1787 saw long-staple cotton
extending itself along the shores of South Carolina and Georgia.
According to Thomas Spaulding, the first planter who attempted cotton
culture on a large scale was Richard Leake, of Savannah, but the editor
of _Niles Register_ (1824) says that Nichol Turnbull, a native of
Smyrna, was the first planter who cultivated cotton upon a scale for
exportation. His residence was at Deptford Hall, three miles from
Savannah, where he died in 1824.
In a letter dated Savannah, December 11, 1788, to Colonel Thomas
Proctor, of Philadelphia, Leake says: "I have been this year an
adventurer--and the first that has attempted it on a large scale--in
introducing a new staple for the planting interests--the article of
cotton--samples of which I beg leave now to send you and request you
will lay them before the Philadelphia Society for Encouraging
Manufactures, that the quality may be inspected. Several here, as well
as in North Carolina, have followed me and tried the experiment, and it
is likely to answer our most sanguine expectations. I shall raise about
five thousand pounds in the seed from eight acres of land, and next year
I intend to plant about fifty to one hundred acres if suitable
encouragement is given. The principal difficulty that arises to us is
the cleansing it from the seed, which I am told they do with great
dexterity and ease in Philadelphia with gins or machines made for the
purpose. I am told they make those that will clean thirty to forty
pounds clean cotton in a day and upon very simple construction."
The first attempt in South Carolina to produce Sea Island cotton was
made in 1788 by Mrs. Kinsey Burden at Burden's Island. As early as 1779
the short staple was produced by her husband, whose negroes were clothed
in homespun cotton cloth. Mrs. Burden's efforts failed. The plants did
not mature, and this was attributed to the seed, which was of the
Bourbon variety. The first successful variety appears to have been grown
by William Elliot on Hilton Head, near Beaufort, in 1790, with five and
one-half bushels of seed, which he bought in Charleston and for which he
paid fourteen shillings a bushel. He sold his crop for ten and one-half
pence a pound.
In 1791 John Scriven, of St. Luke's Parish, planted thirty to forty
acres on St. Mary's River. He sold it for from one shilling twopence to
one shilling sixpence per pound. It is certain that at this period many
planters on the Sea Islands and contiguous mainland experimented with
long-staple cotton, and probably it was produced by them for market.
One of the earliest reports of export of cotton from the colonies is a
bill of lading which certifies that on July 20, 1751, Henry Hansen
shipped, "in good order and well conditioned, in and upon the good snow
called the Mary, whereof is master under God, for this present voyage,
Barnaby Badgers, and now riding in the harbor of New York, and by God's
grace bound for London--to say--eighteen bales of cotton-wool, being
marked and numbered as in the margin, and are to be delivered in like
good order and conditioned, at the aforesaid port of London--the danger
of the sea only excepted--unto Messrs. Horke and Champior or their
assigns, he or they paying freight for the said goods, three farthings
per pound, primage and average accustomed."
The feeling regarding the culture and manufacture of cotton in the
colonies at this period may be gathered from the following extract from
a letter of July 7, 1749, addressed by the Georgia office of London to
the Governor of Georgia: "You say, sir, likewise in your letter, that
the people of Vernonburgh and Acton are giving visible appearance of
revising their industry; that they are propagating large quantities of
flax and cotton, and that they are provided with weavers, who have
already wove several large pieces of cloth of a useful sort, whereof
they sold divers, and some they made use of in their own families. The
account of their industry is highly satisfactory to the trustees; but as
to manufacturing the produces they raise, they must expect no
encouragement from the trustees, for setting up manufactures which may
interfere with those of England might occasion complaints here, for
which reason you must, as they will, discountenance them; and it is
necessary for you to direct the industry of these people into a way
which might be more beneficial to themselves and would prove
satisfactory to the trustees and the public; that is, to show them what
advantages they will reap from the produce of silk, which they will
receive immediate pay for, and that this will not interfere with or
prevent their raising flax or cotton, or any other produces for
exportation, unmanufactured."
A pamphlet entitled _A Description of South Carolina_ states that cotton
was imported to Carolina from the West Indies, and it is probable that
the early shipments from this country were of this West Indian cotton,
although English writers mentioned it as an import of Carolina cotton.
Donnell says: "The first regular exportation of cotton from Charleston
was in 1785, when one bag arrived at Liverpool, per ship Diana, to John
and Isaac Teasdale & Co. The exportation of cotton from the United
States could not have been much earlier, for we find in 1784 eight bags
shipped to England were seized on the ground of fraudulent importation,
as it was not believed that so much cotton could be produced in the
United States."
The exportation during the next six years was successively 6, 14, 109,
389, 842, and 81 bags.
Dana gives the following _data_ concerning the export movement from 1739
to 1793:
"1739. Samuel Auspourguer, a Swiss living in Georgia, took
over to London, at the time of the controversy about the
introduction of slaves, a sample of cotton raised by him in
Georgia. This we may call, in the absence of a better
starting-point, the first export.
"1747. During this year several bags of cotton, valued at L3
11s. 5d. per bag, were exported from Charleston. Doubts as
to this being of American growth have been expressed, but as
cotton had been cultivated in South Carolina for many years
there does not seem to be any reason for such doubts.
Besides, English writers mention it as an import of Carolina
cotton.
"1753. 'Some cotton' is mentioned among the exports of
Carolina in 1753, and of Charleston in 1757.
"1764. Eight (8) bags of cotton imported into Liverpool from
the United States.
"1770. Three (3) bales shipped to Liverpool from New York;
ten (10) bales from Charleston; four (4) from Virginia and
Maryland; and three (3) barrels from North Carolina.
"1784. About fourteen (14) bales shipped to great Britain,
of which eight (8) were seized as improperly entered. [See
above.]
"1785. Five (5) bags imported at Liverpool.
"1786. Nine hundred (900) pounds imported into Liverpool.
"1787. Sixteen thousand three hundred fifty (16,350) pounds
imported into Liverpool.
"1788. Fifty-eight thousand five hundred (58,500) pounds
imported into Liverpool.
"1789. One hundred twenty-seven thousand five hundred
(127,500) pounds imported into Liverpool.
"1790. Fourteen thousand (14,000) pounds imported into
Liverpool. We can find no reason for this marked decline in
the exports except it may be that the crop was a failure
that year. Our first supposition was that the cause was one
of price, but on examining the quotations in Took's work on
'high and low prices' we do not see any marked decline in
the values of other descriptions of cotton, and the American
staple is not given in his list until 1793.
"1791. One hundred eighty-nine thousand five hundred
(189,500) pounds imported into Liverpool, the price
averaging here 26 cents.
"1792. One hundred thirty-eight thousand three hundred
twenty-eight (138,328) pounds imported into Liverpool."