Southern villages in the first half of the
nineteenth century. Farm wagons as well as carriages with some
pretensions to elegance were made in local shops. In fact, up to 1810 or
1820 it seemed that the logical development of one or two of the South
Atlantic States would be into frugal manufacturing commonwealths. Few of
the thousands of small shops developed into real manufacturing
establishments, however, though many continued to exist. The belief in
the profits apparently to be made from the cultivation of cotton and
tobacco changed the ideals of the people. To own a plantation on which
he might lead a patriarchal existence became the ambition of the
successful man. Even the lawyer, the doctor, or the merchant was likely
to own a plantation to which he expected to retire, if indeed he did not
already live on it while he engaged in his other occupation. As the
century went on, the section began to depend more and more upon other
parts of the country or upon Europe to supply its wants, and general
interest in Southern industries began to wane.

Textile establishments had appeared early in the century. The first
cotton mill in North Carolina was built in 1810 and one in Georgia about
the same time. Much of the machinery for the former was built by local
workmen. Other mills were built in the succeeding years until in 1860
there were about 160 in the Southern States, with 300,000 spindles, and
a yearly product worth more than $8,000,000. The establishments were
small, less than one-third the average size of the mills in New England,
and few attempted to supply more than the local demand for coarse yarn
which the country women knit into socks or wove into cloth. The surplus
was peddled from wagons in adjoining counties or even in a neighboring
State. Little attempt was made to seek a wider outlet, and many of these
mills could supply the small local demand by running only a few months
in the year.

During the Civil War, however, these mills were worked to their full
capacity. At the cessation of hostilities many mills were literally worn
out; others were destroyed by the invading armies; and fewer were in
operation in 1870 than before the War. During the next decade, hope of
industrial success began to return to the South. The mills in operation
were making some money; the high price of cotton had brought money into
the section; and a few men had saved enough to revive the industry. Old
mills were enlarged, and new mill