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Manufacturing in South Carolina, 1815–601

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

Ernest M. Lander Jr.
Ernest M. Lander Jr.
Affiliation:
Professor of History and Government at Clemson College
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Abstract

The development of industry in South Carolina to 1860 is analyzed carefully, using information culled from manuscript census returns and the correspondence of businessmen. The failure of manufacturing to grow more rapidly is ascribed to a shortage of capital and skilled management, an unfortunate geography, competition for factors of production by local agriculture, and competition in the product markets by Northern industry.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , March 1954 , pp. 59 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1954

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References

2 Eighth Cenus, 1860, Manufactures (Washington, 1865), 544, 559, 639.

3 The six industries with greatest capitalization in 1860 were, in order: saw-milling, turpentine distilling, rice milling, textile manufacturing, grist and flour milling, and the manufacture of carriages and wagons. In terms of value added by manufacture, machinery manufacturing replaced rice milling in third place (MS returns, Eighth Census, 1860, Products of Industry, South Carolina, South Carolina Historical Commission, Columbia; Eighth Census, 1860, Manufactures, 559). Usually the manuscript returns for South Carolina are more accurate than the published returns.

4 City Gazette & Daily Advertiser (Charleston), 12 May 1795; Charleston Courier, 31 Oct. 1808.

5 Lander, E. M. Jr, “The South Carolina Textile Industry before 1845,” Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, 1951 (Columbia, 1952), 19–28.Google Scholar

6 Statutes at Large of South Carolina, 12 vols. (Columbia, 1836–74), VIII, 350, 376, 437, 451–3; Land, John E., Charleston: Her Trade, Commerce and Industries, 1883–4 … (Charleston, 1884), 139, 167–8Google Scholar; on the Charleston rice mills, see Lander, E. M. Jr, “Ante-Bellum Milling in South Carolina,” South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, LII (1951), 128–32.Google Scholar

7 Gregg, William, Essays on Domestic Industry … (Charleston, 1845)Google Scholar; Hammond, James H., Anniversary Oration of the State Agricultural Society … 1841 (Columbia, 1841), 3–26Google Scholar; Perry, Percival, “The Naval Stores Industry in the Ante-Bellum South, 1789–1861” (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Duke University, 1947), 271–9Google Scholar; MS returns, Seventh Census, 1850, Products of Industry, South Carolina.

8 MS returns, Eighth Census, I860, Products of Industry, South Carolina.

9 Eighth Census, 1860, Manufactures, 202, 558, 577, 635–7. As early as 1826, Robert Mills wrote that 1,200–1,500 mechanics were located in Charleston, along with seven or eight establishments using steam power. In 1860, according to William Gregg, there were 55 steam engines, although the number of workers was still about the same as in 1826 (Mills, Robert, Statistics of South Carolina … [Charleston, 1826], 427–8Google Scholar; Charleston Daily Courier, 24 Mar. 1860).

10 MS returns, Seventh Census, 1850, Eighth Census, 1860, Products of Industry, South Carolina: Charleston District; Charleston Daily Courier, Aug. 27, Sept. 3, 1853, Feb. 13, Aug. 22, 25, 31, Sept. 7, 1860. Capitalized at $25,000 or more were several sawmills; factories making sashes, blinds, and doors; brickyards; turpentine distilleries; carriage and wagon shops; cooperages; a flour mill; a tannery; a saddlery; a paint and lead factory. Smaller firms produced hats, ships, flour, shoes, and umbrellas. Other significant but unsuccessful enterprises between 1840 and 1860 were a sugar refinery, a cordage factory, a large shoe factory, and the only cotton mill in ante-bellum South Carolina to be run by steam power. One local entrepreneur, having persuaded nearby farmers to grow castor beans, had some success making castor oil (MS returns, Seventh Census, 1850, Eighth Census, 1860, Products of Industry, South Carolina: Charleston District; Eighth Census, I860, Manufactures, passim; Charleston Daily Courier, passim).

11 Eighth Census, 1860, Manufactures, passim.

12 MS returns, Seventh Census, 1850, Eighth Census, 1860, Products of Industry, South Carolina; Charleston Daily Courier, 25 Jan. 1853.

13 Lander, E. M. Jr, “Slave Labor in South Carolina Cotton Mills,” Journal of Negro History, XXXVIII (1953), 161–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 The Southern Chronicle (Columbia), 30 Apr. 1845; Charleston Courier, Sept. 7, 8, 10, 1849, Feb. 26, 1850; The Spartan (Spartanburg), 27 Mar. 1851; Letterbooks, II, 415, J. J. Gregg & Co. Papers, University of South Carolina; Camden Journal, 30 June 1849.

15 In the 1820's, William Bates was paid $1.50 per day to manage Hill and Clark's cotton mill (August Kohn Papers, in possession of Mrs. H. K. Hennig, Columbia). The factory overseer of John E. Colhoun, in the same period, received $500 per year (Commonplace book of John E. Colhoun, Clemson College Library). A relatively large cotton mill, Vaucluse, paid its general overseer $2.25 per day in 1860 (Letterbooks, II, 323, J. J. Gregg & Co. Papers, University of South Carolina). Saluda factory, the second largest cotton mill in ante-bellum South Carolina, advertised for a superintendent in 1844 at a salary of $1,000 per year (Charleston Courier, 12 Dec. 1844).

16 Yearbook, 1881: City of Charleston, So. Ca. (Charleston [1882]), 373–5.

17 George McDuffie, Pierce Butler, Thomas Bennett, Robert F, W. Allsten, David R. Williams, William Aiken, and James Henry Hammond.

18 Charleston County, Deeds, Book Y-13, 447–55; F. H. Ehnore Papers, passim, Library of Congress.

19 Petition of Saluda Manufacturing Company to General Assembly, 1837, MS in South Carolina Historical Commission; Gregg, William, in DeBow's Review, XVIII (1855), 777–91Google Scholar; James H. Taylor, in ibid., VIII (1850), 29; Charleston Courier, 23 Jan. 1851; F. H. Ehnore Papers, Library of Congress.

20 In Charleston alone, between 1857 and 1861, three iron foundries, a large flour mill, a railway car factory, the three largest rice mills, the largest sawmill, and the only cordage factory, were destroyed by Are (Charleston Daily Courier, passim).

21 E. M. Lander, Jr., in Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, 1951, 19–28; MS returns, Seventh Census, 1850, Eighth Census, 1860, Free Inhabitants, South Carolina, in National Archives; Charleston Courier, 20 July 1850; Charleston Daily Courier, 29 Dec. 1853.

22 MS returns, Seventh Census, 1850, Eighth Census, 1860, Free Inhabitants, South Carolina, in National Archives.

23 Gregg, Essays on Domestic Industry; Letterbooks, II, passim, J. J. Gregg & Co. Papers, University of South Carolina; F. H. Elmore Papers, Library of Congress; Answers of F. H. Elmore, to Questions Propounded by J. Foster Marshall … (Columbia, 1849), 9–18.

24 Ware, Caroline F., The Early New England Cotton Manufacture (Boston, 1931), 151.Google Scholar

25 Williams to James Chesnut, 10 Feb. 1830, David R. Williams Papers, University of South Carolina.

26 MS returns, Seventh Census, 1850, Eighth Census, 1860, Free Inhabitants, South Carolina, in National Archives.