HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE COTTON GIN 



By F. L. Lewton 

 Curator, Division of Textiles, United States National Museum 



[With 4 plates] 

 I. INTRODUCTION 



The story of the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 by the young 

 Yale University graduate, EU Whitney, has been told many times, 

 and in the main these accounts agree, though differing widely on 

 minor details. As is the case with almost every important invention, 

 claims have been made that others than the real inventor should be 

 given credit for the discovery of the original idea, for the first prac- 

 tical machine, or for really "putting it over" and making the inven- 

 tion a success. The history of the invention of the cotton gin, with 

 all it has meant to the South, is no exception to the usual story of all 

 our successful inventions. 



Local traditions concerning the details of an event many years 

 after it happened are often impossible either to verify or to disprove, 

 and some of the stories relating to the invention and introduction of 

 the cotton gin are in the same class with the universally told story of 

 George Washington and the cherry tree. 



It is not the purpose to sketch here the life of Eli Whitney or to 

 retell the events leading to and following his invention of the cotton 

 gin bearing liis name. Olmsted, Scarborough, Hammond, Bates, 

 Tompldns,^ and others have told this story; their accounts, while 

 agreeing in the main, exhibit many discrepancies and contradictions 

 and sometimes strongly reflect sectional bias. A recent study, how- 

 ever, of many of Whitney's letters, of numerous early accounts of his 

 activities in the South, and of several models of the gin that are still 

 in existence, has thrown some new light on the answers to a number of 

 questions that have been asked in regard to the origin and operation 

 of the Whitney cotton gin. 



Since most of the publications examined are out of print at this 

 date and many of the parts of the periodicals referred to are not 

 even to be found in most of the larger libraries, it has seemed advisable 

 in collecting these historical scraps to quote directly from the publica- 

 tions instead of merely giving references to the literature consulted. 



» See p. 563 for list of general works cited. 



549 



