CO or kidney Cotton, was sent from the Havana 

 to Mr. Levett, of Georgia, by a Mr. Welch, a 

 merchant of Philadelphia. These, and many 

 other sorts, after a fair trial, were abandoned, 

 for the reason of their inferiority to the kinds 

 then profitably raised, viz : — the real green 

 seed, and the Sea Island Cotton ; the latter hav- 

 ing superseded the plant that was grown at the 

 period of the Revolution, which strongly resem- 

 bled the short staple in growth and blossom, 

 except having a clean blaclj seed with fur at 

 the end. The Louisiana Cotton, it is thought, 

 was derived from this species, but degenerated 

 in the progress of tillage by intermixture ^vith 

 other kinds. To a cross with Sea-Island Cot- 

 ton, large quantities of which \vere shipped to 

 Louisiana immediately sub.sequent to its cession 

 to the United States, is perhaps in part to be at- 

 tributed the decided .superiority of the New-Or- 

 leans Cotton wool of the present day over all 

 others in North America of the green seed de- 

 scription. 



From this brief notice of the quarters %vhence 

 different Cottons were received in this country, 

 in connection with the progress of the plant 

 from beyond the Indus to the Levant, we have 

 satisfactory reasons for concluding, that to the 

 MediteiTauean and Asia Minor we are mainly 

 indebted for the particular species of the gossy- 

 pium which has been the subject of investiga- 

 tion. Of the two kinds from which the green 

 is derived, the Herbaceum is cleaHJp,' of Eastern 

 origin, and the Hirsutum abso probably, though 

 it is positively asserted to be a native of the 

 West Indies. 



Notwith.standing in the accounts cuiTent, 

 published in the " Carolina Gazette'' of 179-2, 

 the article of Cotton does not appear, yet, it is 

 certain, that even at a much earlier date, it was 

 vended in Charleston in small parcels, varj-ing 

 from one to thirty pounds. In 1787, it was 

 brought from Orangeburg, Newberry, and, it is 

 believed. Union, and sold in ttie seed to the 

 merchants, at two pence per pound, who resold 

 it principally to the ladies to make " patch-work 

 bed-quilts." In that year, or the following, two 

 or three bags, about 100 lbs. each, of seed Cot- 

 ton, were packed in the store of Wadsworth & 

 Turpin by Samuel Maverick* and Jeffrey, a 

 half blood Indian. These were shipped to Eng- 

 land as a sample and au experiment. The an- 

 swer of the consignees was discouraging. It is 

 not worth producing, said they, as it cannot be 

 separated from the se.'d. In 1794, Dr. James 

 Otis Prentiss, and in the same or subsequent 

 year, Col. William Thom.><(m, of Revolutionarj' 

 memory, each planted Cotton for mai-ket ; the 

 former in Orangeburg District, within a mile of 

 the village, and the latter at Bellville, in St. 

 Matthew's Parish. In 17i)(i, cultivators of the 

 crop appeared in several parts of the State ; 

 ainong them were Samuel Felder, of Orange- 

 burg. It was first grown in the High Hills of 

 Santee by John Mayraut smd Asbury Sylvester, 

 in 1798. The year afterwards. Gen. Wade 

 Hampton introduced the plant into Richland 

 District. Witli the energy and sagacity that 

 distinguished him, he began his operations on 

 an exten.sive .scale, and from fiOO acres he gath- 

 ered over 600 bags. Although not the fir.st per- 



* Mr. Maverick states tlmt he wa/? the first person 

 ■who made sujar in South-Carolina. Al)out ifie year 

 1800, he planted some ribtion cane, purchiised in the 

 Havana, in his lot to the Kast of the present Orphan 

 House. !i jielded 300 lbs. The cane was pounded 

 in a munar, and the juice boiied in iron pot^. 



SOU who employed Whitney's Cotton-gin* in 

 South-Carolina, (for, in 179-5, one was erected on 

 Mill Creek, five miles belo^v Monticello, Fair- 

 field, by Capt. James Kincaid, and, three j-ears 

 afterwards, by several other planters.) still he 

 ^vas certainly the first who used water as the 

 propelling po^ver. His gins were furnished by 

 an ingenious artist of Georgia, assisted by Wil- 

 liam Munson, of Richland. Though of rough 

 construction, they sers'ed as models for others 

 made in 1801, by William Munson and James 

 Boatwright, of Columbia. These were the first 

 of the new machines of home manufacture. It 

 does not appear that Cotton was rai-sed for mar- 

 ket in Edgefield, and the more northern dis- 

 tricts, milil 1802, until which time tobacco was 

 one of the staple commodities. In that year. 

 Col. Z. S. Brooks erected a Cotton-gin on the 

 North or Saluda side of the district. With this 

 he prepared for sale the crops of his neighbors 

 for the compa.ss around him often miles. 



Before concluding this branch of our inquiry, 

 it becomes necessary to remove a difficulty that 

 seemingly militates against what has been ad- 

 vanced in reference to the exportation of Cotton 

 from South-Carolina. On the highest authority, 

 it has been already stated that, fi'om 1785 to 1790, 

 a period of six years, there were shipped from 

 Charleston 153 bags of Cotton ; yet. from the 

 representations just made, it seems that tlmt 

 commodity was not grown, as a crop, in this 

 State until 1794. The solution is probably this: 

 the Cotton was either prepared by hand-roller 

 gins, which were undoubtedlj^ in use even be- 

 fore the w-ar, and sold in small quantities to the 

 merchants, who packed it for exportation : or it 

 was sent in the seed to Philadelphia and Newr- 

 York, there to undergo tlie cleaning process. — 

 The latter suppo.sition is based on the large 

 amountt of Cotton shipped from those ports in ) 

 the years alluded to, and the fact, as will be 

 seen hereafter, that machines to disconnect the 

 seed from the wool were employed in Philadel 

 phia, in 1784. Farther, the condemnation of 

 the bags subsequently exported by Wadsworth 

 & Turpin, shows that the previous consign 

 ments must have been of clean Cotton, and not 

 in the seed as might be conjectured. 



Sea-Island, or black seed Cotton, began to he 

 rai.sed in Georgia, in experimental quantities, in 

 1786. The native place of the seed is believed to 

 be Persia. It is designated the Persian Cotton 

 by Bn'an Edwards,^ and is so called in the 

 West Indies and by tlie merchants of Kiigland 

 The seed grown in this country came fro-m tf>e 

 Bahama Islands, where it had been introduced 

 by the Board of Trade from Anguilla. a small 

 Island in the Caribbean Sea. and was sent by 

 Mr. Tatnall, tlien Surveyor-General of the Ba- 

 hamas, Col. Kelsell, and others, to Governor 



* •• \\Tien Whitney's gin was exhibited in Georgia, 

 none but women were permitted to enter the room. 

 An ingeniotis young mechanic at length introduced 

 hiiiiBi'lf into the apartment in women's apparel, and, 

 by a minute examination of the machine, satisfied 

 himgelf that he could not only imitate, but improve 

 on its construction, liy niakiii2 it more elRcient. — 

 This discoverj- was commtmicated tfi my father by 

 Gen. film, who spoke so contidently of the capacity 

 of this individual, that my father was induced to visit 

 him at his residence in Georgia. This visit resulted 

 m a contract for three gins, apjilirable to a larse scile 

 of operations, and they were unquestionably the first 

 ever driven by water-power." — [Extract ?/ a letter 

 from Col. Wnde. Hampton to the tcrUer. 



t .'^ee note B. in the Appendix. 



I Edwards' West Indies, vol iv. p. .363 



