At their peak during the war, these mills turned out more than 500,000 yards of cloth per week. Thirty-three mills were in operation on the eve of the war, producing the highest volume of textiles of any Southern state. Textile production was a logical extension of cotton farming, and Georgia was able to maintain a sizable industry, although it never effectively rivaled Northern output. Two of Georgia’s most important antebellum industries were textiles and railroads. Primarily located in fall-line cities like Augusta, Columbus, and Macon, these early manufactories provided the foundation for later efforts to supply Confederate armies. Industrial development offered one such alternative, and a flurry of investment enabled a number of nascent industries to appear throughout the state. Cotton farming dominated Georgia’s antebellum economy, but by the mid-1830s declining prices fueled by overproduction led some to seek alternatives to agriculture’s boom-and-bust cycles. In the generation preceding the war, enterprising Georgians experimented with a variety of industries in an effort to lessen the state’s dependence on cotton cultivation. ![]() Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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