Enslaved Peoples' Contributions to Manchester's Textile Industry

Located at the Manchester Millyard Museum, 200 Bedford Street, Manchester, NH

Prior to the Civil War, the majority of the cotton used to manufacture cloth at the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester was purchased from southern sources where it was grown and picked on cotton plantations by enslaved people. In 1859, Amoskeag purchased an average of 5,000 bales of cotton per week for its textile production. The cotton was received from cities including Mobile, Alabama; Galveston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Apalachicola, Florida.