Cotton bale

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General Burnside sitting on a 200 pound burlap bag of fodder while reading a news paper. LOC

THERE WAS NO NEED TO GATHER COTTON PICKING BAGS. 200 POUNDS OF FORTAGE WAS SHIPPED IN BURLAP BAGS. COFFEE WAS SHIPPED IN FIFTY POUND BURLAP BAGS.

THE ARMY HAD BURLAP BAGS IN ABUNDANCE.


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Cotton bales of every size were & are wrapped in burlap. This one is 6" tall.

Link:


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This modern roll of burlap is 12 feet wide & 50 feet long; it is exactly like the ones manufactured in the 1860's.

A little understood aspect of Civil War logistics was the recycling of burlap bags. The army's quartermasters were adamant in their insistence that burlap shipping bags be recycled.

Empty bags were baled up & returned to depots. The bags were then used to ship coal, for example. Emptied rail cars were filled with bales of empty bags. Steamboats were likewise laden with bales of empty bags to be taken back to Cincinnati.

Empty boxes & barrels were also returned. This link details the kind & variety of shipping containers used to supply the armies.

Link:

 
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Thank you Rhea Cole on your insights on the availability of burlap in the US Army. That probably was the source of material for the bags.

Both fascines and bags of cotton, not bales, were used at Port Hudson.

Is it just me or does Gen. Burnside have an eerie resemblance to Oliver Hardy?

It has been an interesting series for me. The hemp production in Kentucky was protected by a 40% tariff on jute from what is now Indonesia.

Rope walks were the source of John Hunt Morgan's family fortune, for example. Everything from twine to 8" hawsers went to New England shop yards via the Erie Canal.

Hemp was a major reason for keeping Kentucky in the Union both for the New England shipyards & denying it to the Deep South cotton producers.
 
This is a copy of a stock certificate from my 4th great granddaddy's cotton mill outside of Augusta Ga. It was one of the first (some say the first) cotton mills in Augusta, Ga. He moved from Massachusetts in the 1830's for health reasons. Also is a pic of him(Daniel Hack).
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Check out this pic. It's the seasons first cotton at my granddaddy's warehouse in 1942. Social Circle, Ga. View attachment 561567
I worked there in the late 70's. We had a Clark forklift. I would pull a certain bail down and my uncle would pull samples to send to cotton mills. The bails were stacked 3 high inside the warehouse. They also had a bin with loose cotton about 6'x6'. Me and my brother would climb up the bails to the top and jump in the bin.
 
I think by 1860 there were some steam driven gins separating the seeds from the bolls. I don't know if there were any steam driven presses. The US south had a huge advantage in already knowing how to gin and compress the cotton. It had to be compressed for maritime shipping. Volume and value mattered a great deal.
 
This is a link to a video about the cotton gin festival in Bostwick, Ga.
 
This is a link to a video about the cotton gin festival in Bostwick, Ga.
 

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