The phrase "consigned to foreign purchasers" is troubling. Consigned by whom? The statistic of 9/10th implies that cotton exports through the blockade were able to continue the pre-war scale of the trade. That seems highly doubtful based on the testimony of the Brits.
According to the people at the Liverpool Museum and their 2015 Exhibition regarding Abercrombie Square: "When the Civil War began, the United States supplied about eighty percent of Britain’s raw cotton, and almost all of it arrived through the port of Liverpool. As a result of the Union’s blockade and the Confederacy's embargo, this figure fell to almost zero in August 1861, and American cotton did not exceed three percent of British imports while the war lasted. Although British merchants could obtain cotton from other regions, such as India and Egypt, Britain still received less than fifty percent of the raw material it needed during the war. As a result, mills closed, workers lost their jobs, and England's cotton manufacturing districts in the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire experienced widespread poverty."
Below are two different articles printed in the 10 Jul 1863 issue of the
"Chicago Daily Tribune." The first article, was related to conversations and speeches being made in London, regarding Confederate cotton and how the U.K. was looking for other sources to make up the shortages being experienced there. Two of those places being India and Egypt, which did increase their output of cotton as much as seventy percent, to help supply the British market. The sources used for the article came from recent papers from London which had just come over on the Cunard Steamer, and made their way to the Chicago Daily Tribune editorial department. The second article was regarding the Texas - Mexico trade route, known as the "Rio Grande crossings," through which much Confederate cotton was transported, with Mexico being one of their largest trade partners for cotton during the war.
The first article, attached below, is very interesting as it reveals that the reason for the shortage, in addition to the embargo and blockade, went deeper to the manufacturing of the crop itself, which left too few young men back in the South to properly raise and harvest the cotton at pre-war numbers, primarily because so many were at the front fighting the war, so there was less cotton available during the war. Then to add to the shortage, much of it was being captured or burned by the Federals on various expeditions and raids being conducted throughout the south, with other supplies of cotton being burned by Confederates, when threatened, as to not leave it behind for the Federals to confiscate and sell on the open market to foreign nations, and use the proceeds against them during the war effort. In the first article it also states that the vast amount of labor regarding the crop in the South was heavily dependent on slave labor, and without that labor, it would not be possible for the south to produce the crop at pre-war levels. The article is a good read, as it really sums up the topic of southern cotton quite well, at least from the perspective of the Brits and how it affected their economy.
Regarding the Texas - Mexico Cotton Trade, during this time in 1863, Napoleon III (France), who had invaded Mexico in 1861, had invited Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, to become Emperor of Mexico, but was not installed as such until 1864. The Confederates were trying their best to make deals with both Napoleon III (France) and Maximillian to "officially" recognize them as well as establish a trade deal regarding southern cotton with France. Mexico was essential to the Confederate States in doing business with the rest of the world, such as Europe, because the U.S. government was not blockading the ports of Mexico, simply because they were not at war with them. Therefore, the Confederate government was sending its cotton and other goods down the Rio Grande river from Texas to various ports in Mexico, which would then be placed on ships and sent out to the rest of the world from there, carrying Confederate cotton and other goods to be purchased and the proceeds being used to supply the Confederacy with what it needed to continue the war effort. Lincoln and Stanton were being very careful in their relations with Mexico and France, at the same time, as not to anger them so much that they would recognize and support the Confederacy, with arms if necessary, and join the war effort on the side of the Confederacy.
The second article stated the following:
"Matters in Texas. Trade Manufactures, Unionism, &c. Correspondence of the New York Herold, 8th (Jul 1863). Trade is not so brisk as it was a few months ago, owing to the restrictions put upon exportation of cotton by the Confederate authorities. Still enough cotton is sold here to procure for the rebels all their military supplies. Powder, saltpetre, army cloth, rope, bagging, &c., leave here almost everyday for the different Rio Grande crossings. You can form some idea of the importance the trade with Mexico has been to Texas by referring to the extracts inclosed. All the Texas papers are freely denouncing the orders interfering with their trade, and it seems the feeling of nearly all, except it be a few contractors and speculators who are pecuniarlly benefitted by them. It is rumored here that all restrictions upon the exportation of cotton have been removed. Should this be the case we can soon expect to see the trade with Texas again grow into the enormous proportions it had assumed a few months ago, and again see the streets of Monterey (Mexico) crowded by train after train, loaded with the very articles that give life and endurance to the rebellion, leaving here daily for the Rio Grande, and from thence to find their way to every part of the Confederacy. The persecutions of Union men in western Texas still continue. A friend at Prechas Negras (a small town opposite Fort Duncan, on the Rio Grande), writes me the following; "A few men reached me here today from San Antonio. They report passing on the roadside , near that town, three men hanging, two Germans and one American. At another place on the road, one of this party says he saw an American hanging. He was a fine looking man and well dressed." Friends lately from San Antonio assure me that there are still a large number of Union men left in western Texas. They are relying much upon the energies of Gen. A. J. Hamilton, and hope that soon, through him, a force will be sent to their assistance."
Before the Civil War, cotton primarily grown in the Southern United States, accounted for about seventy-seven percent of the eight hundred million pounds of cotton used in Great Britain. At the outbreak of the Civil War, cotton, being the most valuable crop of the South, then comprised fifty-nine percent of the exports from the United States. But soon after the war had been declared and the blockading of southern ports had been initiated and with Federal troops encroaching into the major cotton growing areas, the Federals not only stalled the cotton economy but also the foreign relations of the Confederacy. It has been reported that as many as two and one half million bales of cotton were burned in the Southern States during the war to create that cotton shortage.
The first article: