As the century went on, the section began to depend more and more upon other parts of the country or upon Europe to supply its wants, and general interest in Southern industries began to wane.
Textile establishments had appeared early in the century.

The first cotton mill in North Carolina was built in 1810 and one in Georgia about the same time.

Much of the machinery for the former was built by local workmen.

Other mills were built in the succeeding years until in 1860 there were about 160 in the Southern States, with 300,000 spindles, and a yearly product worth more than $8,000,000.

The establishments were small, less than one-third the average size of the mills in New England, and few attempted to supply more than the local demand for coarse yarn which the country women knit into socks or wove into cloth.