Brazos Manufacturing Company, C.S.A.

Established in 1863 on a Brazos River tributary, the Brazos Manufacturing Company was intended to make flour and cloth of cotton and wool as part of the 9th Texas Legislature’s all-out effort to supply goods needed for Confederate victory in the Civil War. Texas had previously lacked factories because it could more economically trade agricultural products for manufactured goods, but wartime imports were reduced to small shipments that passed through Federal coastal blockades. To finance machinery, materials, and labor, the company received cotton from Texas planters, especially in this area, and a subscription of one bale of cotton gave a planter the right to export one bale for personal benefit. Because neither factory nor farm had any other way to meet running expenses than cotton sales, much cotton was donated to the corporation. Like many corporations chartered by Texas during the Civil War, including paper mills, bridge and ferry companies, iron works, railroads, foundries, and cotton cards plants, it ultimately achieved only limited results, though it did help clothe the army and civilians and its production came too late in the war.

Texas · United States