Production appeared to recover after the war, as 907,258 pounds of dye were exported in 1787. The Revolutionary War disrupted production, although the Continental army used Carolina indigo to dye some of its uniforms. By the 1770s, some indigo was also produced in Orangeburg and Fredericksburg Townships. Indigo was especially important in Williamsburg Township, where the soil was ideal and the crop was an important part of the local economy. By the 1760s production expanded from the lowcountry to the interior. North of Charleston, most planters focused solely on indigo. In the parishes south of Charleston, most indigo planters grew the weed in combination with rice, as a “second staple.” Planters growing indigo closer to the city were split, with roughly half growing rice and indigo and half growing only indigo. Slaves who understood the art of processing the dye had greater value, as an entire year’s product depended on the talents of the indigo maker.Ĭarolina indigo was grown in a variety of locations and in a number of ways. Field slaves planted, weeded, and harvested the crop, and skilled “indigo slaves” worked to convert the plant to dye. Slaves were responsible for most of South Carolina’s indigo production. The thickened mud that settled to the bottom of the second vat was the indigo paste, which was dried, cut into squares, packed in barrels, and shipped to market during the winter months. The conversion involved soaking the plants in the first vat, beating the indigo-soaked water in the second vat until thickened grains formed, then draining away that water into the third vat. Specialized equipment included three graduated vats set next to each other, in which the plants would be converted to dye. After cutting, the plant was carried to the processing site, a work area generally shaded by a thatched roof. Planting began in early April, with a first harvest in July and often a second harvest in August or September. The cycle of planting, processing, and marketing indigo began in March, when the fields were prepared for sowing. In general dye from French or Spanish colonies sold for more than Carolina indigo, whose reputation for quality was less favorable. Prices paid for the dye varied with quality. Planters preferred either Indigofera Tinctoria or “Guatemala” indigo, a hearty variety that grew well in a range of soil types, or Indigofera Anil or “French” indigo, a more delicate variety best suited for rich black soil. Two varieties of indigo were native to Carolina, Indigofera Carolinians and Indigofera Lespotsepala, but neither produced a reputable dye.
England received almost all Carolina indigo exports, although by the 1760s a small percentage was being shipped to northern colonies. The amount and value of indigo exports increased in subsequent years, peaking in 1775 with a total of 1,122,200 pounds, valued at £242,395 sterling. In 1747, 138,300 pounds of dye, worth £16,803 sterling, were exported to England. The crop could be grown on land not suited for rice and tended by slaves, so planters and farmers already committed to plantation agriculture did not have to reconfigure their land and labor.
In addition to economic motives, indigo production also succeeded because it fit within the existing agricultural economy. In London colonial agent James Crokatt persuaded Parliament in 1749 to subsidize Carolina indigo production by placing a bounty of six pence per pound on the dye.
Pinckney’s husband, Charles, printed articles in the Charleston Gazette promoting indigo. In South Carolina, Eliza Lucas Pinckney and Andrew Deveaux experimented with cultivation in the 1730s and 1740s. Indigo was reintroduced in the 1740s during King George’s War (1739–1748), which disrupted the established rice trade by inflating insurance and shipping charges and also cut off Britain’s supply of indigo from the French West Indies. Cultivating and processing the plant was complex, and planters found other commodities more reliable and easier to produce. South Carolina experimented with indigo production as early as the 1670s but could not compete with superior dyes produced in the West Indies. Carolina indigo was the fifth most valuable commodity exported by Britain’s mainland colonies and was England’s primary source of blue dye in the late-colonial era. It was grown commercially from 1747 to 1800 and was second only to rice in export value. Indigo, a plant that produces a blue dye, was an important part of South Carolina’s eighteenth-century economy.
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