Cotton factor

In the antebellum South, most cotton planters relied on cotton factors (also known as commission merchants or cotton brokers) to sell their crops for them.

This factor was usually located in an urban center of commerce, such as Charleston, Mobile, New Orleans, or Savannah (harbor cities; there was not yet a network of railroads) -- where they could most efficiently tend to business matters for their rural clients. Prior to the American Civil War, the states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi were producing more than half of the world's cotton, although Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas produced large amounts also. At the same time, the port of New Orleans exported the most cotton, followed by the port of Mobile.