From inside the 1860, the company lead 450,000 weight away from are manufactured smoking, valued in the $ninety,000, positioning Patterson & Williams one of the middle-top manufacturers in town. 31 The organization and additionally gathered brief regional and you may federal attract the latest earlier seasons getting due to their white women otherwise girls due to the fact laborers into the their facility, a test Thomas got experimented with and you can quit. 29
The new Municipal War finished the newest Williams and you may Patterson commitment. Centered on Patterson’s son, his father “retired off his co-connection with Mr. Williams” ahead of entering the Confederate Army as the a physician. thirty two A beneficial November 1863 item about Day-after-day Dispatch outlined this new business out of factory fittings, wood, and place of work accessories at previous Patterson & Williams factory. 33
c.1855-1860: Administration and Relationships
On development of their managerial role to have Thomas, Williams’s obligations went on in order to are normally taken for keeping track of Thomas’s family while in the their time away regarding Richmond in order to approaching higher-height surgery from the cigarette smoking facility. Williams closed countless financial drafts on Thomas’s account as the “T.C. Williams, atty,” exhibiting Thomas got supplied him stamina of lawyer for the purpose.
Williams got head supervision of your own warehouse during this period and continued reporting biggest advice so you’re able to Thomas when he is actually away. In ple, the guy expressed details of Thomas’s functions around australia, the fresh death of a tobacconist occupant within the a beneficial Thomas facility, and possibility of rental the newest warehouse so you’re able to an osoite interested people regarding Ny. 34 Next month the guy had written regarding shortage of wonderful cigarette smoking leaves that have been a switch element of Thomas’s marketing method: “I usually do not know very well what we will create from the vibrant wrappers, it looks impractical to receive any, none coming in . . . . Unless we have specific the next day Facty No 2 must prevent really works.” thirty-five
Williams’s obligations as well as integrated extensive travel, visiting secret cig agencies, reporting back with the prospective areas, sorting out disagreements which have consumers, and handling other possible issues. Their destinations incorporated Philadelphia, il, and you will St. Louis (Oct 1854); Cincinnati (January 1855); Baltimore (March 1855); Philadelphia (s’s travel in the future became a method in which the guy gained information about the prospects of Municipal Combat. Inside the a come back to Cincinnati into the 1860, the guy conveyed to Thomas the fresh new expanding sectional tension he had been watching because the prospect of Sc seceding from the Partnership loomed:
We tell them which i anxiety they cannot get it for very long
“Every anxious to understand what Va. does. In the morning told a great many just who chosen to possess Lincoln today be sorry for it, and therefore are nervous having peace. Some state, assist S.C. & other Cotton claims date, that they can consume Cotton & commonly starve & beg to locate back in 3 months, and you may significant amounts of ful-du-rol in that way. Considered several times last night such as ‘pitching into’ certain abolitionists to the trucks but discernment succeeded. I can create pages related to the thing i know regarding the new Southern for the past a couple of weeks, however, cannot drill you.” 37
In a postscript to the their letter to help you Thomas the following day, he added a separate observation regarding the chance from war:
“What an enormous trade & prosperous moments we might had so it slide & spring season, but for the brand new political trouble. South-west keeps seldom held it’s place in top status, nevertheless the dilemmas in the S.C. keeps ‘produced them right up reputation.’ Imprecations ‘long & deep’ was heaped on the brand new Palmetto state out right here. Due to the fact bland given that things are away here, there is that department out-of business in which good ‘pile’ can be produced quickly, in the event that people can be so disposed, that’s, betting you to S.C. have a tendency to secede, they never faith and you may cannot be manufactured to believe they. Often choice 50 to one in it. It ridicule the theory &c &c.” 38