1860s

Image Credit: The Lowell Daily Citizen and News, March 16, 1865

Lowell’s southern connection, a long-time conflict in the city, was broken with the start of the Civil War. Lowell’s textile industry was supported by the cotton of the South which was dependent on slavery, but the moral indignation of slavery caused issues with many mill owners’ wives, local congregations and more supporting the abolitionist movement.