the idea that South Carolina and the South were wasting potential by shipping Raw cotton to the North and buying back these goods at inflated prices. Gregg felt that by keeping local capital, the state would diversify, jobs would be produced, and the economy would become less dependent on the heavy reliance of cotton growing. In December 1845, Gregg was able to convince the South Carolina legislature to charter the Graniteville Mill which became the South's largest and most well known cotton mill. With a group of Charleston elite, the group was granted an initial capitalization of $300,0000. This money was put towards constructing a tremendous and massive state of the art textile factory and plant on Horse creek, which was a couple of miles from Gregg's Vaucluse Mill. The production and construction of the Graniteville Company relied on the local people of the area to build and operate the mill. Farmers, tenants, and the poor were employed with similar wages to those of Northern mill workers. When full operations ceased in 1849, the Graniteville Company mill was one of, if not the largest textile mills in the south. The plant contained more than nine thousand spindles and three hundred looms and produced around twelve thousand yards of cloth per day. These products were sold across the continent and in markets reaching New York and Philadelphia. Later life During the 1850s, Gregg became famous throughout the South. His factory became acclaimed and its model was celebrated. Gregg was credited with providing the South a per an example of industrial development that reformers had demanded for many years. Gregg's popularity boosted him into the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1856. Gregg also attempted to get into the Senate but his bid was unsuccessful. Gregg faced resistance regarding some of the practices on his plant, but this did not completely hinder is political career. Gregg remained popular enough to secure his election to South Carolina's secession convention, at which he unhesitatingly affixed his signature to the ordinance of secession in December 1860. Previously a unionist, Lincoln's election led Gregg to publicly declare himself to be "openly, fearlessly . . . a disunion man". During the Civil War, Graniteville was able to remain prosperous. Graniteville survived the Civil War, and Gregg returned to the factory following the war. During the war, Gregg was very animate on criticizing Confederate Policy regarding manufacturers. In