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“L” is for Lindo, Moses (d. 1774)

“L” is for Lindo, Moses (d. 1774). Indigo promoter, entrepreneur. Lindo was a major force in turning South Carolina’s fledgling indigo trade into the region’s second-leading agricultural industry in the middle years of the eighteenth century. A native of London, he became an authority on dyes at the Royal Exchange, the city’s center of commerce. Impressed by the fine grade of a cargo of indigo from South Carolina, he sailed for Charleston in 1756. There he secured the position of surveyor and inspector general of indigo. After ten years he quit his post as indigo surveyor and was appointed appraiser of all dyes and drugs produced in North America. From the time of Moses Lindo’s arrival in South Carolina until his death in 1774, the colony’s indigo production increased fivefold, to more than one million pounds annually.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.