How was cotton harvested before the Civil War?

At the time of the Civil War, cotton had become the most valuable crop of the South and comprised 59% of the exports from the United States. As a result, it played a vital role in the conflict. For southern producers, the war disrupted both the producing and the marketing of what they hoped would be the financial basis of their new nation. As Confederate territory shrank under Union attack, invasion, and occupation, the traditional patterns of cotton cultivation and sales likewise came under assault.