In 1861 the Civil War had broken out in America, and Earl Shilton was hard hit by the Union blockade of the Confederate States' ports, preventing cotton exports. Something akin to famine prevailed in Earl Shilton as the chief trade of the area was frame-work knitting. Frames could be found in nearly every house. The Baptist minister, the Rev. Parkinson, had to resign through lack of funds. The Rev. Freesdon said "that a church that could not support its minister, and a pastorate that had commenced with so many signs of blessing, ended through a war raging on the other side of the Atlantic".