Washington, George, first President

Autograph letter signed ("G: Washington"), 2 pages plus integral address leaf (9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.; 240 x 190 mm), Mount Vernon, Virginia, 22 November 1787, to Thomas Johnson, red wax seal, franking signature on address leaf; silked, formerly folded, a few fold-tears, fore-edge of address leaf renewed, hole in blank portion of address leaf mended, a few small marginal stains. Black half-morocco and cream cloth slipcase.

Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series, ed. D. Twohig, 5: 448-449

A remarkable Washington letter bearing on the two earliest inventors of the steamboat.

James Rumsey (1743-1792) and John Fitch (1743-1798) were rivals to the invention of the steamboat. Each began experimenting in 1785, each devised different designs and did their best to promote these by building prototypes and performing demonstrations, enlisting recommendations from well-known individuals, with a view to plying inland waterways. Rumsey worked secretly on his invention in 1786 and 1787, but Washington urged him to demonstrate his plan, which he did on 3 December 1787, less than two weeks after this letter was written. Fitch's demonstration was made on the Delaware River on 22 August 1787 in the presence of delegates from the Constitutional Convention.

Washington is writing to Thomas Johnson (1732-1819), former governor of Maryland, who with Washington was one of the commissioners conducting the affairs of the Potomac River Company after it was formed in 1785, and both of whom were eagerly pressed by the rival inventors. Johnson had written on 16 November as one of a committee to report on Fitch's petition for an exclusive privilege in Maryland, expressing doubts about Rumsey's presentation to Washington. Washington begins by clarifying the encounter: "Mr. Rumsey has given you an uncandid acct. of his explanation to me, of the principle on which his Boat was to be propelled against stream. — At the time he exhibited his model, and obtained my certificate, I had no reason to believe that the use of steam was contemplated by him. — sure I am it was not mentioned; and equally certain am I, that it would not apply to the project he then had in view; the first communication of which, to me, was made in Septr. 1784 at the Springs in Berkley. — The November following, in Richmond, I again met Mr. Rumsey, who at that time was applying to the Assembly of this State for an exclusive Act. — He then, it is true, spoke of the effect of steam, and of the conviction he was under of the usefulness of its application for the purposes of inland navigation; but I did not conceive, nor have I done so at any moment since, that it was suggested as part of his original plan, but rather as the ebullition of his genius."

When Fitch then requested a letter of introduction to the Virginia Assembly, Washington declined, by saying the idea was not original but without revealing Rumsey's plan. "To the best of my recollection, the foregoing is an impartial recital of what has passed between Mr. Rumsey and me, on the subject of his Boat Navigation."

Washington concludes by following up on a previous inquiry concerning confiscated property of Dunlap & Co. of Glasgow, whose proceeds were due to the estate of Colonel Thomas Colvill, for which Washington was the executor.

Though both Rumsey and Fitch did build ships propelled by steam, none were sufficiently successful to be backed. The steamboat era began with Robert Fulton, who launched his first steamboat after Fitch's death.