A replica of James Rumseys steamboat at the Rumsey Steamboat Museum at Shepherdstown.
Photo:Historic Shepherdstown & Museum
James Rumsey was born in 1743 in Maryland.
He also kept a boarding house and tavern in Bath, Virginia.
While there, Rumsey showed Washington a working model of a mechanical boat which he had designed.
Rumseys design consisted of a paddlewheel mounted at the bow that worked poles to pull the boat upstream.
Washington was impressed at Rumseys demonstration.
He wrote in his diary, September 6, 1784, The model and its operation upon the water .
not only convinced me of what I before thought .
quite impractical, but that it might be turned to the greatest possible utility in inland navigation.
Work on the Potomac River was labor-intensive, involving challenging blasting work.
Rumsey was responsible for overseeing a large group of workers, which included leased slaves and bondsmen.
They were located in a remote area and faced challenges with inadequate supplies.
Eventually, Rumsey resigned from the company so that he could work on his boat.
By spring of 1786, the boat was complete, but the test proved unsatisfactory.
The boiler was also inadequate and the engine consumed too much steam.
Rumsey decided to abandon the pole-boat mechanism.
General Horatio Gates, former commander of the Continental Army, famously cried, My God, she moves.
After the successful demonstration, Rumsey took his plans to Philadelphia in search of financial backers.
Rumsey built another prototype steamboat in Londonthis one was 100 foot long.
But he did not live to see it run.
He was buried in London at Saint Margaret’s Church.
