e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia Online

James Rumsey's Steamboat

River Transportation Section 3 of 9

Sign in or create a free account to curate your search content.

James Rumsey (1743–1792) invented a steam engine that could power a boat using water jets. He first showed it on the Potomac River near Shepherdstown in 1787, 20 years before Robert Fulton's steamboat, though Fulton’s design became more popular.

Rumsey was from Maryland and had many skills, including mill building and blacksmithing. He ran an inn in Berkeley Springs and built the first bath houses there. He met George Washington, who supported Rumsey after seeing his boat work. Washington wrote that Rumsey’s invention could be very useful for river travel.

At first, people called him “crazy Rumsey,” but after his boat successfully traveled upstream, even General Horatio Gates was amazed. Rumsey got support from Benjamin Franklin and others, who formed the Rumseian Society to help him. Rumsey died while trying to patent his invention in England, but friends demonstrated his steamboat on the Thames after his death.