Fitch, John

John (1743-1798), an American inventor. He was born at Windsor, Connecticut, and died at Bardstown, Kentucky. He was a blacksmith in the Revolutionary army, passing the winter with Washington at Valley Forge. After the return of peace he traveled among the Indians of Pennsylvania, trading for furs. He was taken captive and had a hard time generally. In 1785 he constructed a model of a steamboat, and in 1787 he made a trip on the Delaware at Philadelphia with a forty-five foot steam-propelled boat. During the summer of 1790 a passenger boat ran regularly from Philadelphia to Burlington, twenty miles, but attracted little attention. In 1793 he went to France, but fell on the evil days of the French Revolution. He worked his way back to America in utter destitution and dejection. Whether his invention was a little early or a little crude, or whether he lacked the ability of inspiring enthusiasm in others, it is certain that Fitch was a most unfortunate man. He was a man of mechanical genius, yet he was reduced to beggary. The story of his appeals for financial assistance is a pitiful one. He took his own life in despair, leaving Robert Fulton to reap where he had sown.