The credit of inventing the steamboat is by general consent given to
Robert Fulton. Every schoolboy is taught that such is the case, and yet
the fact is at least very doubtful. There is preserved among the papers
in the Archives of Georgia a document that indicates, that, while Robert
Fulton has won the credit for an invention that has revolutionized
the commerce of the world, the real inventor may have been William
Longstreet of Augusta, an uncle of General James B. Longstreet, and the
father of Judge A. B. Longstreet, author of "Georgia Scenes." On the
26th of September, 1790, William Longstreet sent the following letter to
Edward Telfair, who was then governor of Georgia:--
Sir,--I make no doubt but you have heard of my steamboat
and as often heard it laughed at. But in this I have only
shared the fate of all other projectors, for it has
uniformly been the custom of every country to ridicule even
the greatest inventions until use has proved their utility.
My not reducing my scheme to practice has been a little
unfortunate for me, I confess, and perhaps for the people in
general, but until very lately I did not think that either
artists or material could be had in the place sufficient.
However, necessity, that grand science of invention, has
furnished me with an idea of perfecting my plans almost
entirely with wooden materials, and by such workmen as may
be got here, and from a thorough confidence of its success,
I have presumed to ask your assistance and patronage.
Should it succeed agreeable to my expectations, I hope I
shall discover that source of duty which such favors always
merit, and should it not succeed, your reward must lay with
other unlucky adventurers.
For me to mention to you all the advantages arising from
such a machine would be tedious, and, indeed, quite
unnecessary, Therefore I have taken the liberty to state in
this plain and humble manner my wish and opinion, which I
hope you will excuse, and I will remain, either with or
without approbation,
Your Excellency's most obedient and very humble servant,
William Longstreet.
There are two features of this letter that ought to attract attention.
One is that William Longstreet has the name of "steamboat" as pat as if
the machine were in common use. The second is his allusion to the fact
that his conception of a boat to be propelled by steam was so well known
as to be noised abroad.
Credit is sometimes given to John Fitch, who, it is said, invented a
boat propelled by steam, that carried passengers on the Delaware River
in 1787. An Englishman named Symington is said to have run a steamboat
in 1801, while Robert Fulton's success was delayed until 1806. All these
men have received credit for their efforts to benefit humanity, but
history is silent in regard to William Longstreet. In one book about
Georgia the remark is made that "James Longstreet is said to have
invented the steamboat in 1793," but in this instance neither the name
nor the date is correct.
In old St. Paul's churchyard in Augusta there is a tombstone which
bears the inscription, "Sacred to the memory of William Longstreet, who
departed this life September 1, 1814, aged 54 years, 10 months, and
26 days." Below this runs the pleasant legend, "All the days of the
afflicted are evil, but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual
feast." We are thus left to infer that William Longstreet was a man of a
merry heart; and that fact is certified to by the cleverness with which
his son, the author of "Georgia Scenes," has preserved for us some of
the quaint characters that lived and moved and had their being on the
borders of Georgia society directly after the Revolution.
[Illustration: William Longstreet and his Steamboat 172]
Being an inventor, a man of ingenious ideas, and somewhat ambitious of
serving the public in that way, William Long-street certainly had need
of a merry heart; for, as he himself says, the way of the projector
is hard. The term itself is used in Georgia to this day to express a
certain sort of good-natured contempt. Go into the country places and
ask after some acquaintance who has not prospered in a worldly way, and
the answer will be, "Oh, he's just a prodjikin around."
It is certain that William Longstreet knew that steam could be used as
a motive power long before it was so applied; and because he employed
a good deal of his time in trying to discover the principle, he was
ridiculed by his neighbors and friends, and the more thoughtless among
them didn't know whether he was a crank, a half-wit, or a "luny." From
all accounts, he was a modest, shy, retiring man, though a merry one. He
had but little money to devote to the experiments he wished to make, and
in this was not different from the great majority of inventors.
For a long time Longstreet's zeal and enthusiasm attracted the attention
of a few of his wealthy friends, and these furnished him such money as
he wanted; but no very long time was needed to convince those who
were spending their money that the idea of propelling a boat by steam,
instead of by sails or oars, was ridiculous. Longstreet made many
experiments, but he had not hit upon the method of applying the
principle he had in mind: consequently his rich friends closed their
purses, and left him entirely to his own resources. A newspaper
publication, in giving some of the facts in regard to Longstreet's
efforts, says that he and his steamboat were made the subject of a comic
song:--
"Can you row the boat ashore,
Billy boy, Billy boy?
Can you row the boat ashore,
Gentle Billy?
Can you row the boat ashore
Without a paddle or an oar,
Billy boy?"
Though he had failed many times, Longstreet was not disheartened. He
continued his experiments, and at last succeeded in making a toy boat,
which he exhibited to a few friends. His idea at this time, it seems,
was not to construct a steamboat, but merely to convince some of his
friends that steam could be used as a motive power. But in this he was
not very successful. His toy boat did all that he wanted it to do; but
his friends declared, that while steam might be used to move a small
boat, it could never be used to move a large one. The experience of a
new generation showed that there was one wise man in Augusta and a great
many fools. Nevertheless William Longstreet determined to show that
a large boat could be moved by a large amount of steam as easily as a
small boat could be moved by a small volume.
Now, while he was making his experiments; and trying to overcome the
difficulties that presented themselves, Robert Fulton was living in
Paris with Joel Barlow. He was in Paris when Napoleon became first
consul. At that time he was experimenting with his diving boat and
submarine torpedo. Napoleon was so much interested in this work that
he gave Fulton ten thousand francs to carry it on. The inventor was
in France in 1803 when Napoleon organized his army for the invasion of
England. He was surrounded by influential friends, and he had money at
his command.
Compared with William Longstreet, Robert Fulton was "in clover."
Longstreet was compelled to work without money, and in the midst of a
community whose curiosity had developed into criticism and ridicule.
Thus it was not until 1806 that he succeeded in completing a steamboat
that would accommodate twenty or twenty-five persons. He went on board,
accompanied by such of his friends as he could persuade, and in the
presence of a curious and doubting crowd the first real steamboat was
launched on the Savannah River. Some of the friends of those on board,
feeling anxious for their safety if the "contraption" should explode,
secured a skiff, and followed the steamboat at a safe distance, ready
to pick up such of the passengers as might survive when the affair had
blown to pieces. Longstreet headed the boat down the river, and went in
that direction for several miles. Then he turned the head of the little
boat upstream; and, although the current was swift, he carried his
passengers back to the wharf, and several miles above.
From that hour William Longstreet became a man of some consequence in
the community. Those who had ridiculed him now sang his praises, and
those who had doubted that steam could be used as a motive power were
now convinced. His friends tried hard to get him to go to Washington and
secure the benefits of a patent for his invention; but he persistently
refused to take any steps to profit by the results of his genius, or
indeed to make his invention known. His constant reply to all those who
tried to persuade him to go to Washington was, that he had carried
on his experiments simply to prove the truth of his theory to his own
satisfaction, and to convince those whose respect he coveted that he was
neither a fool nor a crank.
Some of his friends and admirers were themselves preparing to go to
Washington in behalf of the inventor, but they had put off their journey
until the year after the exhibition was made in Augusta, and at
that time they heard that Robert Fulton had exhibited his steamboat
"Clermont" on the Hudson River. They then gave up their design, and
William Longstreet continued to remain in the seclusion that was so
pleasant to him.
It is a noteworthy fact, that twelve years after William Longstreet made
his successful experiments on the Savannah River, Georgia enterprise
built, launched, and managed the first steamship that ever crossed the
ocean. This great enterprise was organized in Savannah in 1818. The
Georgia Company contracted to have the ship built in New York; and when
completed, it was named the "Savannah." The vessel was finished and
brought to Savannah in April, 1819. In May the steamship left Savannah
bound for Liverpool. From Liverpool it went to St. Petersburg, and then
returned to Savannah, having made the voyage in fifty days.
The first sewing machine was invented by Rev. Frank R. Goulding, a
Georgian who has won fame among the children of the land as the author
of "The Young Marooners." He invented the sewing machine for the purpose
of lightening the labors of his wife; and she used it for some years
before some other genius invented it, or some traveler stole the idea
and improved on it.
Dr. Crawford W. Long, in 1842, when twenty-seven years of age, performed
the first painless surgical operation that is known to history. In 1839,
Velpeau of Paris declared that the attempts to find some agent by which
to prevent pain in surgical operations was nothing less than chimerical;
and as late as 1846 Sir Benjamin Brodie said, "Physicians and surgeons
have been looking in vain, from the days of Hippocrates down to the
present time, for the means of allaying or preventing bodily pain." And
yet three years after the declaration of Velpeau, and four years before
the statement of Sir Benjamin Brodie, the young Georgia physician had
removed a tumor from the neck of a patient, and that patient had felt no
pain.
The story is very interesting. Dr. Crawford W. Long was born in
Danielsville, Madison County, Ga., on the 1st of November, 1815. He
graduated at the University of Georgia, studied medicine, and graduated
at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. He then
went to Jefferson, Jackson County, where he opened an office, and
practiced medicine for many years.
[Illustration: Laughing Gas 177]
In those days the young men living in the country districts, for want
of something better to amuse them, were in the habit of inhaling
nitrous-oxide gas, or, as it was then popularly known, "laughing gas."
The young people would gather together, and some of them would inhale
the gas until they came under its influence. The result was in most
cases very amusing. Some would laugh, some would cry, and all in
various ways would carry out the peculiarities of their characters and
dispositions. Thus, if a young man had an inward inclination to preach,
he would, under the influence of "laughing gas," proceed to deliver a
sermon. As these "laughing-gas" parties were exhilarating to the young
people who inhaled the gas, and amusing to those who were spectators,
they became very popular.
But it was not always easy to secure the gas. On one occasion a company
of young men went to Dr. Long's office and asked him to make them a
supply of "laughing gas." There was no apparatus in the office suitable
for making it, but Dr. Long told the young men that the inhalation of
sulphuric ether would have the same effect. He had become acquainted
with this property of ether while studying medicine in Philadelphia.
The young men and their friends were so well pleased with the effects
of ether inhalation, that "ether parties" became fashionable in that
section, as well as in other parts of the State. At these ether parties,
Dr. Long noticed that persons who received injuries while under its
influence felt no pain. On one occasion a young man received an injury
to his ankle joint that disabled him for several days, and he told Dr.
Long that he did not feel the slightest pain until the effects of the
ether had passed off. Observing these facts, Dr. Long was led to believe
that surgical operations might be performed without pain.
Dr. Long's theory was formed in 1841, but he waited for some time before
testing it, in the hope that a case of surgery of some importance--the
amputation of an arm or a leg--might fall in his practice. On the 30th
of March, 1842, Dr. Long removed a tumor from the neck of Mr. James
M. Venable. On the 6th of June, the same year, another small tumor was
removed from the neck of the same patient, and both operations were
painless. Mr. Venable inhaled sulphuric ether, and the effect of it was
to render him insensible to the pain of cutting out the tumors.
Dr. Long had told Mr. Venable that he would charge little or nothing for
removing the tumors under the influence of ether. The bill rendered
for both operations amounted to $4.50; but, small as the bill was,
it represented the discovery and application of ether in surgical
practice,--one of the greatest boons to mankind. Up to that time no
patient under the surgeon's knife had ever been able to escape the
horror and pain of an operation.
Dr. Long did not at once print the facts about his discovery. He wanted
to make assurance doubly sure. He waited in the hope of having an
important case of surgery under his charge, such as the amputation of
a leg or an arm. But these cases, rare at any time, were still rarer at
that time, especially in the region where Dr. Long practiced. He finally
satisfied himself, however, of the importance of his discovery, but,
having waited until 1846, found that at least three persons--Wells,
Jackson, and Morton--had hit on the same discovery, and had made
publication of it. Morton patented ether under the name of "Letheon,"
and in October, 1846, administered it to a patient in the Massachusetts
General Hospital.
In 1844, Horace Wells, a native of Vermont, discovered that the
inhalation of nitrous-oxide gas produces anaesthesia. He was a dentist.
He gave it to his patients, and was able to perform dental operations
without causing pain. Thus we may see how the case stands. Long produced
anaesthesia in 1842; that is to say, he caused his patients to inhale
sulphuric ether in that year, whenever he had a painful operation to
perform, and in each case the operation was painless.
In 1846, when the surgeons of the Massachusetts General Hospital
performed painless operations on patients, after administering to them
Morton's patented "Letheon," which was his name for sulphuric ether,
there came about a great war of pamphlets, and it ended tragically.
Long had never made any secret of the substance which he used. He gave
information of it to all the surgeons and doctors with whom he came in
contact; and he was not in any way concerned in the conflict that was
carried on by Jackson, Morton, and Wells. He simply gathered together
the facts of his discovery, proved that he was the first physician to
perform painless operations in surgery, and that was the end of it so
far as he was concerned.
Wells became insane, and committed suicide in New York in 1848. Morton
died in New York City of congestion of the brain. Jackson ended his days
in an insane asylum.
In Boston a monument has been erected to the discoverer of anaesthesia.
The name of Crawford W. Long should stand first upon it, and should be
followed by the names of Wells, Morton, and Jackson.
[Illustration: Early Progress of the State 181]