William Longstreet (1760

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

- 1814

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

) was an

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

. He made a

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

and improved the

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

. Born in

Allentown, New Jersey Allentown is a borough, located in western Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, bordering nearby Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 1,828,Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

. On 26 September 1790, he addressed a letter to

Thomas Telfair Thomas Telfair (March 2, 1780 – February 18, 1818) was a United States representative from Georgia. Born in Savannah, the third of four sons of Governor Edward Telfair, he graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1805. He went on to study ...

, then governor of Georgia, asking his assistance, or that of the legislature, in raising funds to enable him to construct a boat to be propelled by the new power. This was three years before

Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboat ...

's letter to the Earl of Stanhope announcing his theory “respecting the moving of ships by the means of steam.” Failing to obtain public aid at that time, Longstreet's invention remained for several years in abeyance until, at last securing funds from private sources, he was enabled to launch a boat on

Savannah River The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the norther ...

, which moved against the current at the rate of five miles an hour. This was in 1807, a few days after Fulton had made a similarly successful experiment on the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. Besides this invention, Longstreet patented a valuable improvement in

s, called the “breast roller,” moved by horse power, which entirely superseded the old method. He set up two of his gins in Augusta, which were propelled by steam and worked admirably; but they were destroyed by fire within a week. He next erected a set of steam mills near

St. Mary's, Georgia St. Marys is a city in Camden County, Georgia, United States, located on the southern border of Camden County on the St. Marys River. The Florida border is just to the south across the river, Cumberland Island National Seashore is to the northea ...

, which were destroyed by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

in 1812. These disasters exhausted his resources and discouraged his enterprise, though he was confident that steam would soon supersede all other motive powers. He was the father of Southern author

Augustus Baldwin Longstreet Augustus Baldwin Longstreet (September 22, 1790 – July 9, 1870) was an American lawyer, minister, educator, and humorist, known for his book ''Georgia Scenes''. He was the uncle of the senior Confederate General James Longstreet. He held p ...

and grandfather of Confederate General

James Longstreet James Longstreet (January 8, 1821January 2, 1904) was one of the foremost Confederate generals of the American Civil War and the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Horse". He served under Lee as a corps ...

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References

1760 births 1814 deaths People from Allentown, New Jersey People of colonial New Jersey People from Augusta, Georgia American inventors Engineers from New Jersey {{US-inventor-stub