In writing the story of a man whose work for the world has won fame, the seeker for historic fact must patiently piece together the threads gathered from many sources to weave the fabric of connected truth.

For these facts concerning Robert Fulton’s life I have searched during a period extending over several years. In presenting this volume I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to the several biographers who, during the century since his death, have traced his eventful career: Cadwallader D. Colden (1817); J. Franklin Reigart (1856); Thomas W. Knox (1886); Robert H. Thurston (1891); Peyton F. Miller (1908); and, most valuable because most recent and therefore most comprehensive, H. W. Dickinson in “Robert Fulton, Engineer & Artist” (1913). Also am I indebted to the Historical Societies of Chicago, New York, and Pennsylvania; the Library of Congress; the Estate of Cornelia Livingston Crary; the Hon. Peter T. Barlow; Messrs. Louis S. Clark, Newbold Edgar, Charles Henry Hart, John Henry Livingston, Robert Fulton Ludlow, Mrs. Frank Semple, and Mrs. George Montgomery, individual owners of the inventor’s original manuscripts and letters shown at the Robert Fulton Relic Exhibit, during the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909, gathered jointly by the New York Historical Society and the Colonial Dames of America, of which latter organization the writer served as chairman of the Hudson-Fulton Committee.

From this vast mass of data is the present modest volume built,—a tale retold for the boys and girls of America, whose lives, through the inspiration of famous men and women, may in future years provide records of equal worth for historians.

ALICE CRARY SUTCLIFFE.

New York City, November 7th, 1914.

CONTENTS

PAGE
CHAPTER I
An Old-time Fourth of July[1]
CHAPTER II
Robert Fulton’s Boyhood[10]
CHAPTER III
Painting Portraits and Miniatures[20]
CHAPTER IV
The Gift of a Farm[29]
CHAPTER V
Studying Art in England[37]
CHAPTER VI
From Art to Invention[48]
CHAPTER VII
Achievements in Paris[62]
CHAPTER VIII
Building the First Submarine[73]
CHAPTER IX
Building the First Steamboat[84]
CHAPTER X
In Holland and England[100]
CHAPTER XI
Experiments with a submarine[107]
CHAPTER XII
Some Early Steamboats[121]
CHAPTER XIII
Building the Clermont[130]
CHAPTER XIV
First Voyage of the Clermont[138]
CHAPTER XV
Steamboats and Submarines[155]
CHAPTER XVI
Ferry-boats and River-boats[172]
CHAPTER XVII
Fulton’s Home and Fulton’s Honors[183]