[2] During the American Revolution, Fitch went into the naval service while still a boy and he served on the Patriot side until the end of the war.
[2][4][5] When his parents and several siblings moved to Vermont in the late 1780s, Fitch joined them in relocating to the area around Vergennes.
[4] His enterprises included speculating in land, mills, an iron works, and producing lumber and potash for transport to markets in Quebec via Lake Champlain.
[4] In 1801, he purchased title to the town of Coventry from Ira Allen, then sold lots at moderate prices to encourage settlement in the area.
[10] Lyon's constituents reelected him to Congress while he was in jail; after the law against sedition expired in 1801, Thomas Jefferson, the first Democratic-Republican president, replaced Fitch as U.S.