![]() “They were usually men of some originality of character, not infrequently carried to eccentricity.” Among the throngs of idealists, inventors, patriots and shysters were aeronauts, who inflated bags of silk with coal or hydrogen gas as a way to ascend into the sky.īallooning was new to neither the public nor the military in 1861. “The inventors were more a source of amusement than annoyance,” according to presidential secretary John Hay. Immediately after South Carolina fired on the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, inventors flocked to the White House and the War Department to plead, offer and peddle their ideas to a government at war. These entrepreneurs found a willing ear in Washington, especially since Abraham Lincoln was himself an inventor who achieved a patent in 1849 for a device to buoy vessels over shoals. Thousands of Americans developed contraptions and submitted designs for them to the U.S. Scientific American magazine had scores of readers interested in cutting-edge innovations, generating suggestions for new civilian and military applications. “Even if the observers never saw anything they would have been worth all they cost for the annoyance and delays they caused us in trying to keep our movements out of their sight.” Why, then, did the fearsome power of aerial observation so suddenly fall out of Union use after numerous successes?ĭURING THE CIVIL WAR A furious wave of scientific revolution swept the nation. “I have never understood why the enemy abandoned the use of military balloons early in 1863 after using them extensively up to that time,” said Confederate Colonel E.P. For assistance there and elsewhere, McClellan gave credit to “Professor Lowe, the intelligent and enterprising aeronaut,” saying, “I was greatly indebted for the valuable information obtained during his ascensions” in his official reports.īy 1863, however, the Union Balloon Corps was defunct, a development that astounded Confederate commanders. James Longstreet later recalled, “The Federals had been using balloons to examine our positions, and we watched with anxious eyes their beautiful observations as they floated out of range of our guns.” The Rebels in turn would vainly struggle to create their own balloon corps.Īt the two-day Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks), Lowe’s observations prevented a Union regiment from being cornered and decimated. Confederate commanders and soldiers expended energy avoiding or shooting at the “Eyes in the Sky.” As Lt. The Balloon Corps was one of the Union’s great weapons early in the war. “On the field where General Morell was camped everything is on fire….I should judge the enemy might make an attack on our left at any moment.” McClellan as he watched the Battle of Gaines’ Mill unfold beneath him on June 27. “About two miles and a half from the river, in an open field, there are large bodies of troops,” Lowe telegraphed Major General George B. His balloons could ascend to over 1,000 feet multiple times a day, with aeronauts relaying to Union commanders on the ground nearly continual reports of the enemy’s movements. ![]() ![]() Lowe, head of the Union Balloon Corps, at work. They were watching “Professor” Thaddeus S.C. The Rise and Fall of the Union Balloon Corps | HistoryNet CloseĭURING THE 1862 SEVEN DAYS’ Battles on Richmond’s doorstep, Union and Confederate soldiers often spotted immense balloons floating high above the encampments and battlefields.
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