Civil War Balloon Flight

First Telegraphed Message from a Hot Air Balloon Happened During the Civil War

/ sandramervillehart

by Sandra Merville Hart

Aeronaut Thaddeus Lowe’s test flight on April 19, 1861, from Cincinnati didn’t go as planned. Instead of landing in the Chesapeake Bay area, winds took his balloon south to South Carolina. He was arrested as a possible spy. He was released after being recognized by a local citizen. What started out as a catastrophe ended with Lowe and his balloon on a northbound train to Cincinnati.

Lowe was now determined that he and his balloons would serve the Union army. He took his balloon Enterprise to Washington D.C.

The Columbia Armory occupied the area where the National Air and Space Museum now stand. It was on this spot, in sight of the White House where President Abraham Lincoln lived, that Lowe launched the Enterprise with American Telegraph Company representatives on June 17, 1861.

They ascended to a height of 500 feet. Lowe telegraphed a message to President Lincoln from the air that he could see 50 miles from his position.

President Lincoln met with Lowe that evening in the White House. Though Lowe wasn’t the only aeronaut hoping to serve the army, he had convinced Lincoln that reconnaissance from the balloon would help his generals. Lowe became the chief aeronaut in the U.S. Army Balloon Corps.

Several Federal officers ascended in these balloons, including John Reynolds, Joe Hooker, George McClellan, Fitz John Porter, Baldy Smith, John Sedgwick, and George Custer.

Sources

“Civil War Ballooning,” American Battlefield Trust, 2021/02/05 https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-ballooning.

“Civil War Ballooning,” Smithsonian National Space & Air Museum, 2021/02/05 https://airandspace.si.edu/learn/highlighted-topics-/flight/civil-war-ballooning.

Clifford, Command Sergeant Major James, USA-Ret. “Balloon Operations in the Peninsula Campaign,” The Army Historical Foundation, 2021/02/05 https://armyhistory.org/balloon-operations-in-the-peninsula-campaign/.

Fanton, Ben. “Gas Balloons: View from Above the Civil War Battlefield,” History.net, 2021/02/05 https://www.historynet.com/gas-balloons-view-from-above-the-civil-war-battlefield.htm.

Gould, Kevin. “Balloon Corps,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2021/02/05 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Balloon-Corps.

Mortimer, Gavin. Double Death: The True Story of Pryce Lewis, the Civil War’s Most Daring Spy, Walker & Company, 2010.

“Thaddeus S.C. Lowe,” Wikipedia, 2021/02/05  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaddeus_S._C._Lowe.

Experimental Balloon Flight from Cincinnati Ends Badly During Civil War

/ sandramervillehart

by Sandra Merville Hart

Before the Civil War started, Thaddeus S.C. Lowe dreamed of flying his hot air balloon on a transatlantic flight. A successful test flight from Philadelphia to New Jersey was made on June 28, 1860. Three months later on September 7th, wind ripped open his balloon, the Great Western, when Lowe attempted a transatlantic flight.

Joseph Henry, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, suggested a second test over land.

Lowe planned a night flight from Cincinnati, Ohio, to the Chesapeake Bay area on Enterprise, a new balloon. He left Cincinnati the night of April 19-20, 1861. Fort Sumter had been fired on a week earlier, marking the beginning of the Civil War.

Winds unfortunately carried him South. Lowe tried to land near the border between North Carolina and South Carolina. Armed men ordered him to take off again, which he did.

His second landing was even worse. Folks in South Carolina didn’t trust him. They placed his deflated balloon in a wagon and escorted both to Unionville, SC. A local newspaper editor knew of the aeronaut. He wrote a letter of introduction for Lowe to take to leaders in Columbia.

The letter didn’t help. Lowe was arrested. He stayed in jail until government officials released him.

On April 26, 1861, Lowe rode a train back to Cincinnati with his balloon. He reflected on troop movements he’d observed from his flight. It sparked a new idea.

He put his transatlantic flight dream to rest. Serving his country by observing the Confederate army from the air became his goal.

Sources

Fanton, Ben. “Gas Balloons: View From Above the Civil War Battlefield,” History.net, 2021/02/05 https://www.historynet.com/gas-balloons-view-from-above-the-civil-war-battlefield.htm.

Gould, Kevin. “Balloon Corps,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2021/02/05 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Balloon-Corps.

“Thaddeus S.C. Lowe,” Wikipedia, 2021/02/05  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaddeus_S._C._Lowe.