Evening Star Newspaper, May 31, 1931, Page 80

' 10 e THE BEST STORY OF THE When the ground crew had its hands full. 4 sketch made during the Civil War sho ving the balloon Eagle in a storm with frantic infantrymen working to keep it from being destroyed. EW pecple of this age, in which aviation has become & commonpiace and a by- word, know what an important and thrilling pa't the Air Service plaved in the winnine of the Civil War. In fact, few people are aware that there was an Air Service in the Civil War. But indeed there was, and War Depariment files contain few accounts of wartime operations more startling or stirring than the history of the Federal Balloon Corps. For instance did you know: -That shots fired by the Confederates at a Union bslloon fell closer to the United States Capitol than any other shots ever fired? That the Federals had six belloons (and maybe more) which participated in any number of battles around Washington, Richmond snd Fredericksburg and made almost daily ascen- sions for more than two years? ‘That the chief of the Union Air Service was & civitian, who after two years of faithful and dangerous service finally became so dis gusted with Army red tape that he quit in the middle of the war? “That this same man. just at the beginning of the Civil War, was getting ready for a trans- atlantic ballpon flight and that he made a bal- Joon trip from Cincinnati to the South Carolina coast—500 miles—in nine hours? That the Air Service then had the same bitter fight for recognition as a military asset that it has had in recent vears? And that it finally took a personal visit from President Lincoln to the commanding general of the Union Armies before balloons- were adopled for military use? HAT the Confederates, constantly jealous of the Federals' balloons but too poor to con- struct one themselves, finally sent ocut a call for silk dresses, which were converted into a balloon at Richmond? And that, shortly after, the balloon was cap- tured by the Union forces, the capture being . termed by a Southern general the “meanest t#ick of the war, taking the last silk dress in the Confederacy’? “That the first accurately determined indirect’ fire. made at objects which could not be seen by the gunners, was directed from a balloon in the Civil War? Few people know these things, and vet they are true. Interest in the history of Civil War néronautics was recently rearoused by the pres- entation to the Smithsonian Institution at Wachington of several relics of the balloon of Prof. Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, chief aeronaut of the Union Army and later the founder of Lowe's Observatory in California. “The presentation was made by Lowe’s grand- chilaren, now living in Norristown, Pa. Al- though a good deal of the aeronaut’s Civil War corrcspondence and records are in the hands of the family, War Department files contain a compete history of Lowe's balloon participation in the Civil War, in the form of a report made bi' Lowe himself to the then Sgcretary of War. Lowe was born in Jefferson, N. H., on August 20. 1822. When but 24 he began building bal- Joons in order to study atmospheric phenom- ena. From the beginning of his areal career 10 the end he was a scientific investizator and inventor—the man of science rather than the heroic daredevil. "OWE had experimented with balloons for 10 years before the Civil War broke out, and in 186) built a balloon (the largest in the world at, that time) for a transatlantic flight. _“Some people may think I am insane, rash or a secker after fame,” Lowe wrote at the time, “but such is not the case. I have for two years cooily considered the subject and bave provided for every contingency.” His balloon, the City of New Yoq'k, Iater mamed the Great Western, had & gnes capacity of 725,000 cubic feet and carried beneath the basket a 30-fcot lifeboat for use in case of a forced landing at sea. It was Lowe's belicf that at high altitude: there is a constant west-to- east wind blowing. and that this wind wculd blow him across the sea to Europe. But his friend Joseph Henry, then secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, persuaded him to test this theo:y over land before trying the perilous ocean flight, S0 Lowe went to Cincinnati, taking with him & smaller belloon, and on the 20th of April, 1861 «a few days after the Civil War started), made an astounding flight of 500 miles from the Ohio city to the seashore of South Caro- lina in exactly 9 hours. That proved his theory, but the war stopped all plans for a transatlantic fiight. It is told that he had a hard time getting out ¢f South Carolina and back $o the North, but finally msmaged to do s0, even taking his balloon with him. The valve from that balloon was later placed in one of the Civil War gas bags and todsy rests in the Smithsonian Institution Museum. It is a circular piece of wood and brass about the size of a pie plate. The valve rests in the top of a balloon, with a cord running down through the beg to the basket, and when the seronaut has to “valve” gas he opens the valve by pulling the cord. After he phenomenal 500-mile fi'ght Lowe took this samec balloon (the Enterprise) and went to Washington on June 5, 1861, to offer his services to the Union Army. At first he got little attention. Finally, through the influ- ence of Prof. Henry, he was enabled to make a preliminary demonstration at the Capital. The ballocn was inflated from one of the city gas mains and Lowe made repeated ascensions from the Smithsonian grounds and even from Taking McClellan’s eyes into the air. . Lowe saking the balloon Intrepid into the grounds in front of the White House. On one of these flights he es.ablished telegraphic communication between a balloon and the earth’ for the first time in histm1y and while at an elcvation of 1,000 feet sent a message to the President. N June 21, 1861, Lowe was directed by a Capt. Whipple of the Topographical Engi- neers to take his ballocn from Washington to Arlingion, across the Potcmac. It wss inflated from the gas mains in Washirg'n and towed to ite destination, t'ed to a wagon. The next mornirg orders came to take it from Arlington to Falls Church, Va. The enemy was not fsr away' and as the wagon moved’ the ballocn was let up by ropes to ascertain that it was safe to proceed. A Confederate scouting party, seeing the balloon and supposing that a large force accompanied it, beat a hasty retreat. That was the Air Service's first victory in the Civil Wear, the first of a long string of suc- cesses. The balloon was kept in constant use at Palls Church for two days and then taken back to Washington. Despiic ifs apparent vaiue, it siill was not adopted for military use. Nearly a month later a report was circulated in Washington that the enemy was marchirg in force upon the Capiial. There was great excitement. Lowe toock his balloon over into Virginia, went up on a free flight, floated directly over the enemy territory around Manas- sas and found that the reports were untrue. The result of his observations, published im Washington, resiored confidence. Having obtained his view of the enemy, Lowe rose to the great height of three and a hailf miles, fcund a wind that would blow him back east and when over the Potomac b-gan to descend. But within a mile of the earth the A Civil War sketch drawn by an artist during the famous “Seven Days” campaign before Richmond showing Prof. the air for a scouting trip. THE SUNDAY STAR, WAS]H CIVIL W/ In Sharp Contrast tg Than 650 Army_ ington Yesterday I3 of the Birth of Mil VorthernArmy’sSi The first naval aerial scouting expedit balloons operating along the Potomac i “aircraft carrier.” The Navy successf later in the attack on Island No. 10 in Union troops began shooting at him, thinking he was a Confederate. “I descended near enough to hear the whistling of the bullets and the shouts cf the soldiers to ‘show my cclors,’” Lowe later wrote. Having no flag with him, he sailed on and landed about 10 miles away, completely outside of the Union picket lines. But luckily he was not captured and Yankee soldiers brought his balloon back to Washington. Still Lowe had not convinced the Army generals that his bal- loon could be of any value in the military opera- tions that were then beginning. Although Lowe does not record it in his official report to the War Department, it is definitely known that only throygh the inter- vengion of President Lincoln himself was the ballocn finally adopted. Lowe made two fruitless visits to Gen. Win< field Scott, commanding general of the armies, Then he went to Lincoln and the President wrote a note to Scott, asking him “to please see Prof. Lowe once more about his balloon.” That note of Lincoln's (the original) is now in the Smithsonian. But Scott even ignored that, and ou the fourth