Evening Star Newspaper, May 31, 1931, Page 81

INGTON, D. C., MAY 31, 1931 : b+ B L R— How Balloons Were First Used 1n Battle the Flight of More Planes Over Wash- . This New Account: tary Aviation—How (Gas BagsWereUsed. PYLE. Photo Courtesy Uniizd Siates Nalional A um. The pioneer military aviator. Prof. Thaddeus S. C.. Lowe, photographed after the war, when he had reached the age of 75. jon=in history. One of Prof. Lowe's 1861 from the deck of a specially-built used one of these balloons a little (g "i.\'si.\'sippl'. yisit Lincoln simply put on his long coat, his tall silk hat, took Lowe by the arm and walked over with' him and into Scott’s office. HAT was along toward the last of July, 1861, and on August 2 Prof. Lowe received orders employing him as a clvilian aeronaut at $10 a day and authorizing him to construct a new balloon for military purposes. From then until August 28 Lowe was busy building the first substantial war balloon ever built. During the ensuing two years he supervised the construc- tion at the Washington Navy Yard of six bal- loons for the Union Army. The day the first balloon was finished Lowe was ordered te take it to Fort Corcoran, just across the Potomac into Virginia, and make an ascension” at 3 o'clock the next morning to “éxamine enemy camp fires. 3 “PDuring my observations,” Lowe reported, “I discovered the enemy for the first time building earth works on Munsons Hill and Clarks Hill and also saw their movements along the entire Jine. ) “In the afternoon T moved the balloon to Balls Oroesroads and there took several observations, Cetting the aviation force of the Army of the Potomac ready for action. An old photograph showing workmen ir flali;lg 1he balloon Intrepid for a flight during one of the campaigns in Virginia. during which the enemy opened their batteries on the balloon and several shots passed by it and struck the ground beyond. These shots were the nearest to the U. S. Capitol that had been fired by the enemy, or have besen yet, during the war.” - (In 1864 Southern t:oops got into Washington from the North, and there was & hot skirmish at Fort Stevens, but it is almost certain that no shots fe)l as close to the Capitol as those fired at Lowe.) ROM this time the balloon was kept in con- stant use, and daily reports were made to commanders. Many alarms were given and the troops called out in line of battle, but in every instance after an examination had been made fiom the balloon the troops were sent back to their quarters and allowed to rest without dan- ger of being surprised. Confidence in the balloon soon began to be manifested, and- Gens. McClellan, McDowell, Porter and Martindale made flights with Lowe. At this time, Lowe had to take his balloon beck to Washington frequently at night to get it reinflated from the gas mains. But later he developed a portable hydrogen-meking ap- pargtus, which was carried on a wagon, and by which a balloon could be inflated .in the field in three hours. The use of hydrogen also gave the balioons greater.lifting power. Lowe generated hydrogen through the use of diluted sulphuric acid and scrap iron. The hot gas passed through leather tubes to lime-filled purifiers which removed impurities and cooled the gas. Lowe was then assigned to the Army of the Potomae, commanded by Mai. Gen. George B. McClellan, and while with this army Lowe's Balloon Coips consisted of himself as chief seronaut, one captain (assistant aeronaut), 50 Lowe. photographed in camp as he prepar ebservation flight. non-commissioned officers, two generators on wagons, two balloon wagons, one acid cart, and finally five balloons—the Intrepid, Constitution, Washington, Union and Eagle. OST of the ascensions were made in cap- tive balloon style, the balloon bcing let up at the end of a rope, and usually not more than 1,000 feet high, although each erew car- ried enough rope to let the balloon rise to about 2,000 feet. Sometimes only one rope was used, but one day a line broke while a general was in " the balloon by himself, and after that three or four ropes were always used. Occasicnally Lowe made free flights, drifting over-the enemy's territory until he had seen all he needed to, then rising to a greater altitude and finding a wind in the opposite direction which would carry him back home. One of the most interesting of the incidents contained in Lowe's repoit to the War Depart- ment deals with the towing of a fully inflated belloon from Washington to & camp on John- sons Hill, several miles up the Potomac on the - Virginia side. The balloon was tied to. & wagon, and the trip started. Out through' Washington and Georgetown it went, on the road to Chain Bridge (which, incidentally, still exists). The night was dark, the wind was blowing, and it was often necessary to cut down trees to allow the balloon to pass. They reached Chain Bridge at 3 o'clock in the morning and found it filled with Cavalry and Artillery going into Virginia. So they un- tied the balloon and Lowe’'s men, holding to the ropes, mounted the trestle-work and walked upon the stringers, only 18 inches wide and 100 feet above the river. The chief aeroneut of the Union Army in-the Civil War. Prof. Thaddeus S. C. ed to ride to his balloon for em “Thus,” Lowz said in his report, “with the balloon sbove their heads, myself in the car directing the management of the ropes. the men getting on and off the trestle work, with a col- umn of a‘tillery moving below, and 100 feet still Jower the deep and strong current rushing over the rocks, while the sky was dark above, the scene was novel, exciting and not a littie dangerous.” OR the next month, until November 10, 1861, Lowe directed the construction of balloons and gas generators. With the building of addi- tional gas bags, Lowe took on more experienced aeronsuts, and the various craft were given diffe;ent stations. He hired his father, €. Lowe, and a number of expert balloonists, in- cluding James Allen, E. S. Allen, Capt. E. Sea- ver, J. B. Starkweather snd William Paullin. The balloon Constitution was stationed at Budds Ferry, Va.: the Intrepid at Halls Hill, the Union at Poolesville, Md.; the Washington was shipped to Port Royal, S. C., and one bal- loon was shipped to Cairo, Ill, where it was used by Commodore Foote at the attack on Island No. 10 during the Mississippl River cam- peign. i During the bombardment s Navy officer as- cended and discovered that the Union shot and shell went beyond the enemy, and by altering the range the Union forces were soon able to compel the enemy to evacuate. The balloon which had been stationed at Budds Ferry, just below Mount Vernon (George Wash- ington’s home), worked in conjunction with an- other balloon on a boat in the Potomac, and their observations disclosed information which led within a few hours to the breaking up of a river blockade that had been costing the Gov- ernment $1,000,000 s day for the previous two months. From the middle of October, 1861, until the first of Ap:il, 1862, Prof. Lowe .was principally engaged in constructing new balloons, visiting the different balloon stations, keeping every- thing in order, and making frequent ascensions himself near Washington. . On the 3d of April, having taken a numberof . balloons by boat down to Fort Monroe, near Norfolk, Lowe was ordered to accompany Gen. Porter in his advance on Yorktown. McClel- lan's Richmond campaign was starting, and Lowe was destined to play a big part in it EAR Yorktown frequent ascensions were made. Gen. Porter himself went up and stayed nearly two hours, within a mile of the cnem)“s works. On descending, he called the generals together, and, with the aid of maps which draughtsmen had ‘made from the bal- loon that.day, decided on where to attack. From then until the evacuation of Yorktown the balloon was in the air almost constantly. “On almost every ascension,” Lowe wrote, “the enemy opened upon the balloon with their heavy siege guns or rifled field pieces, until it had attained an altitude to be out of reach, and repeated this fire when the balloon descended. Prof. Lowe's final comprehensive report to the War Department, written after he left the Army in the Summer of 1863, contains nearly 40,000 words, including hundreds of official orders, various military correspondence and re- ports sent down from the baloon by him. SBo it can be seen there is room here for but a small portion of these documents. ‘|T can be said, however, that Lowe was on the scene through the Seven Days’ Campaigl the battles-of -Fair. Oaks and Gaines Mill distinguished himself by his aerial observations. Meany times he actaally saved the day by re- Condinued on Thirieenth Peoge