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Kelley *********************************************************************** Ohio in the Civil War -- part 6 Balloons and The Civil War-- Continuation of previous article -- The new authority did not solve all Lowe's problems, however. Since the Balloon Corps was essentially a civilian organization, it ranked low on the bureau's list of priorities, and Lowe had difficulty getting the materials and money he needed. For a time, he was forced to use his own balloon and pay his aides out of his own pocket. Also, Lowe had under his command many of the amature aerialists who had volunteered their services to the Union. Without the benefits of the military's rigid heirarchy, controlling the resulting clash of monstrous egos would prove to be one of Lowe's greatest challenges. Lowe finally received funds to build a balloon on Aug 2, and the first American aeostat designd for military use was ready for deployment on the 28th. He also requested a portable apparatus for generating hydrogen gas in the field, but that expenditure was not yet approved, so he was forced to inflate the balloon with gas from municipal lines in Washington, D.C. The filled balloon could not be transported a great distance, so balloon operations were limited to that city and its outskirts. Lowe made a number of ascensions to observe the positions and movements of Confederate Troops near the Union capital and on, Sept 24, provided the most dramatic proof yet of the balloon's effectiveness. On that date, he ascended to an altitude of more than 1,000 feet near Arlington, Va. Securely cabled to earth, and with telegraphic equipment in place, he was soon transmitting the presence and position of Confederate infantry and heavy artillery at Falls Church, more than three miles away. In what became a first in the annals of warfare, Federal gun batteries directed their fire toward unseen opponents based solely on information provided by Lowe from his aerial station. The results, in the words of Lowe, " made such an accurate fire that the enemy was demoralized." The effect of this adventure on the fate of the Balloon Corps was equally dramatic. The next day, the Army's quartermaster general imformed Lowe, " the Secretary of War has directed that four additional balloons be at once constructed under your direction, together with such inflating apparutus as may be necessary for them and the one now in use. It is desirable that they be completed with the least possible delay." Meanwhile, LaMountain was capitalizing on his own exploits. He was a firm believer in the advantages of intelligence gathered by free flight, rather than go by ground tethering. He also believed in good publicity. An entry in the Rebellion Record newspaper, dated Oct 4,1861, reflcted such beliefs; " A balloon was seen passing over Washington ---[and] proved to be the airship of LaMountain, which had ascended from the Union Camp of the Potomac. It appears that when LaMountain rose to a certain distance he cut the rope which connected his balloon with the earth regardless of danger, and soared up a mile and a half, and got directly over rebel lines. Here he was enabled to make a perfect observation of their positions and all their movements, the results of which he communicated to head-quarters, and which are said to be of utmost imporance. When LaMountain completed his observation, he threw out sufficient ballast to enable him to a height of three miles, when he fell in with a counter current which carried him back in the direction of Maryland, thus passing over Washington." LaMountain was acting as a free-lance balloonist, not as a member of Lowe's Balloon Corps. His problems with equipment continued to dog him. He had been able to procure a newer airship, the "Saratoga", to complement the " Atlantic", but an inexperienced ground crew lost the Saratoga in a high wind on Nov 16,1861. Left with only one, well-worn aerostat, LaMountain cast a coveteous eye toward the equipment Lowe was amassing in Washington. The rivalry between the two men heated up wen Lowe refused to grant LaMountain use of any of his new ships. Lowe had a personal aversion to the manner in which LaMountain conducted himself, and was this that accounted for the Balloon Corps leader's refusal to cooperate. LaMountain, for his part, never acknowledged Lowe's command of the corps and even went so far as to exert his own influence with the press to challenge Lowe. An article that appeared in the New York Herald extolled the military use of balloons and suggested that Major General George B. McClellan, commander of the Union Army of the Potomac, would name LaMountain commander of the Balloon Corps. Lowe rightly perceived LaMountain as a rival and felt that, by denying him access to Balloon Corps resources, he was simply defending a position he had fought hard to obtain. LaMountain continued to assault Lowe, making free-flight ascensions with the Atlantic and playing up his own exploits in flagrant self-promotion. He plainly understood not only the military advantages of balloons, but also their entertainment value, as this " tall tale" from Rebellion Record reveals; " LaMountain had been up in his balloon, and went so high that he could see all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and observe what they had for dinner at Fort Pickens [ Florida ]. He made discoveries of an important character, my boy, and says that the rebels have concentrated several troops at Manassas. A reporter of the [New York] Tribune asked if he could see any negro insurrections, and he said he could see black spots moving near the South Caroline, but found out afterwards that they were only ants which got into his telescope." Lowe would point out to LaMountain's garrulous nature, scurrilous remarks, and extravagant stunts as evidence that the rival aeronaut was a detriment to the Balloon Corps. As the controversy built, both balloonists began summoning influential allies to their corners. After Benjamin Butler was transferred away from Fortress Monroe, LaMountain was able to gain support of a Bureau of Topographical Engineers officer by the name of McComb. McComb ordered Lowe to release one of his balloons for LaMountain's use. Lowe, in turn, appealed directly to McClelan, who had, over time, become a firm admirer of the Balloon Corps chief's efforts. Charges and counter-charges flew furiously between the two camps. LaMountain obtained information tat two newly constucted balloons lay unused in storage in Washington and claimed that Lowe was deliberately keeping these balloons out of service so he could purchase them for himself after the war. Lowe responded to LaMountain's accusations with a lengthy letter to McClellan which called LaMountain " a man who is known to be unscrupulous. and--- has assailed me without cause through the press and otherwise--- He has tampered with my men, tending to a demoralization of them, and in short, has stopped at nothing to injure me." " This man LaMountain has told my men that he is my superior, and is considered to be the Commanding General --- I do not think that I should serve this man by giving him possession of my improved balloons--- I submit that I should not be interfered with in the management of this matter." In the end, McClellan decided in Lowe's favor. Already impressed with Lowe's reconnaissamce work, as well as with his skill in organizing the Balloon Corps, McClellan ordered, on Feb 19,1862, that the disruptive LaMountain be dismissed from any further service with the military. LaMountain's dismissal was not an end to the problems the Balloon Corps faced. While Lowe wa now clearly in charge of his unit, the infighting between himself and LaMountain had done serious damage to the Corp's morale. Moreover,other Military commanders were given to question just how much help a group of civilians, who were prone to outbursts of egotistical temperament, would be in the future. During these operations, as with most Northern balloon ascents, enemy artillery was constantly trained on the fragile vessels. Despite this relentless bombardment, however, man and equipment rarely suffered injury. 19th century artillerists found it nearly impossible to hit the relatively small targets suspended in mid-air. Neverless, the end of the Balloon Corps came well before the end of the war itself. The corps had chaulked up a number of impressive firsts and proved itself to be of tactical value, but a series of changes in Army command began to shunt Lowe and his unit deeper into obscurity. By 1863, one of Lowe's most important supporters, George McClellan was relieved of command. In April 1863, Capt Cyrus Comstock was the military attache assigned to oversee the organization. Comstock ordered immediate cutbacks in supplies and personnel, leaving Lowe incresingly hampered in his operations. In addition, new charges of improprieties were being leveled at Lowe. One charge asserted that he was not keeping adeqate records of the Corp's expenses. He countered that his first priority was not record keeping, but meeting the needs of commanders in the field. He was also having personal finacial problems, however, and was receiving letters almost weekly from his long- suffering wife, pleading for money to make ends meet. When Comstock informed him that his pay, $ 10.00 per day since the beginning of the war, was being reduced to $ 6.00 per day. Lowe had enough. After stuggling in vain to have the pay cut revoked, Lowe reluctantly tendered his resignation from the Balloon Corps on May 8, 1863. The Corps itself continued on for a few more months under the direction of the brothers Ezra and James Allen, but the spirit that had driven the aerialists had been lost. By August 1863, the organization was quiely disbanded. The Balloon Corps was phased out at a time when many had just to begun to repect its value in the field of warfare. The rivalry among the bickering aeronauts had cast a negative shadow on the corps, to be sure, but the intelligence gathered about Confederate troops would seem to have made up for that. A Confederate artillery chief pointed out another aspect o the balloonists' threat; " I have never understood why the enemy abandoned the use of military balloons in 1863, after using them extensively up to that time. Even if the observers never saw anything, they would have been worth it all they cost by the annoyance and delays they caused us trying to keep our movements out of their sight." The Union's Civil War aeronauts pioneered a number of techniques that would later become indispensible elements of warfare. Aerial observation and telegraphy were only two of their accomplishments; Lowes experimental ascents from the deck of the U.S.S G.W. Parke-Custis on the Potomic River in Nov 1861 forshadowed the aircraft carriers of the 20th century, and the corps' wartime experiments in aerial photography and cartography provided a startling glimpse into future direction of warfare. It may seem strange to modern historians that civil war commanders failed to recognize and exploit the full potential of balloon flight. Here was an opportunity to seize the ultimate high ground; the sky above the battlefield. Officers had not been trained to see novel technologies like balloons as solutions to military problems, and the stanchest traditionalist fostered a general suspicion and mistrust of the few civilian aeroonauts who knew in the future the real potential of balloon reconnaissance. The civil war " air force" was finally grounded in 1863, the record suggests it was because of this ingrained short-sightedness. In the end, balloons were simply ahead of their time. *********************************************** To be continued in part 7--