Around 4:00 AM on April 20, 1861, Thaddeus Lowe signaled his men and set off in the Enterprise, his balloon, on a trip to Washington DC. As he continued rising he began to head east. Soon, however, unforeseen complications set in. At 7,000 feet, the temperature dropped below zero. As the gas in the balloon froze it formed ice crystals. When Lowe opened the neck of the balloon to vent some of its gas, a large amount of the icy buildup fell out of the balloon, causing it to ascend even further. Gaining altitude, Lowe was pushed further south by the winds of the Alleghenies. He finally set down in South Carolina near Pea Ridge in Kelton, about 9 miles from the present-day city of Union. The marker below was damaged in May of 2024 and was in the process of being replaced (you can see the metal post in the foreground). The pictures below of sign #44-16 are from the Historical Marker Database.

Lowe was taken to the county seat Unionville (now Union), SC, arriving there around 10 PM that evening and was initially confined in the county jail.

In town, the hotel landlord, a Mr. Black, recognized Lowe, whom he had seen doing balloon experiments in Charleston the year before, and confirmed his identity. Lowe was sent to Columbia where he was initially arrested on charges of spying for the Union. He was brought before the president and several faculty members of South Carolina College that were familiar with his work and vouched for his identity. The mayor of Columbia furnished him with a passport on April 22, 1861 which enabled him to return with his balloon to Cincinnati:

THIS IS TO CERTIFY, that Prof. T.S.C. Lowe, now accidentally in our midst, is a gentleman of integrity and high scientific attainments, and I bespeake for him the courtesies of all with whom he may come in contact, and trust that this letter, to which I have affixed the seal of the City of Columbia, S.C., will answer as a passport for him through the Confederate States of North America.

(Signed) W.H. Boatright, Mayor

Though Lowe did not reached Washington, his exploits were widely reported in the newspapers. With the encouragement of Joseph Henry, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Lowe came to Washington to demonstrate his balloon. Lowe’s friends, meanwhile, had contacted Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase and asked the administration to consider Lowe. On his arrival in the capital he met with Joseph Henry, who urged him to call on Chase and introduced him to Secretary of War Simon Cameron. Henry also sent a very strong message of support, claiming that Mr. Lowe’s balloon would retain its charge for several days under normal circumstances; that in an inflated condition it could be towed by a few men along an ordinary road or over fields in calm weather; that it could be tethered in the air on a calm day to a height sufficient to observe the country on a twenty mile radius; and that telegrams could be sent from the balloon to the quarters of the commanding officer.

On June 18, 1861, he ascended in the Enterprise 500 feet above the capital, telegraphing President Lincoln in the White House: “This point of observation commands an area nearly fifty miles in diameter. The city with its girdle of encampments presents a superb scene. I have pleasure in sending you this first dispatch ever telegraphed from an aerial station and in acknowledging indebtedness to your encouragement for the opportunity of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics in the service of the country. T.S.C. Lowe” Lowe placed his gas generators on the Mall near the Smithsonian Institution, near the Washington Gas Works, launching the balloon from the present site of the National Air and Space Museum. A message from Mr. Lincoln waited for Lowe when he reached the ground. He was requested to call on the President that evening to discuss further plans for a balloon corps. Lincoln introduced him to General Winfield Scott, head of all Union armies. Eventually he was chosen over several other candidates to be chief aeronaut of the newly formed Union Army Balloon Corps.

Lowe received a telegram from Captain Whipple directing him to fill the balloon and bring it and the telegraphic equipment tools to Arlington. On June 22nd the balloon was inflated and towed across Long Bridge and up the hill to Arlington House. Lowe was ordered to take it to Falls Church the next morning. Just before dawn the group proceeded to the Arlington and Loudoun Railroad where Lowe learned that there were no pickets out in the direction of Falls Church and he could not go by train. The balloon was let up by ropes high enough to discover that it was safe to go on and they proceeded to walk two more miles to Bailey’s Crossroads towing the balloon. There Lowe was informed that a Confederate scouting party had just left, anticipating that a large military force accompanied the balloon. The company then marched up the Alexandria-Leesburg Turnpike, balloon bobbing overhead, to Falls Church. At Taylor’s Tavern it was kept in constant use for two days (June 24-25). General Tyler, commander of the First Division that occupied the area, sent up with Lowe Major Leyard Colburn of the 2nd Connecticut who sketched a map of the countryside and observed the actions of the Confederate forces at Fairfax Courthouse. General Tyler who was initially skeptical about the technology was impressed when he saw Colburn’s map. Several of the other officers, including Captain Whipple, also went up with Lowe. The balloon had been inflated for four days and had made numerous reconnaissance ascensions during this first experience at using balloons for military purposes in the United States.

Lincoln ordered the formation of the Union Army Balloon Corps, with Lowe as chief aeronaut. Lowe received the equivalent pay of a colonel (although he worked as a civilian), plus materials and labor. Initially Lowe had to inflate his balloons with coal gas from Washington, D.C. city lines, and tow it to the war zone. He subsequently developed a portable apparatus for generating gas in the field. His generators would use dilute sulfuric acid on iron filings to give off pure hydrogen.

Over a 34-day period in late summer, Lowe made 23 flights from Fort Corcoran and Ball’s Cross Roads (present-day Ballston). These ascents drew the first rifled artillery fire at a balloon from Confederate positions. In September, he implemented another first when he used signal flags to direct artillery fire from a balloon at the area of Falls Church where Confederate J.E.B. Stuart’s troops were celebrating their commander’s promotion to Brigadier General. Chief of the newly formed U.S. Army Aeronautical Corps, Lowe commanded seven balloons, eight aeronauts and 12 portable generators used to inflate the balloons. The largest Union balloons, the Intrepid and the Union each had a capacity of 32,000 cubic feet of lifting gas. Gas needed to fill these crafts was supplied by special hydrogen-generating inflation wagons, or by diverting gas from nearby municipal lines. Each balloon could carry up to five people. Other smaller balloons carried fewer people and the smallest including the Eagle and the Excelsior carried only a single person. Most balloons used during the Civil War were used in the Eastern Theater, especially during the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days battles.

Lowe ended his career with the Union army when the newly appointed commander, Joseph Hooker sharply reduced the role of aeronautics in the Army of the Potomac in late 1863.

Monuments to Balloonists

Source

Thaddeus Lowe: His Confederate Adventure by William C. Schmidt Jr. University of South Carolina in Caroliniana Columns, Issue 29, Spring 2011, pages 6-10.