Lighter-Than-Air Dreams — Conclusion (Part 3 of 3)
Arriving home, Thad’s visit was cut short by a telegram waiting for him from Secretary of the Treasury Chase, summoning him to bring his balloon to Washington at his earliest convenience. The national capital was filled with fearing activity as the government prepared to defend itself from Confederate armies moving toward it. During his travels through the South, Thad had heard that the Confederacy had its eye on Washington. And now, enemy soldiers were seen near the city.
Chase encouraged Thad to seek out chief of staff, General Winfield Scott, about the need of forming an air corps. The secretary warned him that Scott was busy building the army into a war machine, and that he had no real interest in anything new. To make matters worse, though Thad came highly recommended by Halstead, editor of the Cincinnati Commercial, he had a lot of competition — the Allen brothers from Providence, John the Dutchman, Steiner and Wise, and John LaMountain. Chase had every confidence that Thad was the man to head the new department and promised the young flyer that he would see about getting him an appointment with President Lincoln.
Within a few days, Thad was notified that he was to meet with the president on the evening of June 11. That evening, when he and Professor Henry (secretary of The Smithsonian) were lead into the study, they found the commander-in-chief having coffee with Secretary of War Cameron and General Scott. After a few formalities, Thad spoke with the president on the importance of taking advantage of this new technology and urged Lincoln to allow him to show the advantages that the Union would have over its enemy through a demonstration.
Thad requested that the president provide telegraphic equipment and an operator, with a crew of eight to inflate and launch the Enterprise. For funds, he requested $250. The president agreed and signed a provision for supplies. Within a week the demonstration flight was ready. The American Telegraph Company provided the equipment and sent along Herbert Robinson as the operator. The Enterprise lifted from its moorings on the Smithsonian grounds with half a mile of wire trailing behind. Thad asked Herbert if he was ready. The operator replied, “Ready to send.”
“Balloon Enterprise
Washington, D.C.
June 18, 1861
To the President of the United States:
Sir: This point of observation commands an area nearly 50 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 for your encouragement for the opportunity of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics in the service of the country.
T. S. C. Lowe”
The experiment was a success in convincing the president of the need for and advantage of aerial reconnaissance. When Thad landed he was given a note of congratulations and was asked to call on the president to discuss plans for an air corps. The next day, Thad went to General Scott with a letter of approval from the president. Scott was as disgruntled and arrogant as ever, and without even offering Thad a seat, he told Thad that he didn’t have time to listen to every mad dreamer that came through the door. Thad and Professor Henry were shocked at Scott’s refusal to help in spite of the letter from the president.
Henry made his report to Secretary Cameron on June 21, and that same afternoon, Thad received a communication from Captain Amiel Whipple of the Topographical Engineers ordering him to bring his balloon and telegraph equipment to nearby Arlington. Everyone agreed that the following five days of reconnaissance was proof enough of the balloon’s value. Yet, when Thad presented his detailed report to Captain Whipple, he was told that his old nemesis, John Wise, had submitted a budget far less than his own and had been authorized to prepare his balloon, Atlantic, for combat.
The captain went on to say there was a place in the program for Thad if he wanted it. Thad laughed out loud when Whipple told the aeronaut that considering his experience, he would make a first-class assistant for Wise. Thad made some remark about not trusting that old, worn-out contraption nor Wise himself, because the man had not had a new idea in 20 years. Without looking back, Thad stormed from the office.
Professor Henry encouraged Thad not to give up; Whipple knew nothing about aeronautics and was probably about to learn a bitter lesson. June turned into July, and still Wise had not made an appearance. On the 16th, General McDowell began moving his troops to Bull Run. On the 20th, Whipple authorized Thad to go aloft and take a look at Confederate movements. The Enterprise was half inflated when Thad heard someone shouting from above. He looked up and saw Wise. The old man landed, and after waving a handful of official papers in Thad’s face, he demanded that That leave the area, saying he was in charge and would go aloft in his Atlantic.
On Sunday morning, July 21, the two army juggernauts clashed at Bull Run. Wise had been aloft since the evening before, but it was almost noon when Captain Whipple received word that the Atlantic was entangled in a grove of trees and rendered useless. Whipple immediately ordered Thad to take the Enterprise aloft and finish the job Wise and his Atlantic had failed to do. All afternoon and into the night, Thad and his crew hovered over the battlefield and observed Union troops deserting the field. By morning large groups of bluecoats were limping into their camp on the Potomac.
On the July 25 Thad was pacing back and forth in front of General Scott’s office. Four times he sent the general a handwritten note given to him the evening before. It read, “Will Lt. General Scott please see Professor Lowe once more about his balloon? July 25, 1861 [signed] A. Lincoln”
Thoroughly disgusted, Thad left the War Department and marched to the White House determined to see Mr. Lincoln. Though the anteroom was filled with petitioners, Thad was escorted into the president’s office. Within minutes the president burst from his office with Thad immediately behind. The two quick-stepped to Scott’s office and charged through the door unannounced. After all, who was going to stop the president of the United States?
Scott was astonished to come face-to-face with his commander-in-chief, who opened the conversation, “General, this is my friend, Professor Lowe, who is organizing an aeronautic corps for the army, and is to be its chief. I wish you would facilitate his work in every way.” Scott was instructed to inform the quartermaster that he was to supply all the needs for the Aeronautic Corps on land and sea.
Two days later, Captain Whipple ordered Thad to be in Arlington within 24 hours and ready for duty. The one-man Aeronautic Corps argued that the Enterprise was too old, too bulky, and too un-maneuverable for reconnaissance, but Whipple insisted on carrying out the mission. Thad reluctantly went aloft, but the weather was not in his favor, and a heavy thunderstorm blew the ship into an entangling grove of trees, rendering it unfit for duty.
Whipple would have given up on the air corps project, but his superiors overruled him. On August 2, 1861, Thad was authorized to build the first war balloon. The Eagle was ready for duty 26 days later and 30 men were assigned to inflate and transport the balloon. The next day, Thad was ordered to report to General George McClellan, the commander of the Army of the Potomac, at 3:00am.
On its first assignment, the Eagle proved itself to be well worth its cost. From the air it was observed that a number of the Confederate batteries around Washington were dummies and that the Confederate army did not have sufficient numbers to storm the city. The Eagle and its aeronaut so convinced the War Department of its value that a requisition for two more balloons and a portable generator was signed on September 16.
The greatest problem Thad encountered was finding aeronauts for the new corps. More than half of the more serious and experienced balloonists had been rivals for the same army post. How could they ever become accustomed to taking orders? Thad was especially surprised when William Paullin, his colleague from Philadelphia; the Allen brothers; and John Steiner all accepted his offer.
On October 12 Thad received orders to proceed to Lewisville, Virginia, where a battle was in progress. During the mission, gale-like winds destroyed the Eagle. The balloon’s gas bag was recovered near Baltimore and brought back for renovation. There was an upside to the disaster. It freed Thad to personally oversee the construction of the two new balloons.
Because the Confederates were preparing to blockade the Potomac, there was no let-up on construction, renovation, and training of the new aeronauts. No sooner was the Constitution ready for duty the first week of November that General Joe Hooker requested a balloon for mapping and reconnaissance. William Paullin was placed at the helm while Thad trained the others.
Other balloons quickly followed. The Washington was sent to Port Royal, South Carolina; the Intrepid was located at Harper’s Ferry; and its sister ship, the Union, remained in Washington. Within weeks the Eagle’s sister ship, the Excelsior, was commissioned.
The Aeronautic Corps was officially made a branch of the US Army on December 22, 1862, and Thad was commissioned an honorary colonel. The following spring, in March 1863, the Aeronautic Department became a separate unit of the army, yet no official commission was given to Thad. Just one week later, the operation of the corps was taken from his hands, and he was given a drastic reduction in pay. Thad soon tendered his resignation.
Before his resignation Thad had perfected an improved calcium light that offered the military the ability to conduct night operations. As usual, General Scott showed no interest. The inventor also offered his magnifying lens. He believed that photos taken from the air could be enlarged from three inches to 20 feet, making visible the smallest objects not usually seen with the naked eye.
Going into retirement did not mean stagnation to Thad. That fall, after his resignation in the spring, Thad was dreaming of refrigeration. Imagine … preserving meats, fruits, and vegetables. No more salting, drying, or pickling. To finance his research, he fell back on his most reliable moneymaker. He set up a balloon station in New York’s Central Park and offered balloon rides to the public. He was even ahead of his times for wacky wedding. In November 1865 he piloted the first aerial matrimony. With enough funds in hand, he closed his balloon-for-hire business and worked on perfecting his “Compression Ice Machine,” which was the beginning of cold storage.
Two years later he was given a most temping offer when His Imperial Majesty, Pedro II of Brazil, wanted to hire Lowe to build an aeronautical corps for use in his war with Paraguay. For his services Thad would be given a commission, $180 a month in gold, all expenses paid, and a generous land grant. Ultimately he rejected the offer, recommending the Allen brothers. Ezra Allen would later write that the balloon corps had given a priceless advantage to the Brazilian army.
Thad had enough of war, and he wanted to spend his energies on contributing to his nation’s technology through his refrigeration system. In December 1867 the steamer William Tabor, equipped with Lowe’s refrigeration unit, sailed from Galveston, loaded with meat, vegetables, and fruit, and arrived in New York with its cargo virtually as fresh as the day it had left. Fearing spoilage and food poisoning, the public was skeptical of foodstuffs left unpreserved for so long, so the venture failed.
Undaunted, Thad began work on other ideas associated with the generator machine he had perfected. In 1872, he created a water gas process that could bring light, heat, and cooking facilities to the public. This process was widely used until it was replaced by electricity in the 20th century.
Thad, Leontine, and their four children moved to California’s Sierra Madre Mountains in 1888. On a peak he erected an astronomical observatory where visitors were carried to the top by a water-powered cogwheel railway. Two years later, in 1890, the state of California named the peak Mount Lowe.
In experimenting with a system to produce gas and fuel, two by-products were introduced to the world — Carbonite and calcium carbide. Thad had discovered that calcium carbide was a source of acetylene gas, which produced light for homes and barns far from a source of gas. This was widely used in lighthouses, buoys, and later, automobiles. All the while, other men were working to perfect travel on the wings of the wind.
Thaddeus was 80 years old when he died in January 1913. His life ended on the eve of a new era, an era that he had dreamed for. A few years after his death, the first World War began. It was a war that would be fought in the sky as well as on land.
Though Thad Lowe’s improved lighter-than-air balloons were a giant step toward today’s aircraft, many important people who might have expedited the process disregarded it as unworthy of study. For being too stingy with their budget, the US lost a valuable resource for reconnaissance and disrupting the enemy. Following the Civil War, Confederate General E. P. Alexander remarked, “I have never understood why the enemy [the United States] abandoned the use of military balloons. Even if the observers never say anything, they would have been worth all they cost for the annoyance and delay they caused us in trying to keep our movements out of their sight.”
Sources for the information in this series were Thaddeus Lowe, Mary Hoehling, the Union Daily Times, and The Yorkville Enquirer.
J.L. West – Author
This article and many others found on the pages of Roots and Recall, were written by author J.L. West, for the YC Magazine and have been reprinted on R&R, with full permission – not for distribution or reprint!
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