pagesofhistory Up and Away
On the National Mall, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum celebrates the 150th anniversary of the use of the balloon to gather intelligence during the Civil War.
I
n June, visitors to the National Mall could witness a curious sight: A 19,000-cubic-foot netted gas balloon.
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum displayed the balloon to mark the 150th anniversary of a demonstration of the balloon’s utility for intelligence gathering during the Civil War. On June 11, 1861, Thaddeus Lowe met
with Abraham Lincoln and suggested using balloon reconnaissance to aid the Union Army in the Civil War, which had begun a few months earlier. To demonstrate the balloon’s intelli-
gence-gathering capabilities, Lowe teth- ered the Enterprise on the National Mall and took with him a telegrapher. As he flew 500 feet over Washington, D.C., he deliv- ered reports to the White House on what he was seeing in a 25-mile radius below. Lincoln was sold and ordered the War Department to establish the Union Bal- loon Corps. In the next two years, the corps made thousands of flights, notably during the 1862 Peninsula campaign and 1863 battles of Fredericksburg and Chan- cellorsville in Virginia. However, the balloons required a great deal of logistical support to move, inflate, and operate. Also, the military found it difficult to disseminate the resulting intel- ligence to the men on the ground. Today, unmanned balloons continue
to provide critical intelligence-gathering, reconnaissance, and surveillance in ongo- ing military operations.
PHOTO: COURTESY SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM
During the Smithsonian demonstration on the mall, reenactors portrayed Lowe, Lincoln, and the Union soldiers. The balloon used was a replica built in 1941. The museum also gave pre- sentations and hands-on educational activities on bal- looning and espionage dur- ing the Civil War.
T
Site Chosen for Army Museum he North Post of Fort Belvoir, Va., will be the home of
the new National Museum of the U.S. Army, scheduled to open in June 2015. Museum construction will be funded privately through the Army Historical Foundation, a nonprofit organization. Initial work will include a multistory main museum building with ex- hibit halls, a theater, food service and retail areas, and an experiential learning center. The Army is the only service without
a centralized museum. The National Mu- seum of the Marine Corps is at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.; the National Museum of the U.S. Navy is at the Wash- ington, D.C., Navy Yard; the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force is at Wright- Patterson AFB, Ohio; and the U.S. Coast Guard Museum is at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.
MO
History Lesson On Sept. 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote the words to “The Star- Spangled Banner” after seeing the American flag still was flying over Bal- timore’s Fort McHenry. The flag signaled the American forces had turned away the British during the War of 1812.
Thaddeus Lowe inflates the bal- loon Enterprise in Cincinnati in 1861, just months be- fore demonstrat- ing to President Lincoln its intelli- gence-gathering capabilities.
SEPTEMBER 2011 MILITARY OFFICER 97
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