Civil War Technology-- Part 4: Money, Lincoln and Lowe

From the McHenry County Civil War Round Table discussion group, October 2022.

**  MONEY

GREENBACKS:  As a way to pay the Army.  Use of stamps as money.    Lincoln's wallet (at Ford's Theater) has a compartment for stamps.

Confederate money was only redeemable ten years after the war.

**  LINCOLN

A big supporter of any and all things new with technology and innovation.  He even had a patent for a way to get boats over shallow water.

**  THADDEUS LOWE

He had a competitor at Fortress Monroe.  A Union barge as a base to launch balloons could be considered the first U.S. aircraft carrier.

A Balloon Corps was established.  Zeppelin came to visit Lowwe during the war.

Thomas Jefferson had seen the Montgofier Brothers launch a balloon in Paris.

--Old Secesh

Some More Technology

**  Standard shoe sizing

**  Aerial surveillance

**  Signal Corps

**  Dart-tipped grenades

10.  Jelly Beans  (an ideal candy to send to soldiers)

Give Me Those Jelly Bellies.  --Old Secesh

Civil War Technology-- Part 2

Continuing with the opening questions for the McHenry County (Illinois) Civil War Round Table discussion group's October meeting.

Answer the question and tell what technology it refers to.

6.  Who was the Union Secretary of the Treasury?   What did he do in regards to raising money for the war effort?

7.  Who was the Union man responsible for bringing observation to new heights?  And what did he push?

8.  Who's system was used  by the pass messages on the battlefield other than the telegraph??

9.  What were limelights?

10.  What were they also known as?

Answers below.

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6.  Salmon P. Chase.  Instituted the Federal Income Tax.  This continued until 1872, when it was rules unconstitutional.

7.  Professor ThaddeusS.C. Lowe.  Balloons.

8.  Albert James Myer.  These messages were passed by flags during the day and by turpentine torches at night.

9.  Bright incandescent lights which had been used in theaters before the war.

10.  Calcium or drummond lights.

--Old Secesh

Custer During the McClellan's Peninsular Campaign

From the August 12, 2013, Hampton Roads (Va.) Daily Press  "Custer finds a Confederate classmate among Williamsburg's  Civil War wounded" by Mark St. John Erickson.

Second Lt. George Armstrong Custer was not the famous person he would be as he moved with the Army of the Potomac up the Virginia Peninsula in the spring of 1862 during McClellan's Peninsular Campaign.

He was just age 22, but already had a way of putting himself in the spotlight.  He had become one of the first Union officers to ascend in a balloon and he also played a stand-out role in the May 5, 1862, Battle of Williamsburg when he guided Brigadier General  Winfield Scott Hancock's brigade across a narrow dam and into a position to threaten the rear of the Confederate Army.

--Old Secesh

One Really Good Civil War Exhibit

Now that it's gone, I figure it's a good time to write about it. This past year, to commemorate the beginning of the Civil War, 150 years ago, the Lake County Discovery Museum in Illinois had a special exhibit called "Civil War High Tech."

I was able to get out to it during its last week and wish I'd gone a couple times.

It concentrated on technological break throughs during the war, including: repeating firearms, ironclad ships, reconnaissance balloons, telegraph, submarines and railroads.

I wrote about the ironclads in my Running the Blockade blog. But, it did have a full-size mock-up of the Monitor's turret, right down to the bolts.

The whole thing was really interactive with plenty of things to do and hands-on-activities. A summer camp group came while I was there and those kids had a ball touching and doing. I would have thought they'd be bored in the gourd.

One of the first things I came across was the basket of an observation balloon, called a gondola. The bottom was on some sort of a fulcrum so when you stepped into it, it moved. Sure gave me a jump. Once I got back into it, I could peer over the side and see a battle going on under me.

More to Come. --Old Secesh

The Civil War's "Kitty Hawk" Moment-- Part 2

Mike Boehme, director of the Virginia Aviation Museum said, "This was the first time that opposing air forces were facing each other."

Today, the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT), a nonprofit group devoted to saving battlefields, is seeking to save the ground where the Union balloons were launched. Little of the original Gaines Mill Battlefield has been preserved, but the 285-acre slice of it the group wants to save includes the ravine that shielded the balloons from Confederate fire.

Gaines Mill was one of the biggest and bloodiest battles where Confederate General Robert E. Lee recorded his first victory on June 27, 1862, which led to the Seven Days battles which turned away Union forces trying to capture Richmond.

The CWPT's Rob Shenk was attending a Civil War ballooning presentation when he realized that the launch site was part of the land the group was about to save.

Until the war, balloons were mostly a fair attraction. Come the war, New Englander Thaddeus Lowe became the Father of military aerial reconnaissance by dazzling President Lincoln with the balloon possibilities.

There Is No Place Like Home. --Old B-R'er

The Civil War's "Kitty Hawk" Moment-- Part 1

From the Nov. 27th Goldsboro News-Argus "Nonprofit aims to preserve Civil War's 'Kitty Hawk' moment" by AP.

It happened June 27, 1862, at the Civil War Battle of Gaines' Mill, part of the Seven Days Battles, when both Union and Confederate aeronauts took to the skies simultaneously for the first time.

Two Union balloons, the Washington and Intrepid were launched and their Confederate enemy balloon, the Gazelle, also took to the skies. All were up there to observe enemy movements from 1,000 feet high.

"You had the Confederate balloon up and the Union balloons up, all trying to exploit the advantages of being above and over the battlefield and providing tactical information to their respective generals," says Mike Boehne, director of the Virginia Aviation Museum.

Up, Up and Away in My Beautiful Balloon. --Old B-Runner

Naval Happenings 150 Years Ago: Fort Fisher Fired On

From the Civil War Naval Chronology 1861-1865.

NOVEMBER 11, 1861-- Thaddeus Lowe made a balloon observation of Confederate forces from the Balloon Boat G.W. Parke Curtis anchored in the Potomac River. The early aircraft carrier was purchased for $150 and readied fr service at the Washington Navy Yard. It was towed to the site by the steamer Couer de Lion.

NOVEMBER 12, 1861-- The Fingal (later CSS Atlanta) purchased in England, ran the Savannah blockade with military supplies, the first ship to run the blockade on solely Confederate government account.

NOVEMBER 15, 1861-- Confederate commissioners Mason and Slidell disembarked from the USS San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes,at Fort Monroe.

NOVEMBER 16, 1861-- Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory advertised for plans and bids for construction of four seagoing ironclads capable of carrying four guns each.

Today, 1861-- The USS Monticello, Lt. Braine, engaged Confederate battery near New Inlet, North Carolina. That would be Fort Fisher. This is tye first action of read of at Fort Fisher in the Civil War Naval Chronology.


NOVEMBER 22, 1861-- The USS Niagara, Flag officer McKean, USS Richmond, Capt. Ellison, and Fort Pickens began two day bombardment against Confederate defenses at Fort McRee, the Pensacola Navy Yard and the town of Warrington. Much damage done to Confederate positions and USS Richmond.

NOVEMBER 24, 1861-- A landing party from the USS Flag, Cmdr. J. Rodgers, USS Augusta, Pochahontas, Seneca and Savannah took possession of Tybee Island, Savannah. Admiral Du Pont attributed the Confederate abandonment of the island without a fight was "due to the terror inspired by the bombardment of Forts Walker and Beauregard...."

Skeered Away Again. --Old B-Runner

USS/CSS Fanny

This past Wednesday, I noted that the first balloon ascension from a self-propelled warship took place on August 3, 1861. In effect, making the USS Fanny, the first aircraft carrier. (Several times earlier, balloons were launched from a barge, but that had to be towed.)

I looked up the Fanny and found that it was classified as either a gunboat, a supply ship and that it was operated by the US Quartermaster Corps.

Balloonist John LaMountain made several ascensions from it.

Later in the war, the Fanny was captured by Confederates and became the CSS Fanny and part of the North Carolina Mosquito Fleet before it was burned to prevent capture February 10, 1862.

Not Exactly an Impressive Name for a Warship. --Old B-R'er

A Big Day in Naval History Today: Naval Aviation and Steel Navy

From the Civil War Naval Chronology for August 3, 1861, 150 years ago.

I've been getting this off the web, but it turns out I also have the book.

This date, 150 years ago:

** JOHN LaMOUNTAIN ascended from a balloon from the deck of the USS Fanny at Hampton Roads to observe Confederate batteries at Sewell's Point, Virginia. This would be the beginning of Naval Aviation.

** Also this date: Congress authorized Secretary of the Navy Welles to "appoint a board of three skillful naval officers to investigate the plans and specifications that may be submitted for the construction or completing of iron or steel-clad steamships or steam batteries...there is hereby appointed...the sum of one million five hundred thousand dollars."

Commodore Joseph Smith, Captain Hiram Pauling and Commander Charles H. Davis appointed to the Ironclad Board August 8th. The beginning of the steel navy.

Also this date:

** The USS Wabash, Captain Mercer, recaptured the American schooner Mary Alice, which had been taken by the Confederate privateer Dixie. It also captured the blockade-running brig Sarah Starr, off Charleston, SC.


** The USS South Carolina, Commander Alden, engaged Confederate batteries at Galveston, Texas.

Quite a Day for the US Navy. --Old B-R'er

Union Balloons-- Part 2

The last two balloons were 60 feet tall and made of silk with a heavy linen cord casing covered with layers of shellac to keep gas from escaping.

No balloon was ever hit by Confederate fire because they were kept far behind lines, out of range.

At Budd's ferry in Maryland, balloons were launched from a barge in the middle of the river, hence, the first aircraft carrier.

Balloon pilots received $10 a day, the same as a colonel got.

However, in April 1863, the use of balloons stopped.

In 1891, Confederate General E.P. Alexander related, "I have never understood why the enemy abandoned the use of military balloons early in 1863, after using then extensively up to that time. Even if the observer never saw anything they would have been worth all they cost for the annoyance and delays they caused us in trying to keep our movements out of their sight."

Thaddeas Lowe made and lost several fortunes before dying penniless in 1913.

A Little-Known Aspect of the War. --Old B-R'er

Union Balloons-- Part 1

From the October 9, 2010, Saratogian (Saratoga, NY) "Fight or flight...or both: Balloon Corps gives Union upper hand during the Civil War" by Paul Post.

Thaddeus Lowe of New Hampshire was tracking Confederate movements from up to a half-mile in the sky. In May 1862, he saved the day for Union forces at Fair Oaks, Virginia.

Back on June 16, 1861, he had demonstrated balloon capability to Lincoln on the White House grounds when he rose to 600 feet where he could see for a 50 mile diameter.

The baskets of the balloons had a telegraph key for communicating with the ground. Lincoln was impressed and sent a letter to General Winfield Scott ordering five balloons: Union, Enterprise, Constitution, Intrepid and Washington.

More to Come. --Old B-Runner