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

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