GDG- Balloons

[Tom Ryan]

Steve and Toby,

	The balloon corps had been disbanded prior to the Gettysburg Campaign.  It
was a civilian run organization and a concept that the AoP never completely
bought into.  There was considerable friction between Thadeous Lowe, the
genius behind the balloon project, and the military officers who worked with
him.  For a combination of political and logistical issues, the entire
program went by the wayside right before Gettysburg.

	Like other innovations the Union army was slow to adopt, airborne balloons
unfortunately were no more.  A good source on the subject is "War of the
Aeronauts:  A History of Ballooning in the Civil War" by Charles M. Evans.

Tom Ryan

-----Original Message-----
From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com
[mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com]On Behalf Of Toby Zimmerman
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 1:37 PM
To: GDG
Subject: Re: GDG- Balloons


Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


Steve:

  I believe I read they were used at Fredericksburg.

  My guess as to why they were not used at Gettysburg is:  Gettysburg wasn't
supposed to happen.  It was just two armies that stumbled upon each other,
so the time necessary to get them and deploy them was not enough, as the
battle was over by then.  I would guess the mechanics to transport them by
an army in the field would have been immense.

  Thanks
  Toby

Steve Goertzen <sgoertzen at AAG.DESE.com> wrote:
  Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


On the History channel last night (Wednesday), I saw a program talking
about how the Union used observation balloons at various battles. I
have never seen anything referring to the use of these balloons at
Gettysburg. Does anyone know whether or not they were used, and if not,
why not?



Stephen Goertzen

Senior Software Developer

DESE Research, Inc

(913)-758-0050 x230

sgoertzen at aag.dese.com





----------------------------------------------------------------
You may unsubscribe by going to
http://mailman.arthes.com/mailman/listinfo/gettysburg

You can add yourself to the GDG map at:
http://www.frappr.com/gettysburgdiscussiongroup

View archived posts from May 2004 - present at
http://mailman.arthes.com/pipermail/gettysburg/



---------------------------------
Access over 1 million songs - Yahoo! Music Unlimited.
                   ---------------------------------------------------------
-------
You may unsubscribe by going to
http://mailman.arthes.com/mailman/listinfo/gettysburg

You can add yourself to the GDG map at:
http://www.frappr.com/gettysburgdiscussiongroup

View archived posts from May 2004 -  present at
http://mailman.arthes.com/pipermail/gettysburg/