While it looks like little more than a manmade atoll in the middle of the Potomac, the Custis paved the way for the integrated operation of air and sea units. According to the Smithsonian's U.S. Centennial Flight Commission, she towed one of Lowe's balloons for 13 miles (21 kilometers) at an altitude of 1,000 feet (305 meters) while Lowe made continuous observations on Confederate troop movements. Other barges were converted to assist with the other military balloons: Apart from the Custis, LaMountain frequently used the deck of the small vessel Fanny to launch an observation balloon 2,000 feet (610 meters) over the James River in Virginia. The Smithsonian notes that word of the Americans' achievements even reached Europe, where the Prussian army sent Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (yes, that one) to study Lowe's military balloons. While balloons were used again for aerial observation during World War I, the seaborne staging vessel fell into disuse until the use fixed-wing aircraft necessitated the development of the modern aircraft carrier.

An interesting side note on American military balloons in general: While Lowe was initially proposing the use of balloons to the Union army, LaMountain was also attempting to provide balloon services for the Union. He wrote to Secretary Cameron in 1861. According to the Smithsonian, the commander of the Union Forces at Fort Monroe, Major General Benjamin F. Butler, asked LaMountain for a demonstration. LaMountain made two successful ascents at Fort Monroe in July 1861 in his balloon Atlantic. The New York Times reported that LaMountain had been able to observe Confederate encampments, making the first aerial reconnaissance of the Civil War and also was the first to gather intelligence by free balloon flight rather than from a tethered balloon. With Lowe and LaMountain's aeronautical achievements, the history of American innovation in aviation precedes the Wright Brothers by at least a generation.

Top: A reconnaissance balloon is launched from the coal barge George Washington Parke Curtis, during the American Civil War. Credit: 2001 National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution (SI Neg. No. 76-17385).

Bottom: John Wise, John La Mountain, and Thaddeus Lowe fight a storm in the Atlantic. Credit: 2001 National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution (Videodisc No. 2B-30739).

H/t beansiej.

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