Our Nation First Aircraft Carrier--1861

Captain Cheves, before his untimely death,

I read a little about Captain Cheves and I read a story about a time where the USS New Ironside shelled the Fort Wagner and move off out of range but right over a 3000 lbs torpedo. The torpedo had a electric switch and Capt. Cheves kept setting the switch and the torpedo would not go off. Afterwards, he investigated and found the torpedo in good working order but a wagon wheel had run over the wires and cutting them. So, think the USS New Ironside could be at the bottom of Charleston harbor except for a wagon wheel.
 
CSS Teaser

Let's not forget she was the first minelaying ship too...

Teaser was a pioneer "aircraft carrier", serving as a base for an observation hot air balloon; she also became a pioneer minelayer when ordered on June 17, 1862, to assist General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Under Lieutenant Hunter Davidson, CSN, she was used by the Confederate Naval Submarine Battery Service to plant and service "torpedoes" (mines) in the James River. While engagingUSS Maratanza at Haxall's on the James on July 4, 1862, a Union shell blew up Teaser's boiler and forced her crew to abandon ship. When seized by Maratanza, Teaser was carrying on board a balloon for aerial reconnaissance of Union positions at City Point and Harrison's Landing.
 
Didn't George Custer go up in some balloons early in the war?

Custer was outspoken in his comments against the balloons prior to his going aloft in them. "The large majority of the army, without giving [aeronautics] a personal test, condemned and ridiculed the system of balloon reconnaissances." The theatrics of what was perceived as a "circus" act was anathema to many Union Officers. Besides that, even more suspicion was squarely aimed at the civilian aeronauts themselves, who seemed to have far too much autonomy over the dissemination of intelligence gathered through aerial observations. He thought his outspoken mistrust of the Balloon Corps observations was the reason for his assignment to them.

Custer reported to the Aeronaut James Allen at the Warwick Court House and kept a short distance from the balloon describing it like "an untamed wild animal". As a cavalryman he had the choice as to the character of the mount, "but this proposed ride was far more elevated than I had ever desired or contemplated"

Allen toyed with Custer and asked if he wanted to go up alone. "My desire, if frankly expressed, would not have been to go up at all." he wrote afterwards. "The basket in which we were to be transported was about two feet high, four feet long, and slightly over half as wide." As they started to go aloft Allen stood upright while Custer sat in the bottom of the basket :smile: "I was encouraged to stand up also. My confidence in the balloons at that time was not sufficient, however, to justify such a course, so I remained in the bottom of the basket, with a firm hold on either side."

When Custer asked Allen how safe the the balloon's control basket was, the aeronaut responded by "jumping up and down to prove its strength" in order to reassure his passenger (NOTE: I've frequently jumped up and down to mess with first time passengers, which I'm sure is what Allen was doing) "My fears redoubled. I expected to see the bottom of the basket giving away, and one or both of us dashed to the earth."

Custer eventually became more comfortable with his time aloft and drew this map of what he saw below . . . .

Custer Map From Balloon at Yorktown.jpg
 
A little OT, but I've always found the phrase "When the balloon goes up" a little chilling. I suppose it refers to the launching of observation balloons before and artillery barrage during the Great War, but I've never looked it up.

You are correct! The term once the balloon has gone up derives from the First World War. Whenever enemy activity was expected, observations balloons would be released to monitor the enemy troop movements. As a result, the raising of these balloons, which were visible to all, soon became a sign of pending enemy action.
 
I highly recommend this book for those interested in early ACW (lighter than air) aircraft and vessels used to deploy them from water. Very informative and fun read about an unusual ACW topic.

Haydon's book "Military Ballooning" is THE Bible for Civil War Aeronautics. Haydon.jpg

THE BEST book for ALL ages is Gail Jarrow's "Lincoln's Flying Spies" Lincoln's Flying Spies.jpg

Other books on ballooning during the Civil War, non-fiction and fiction, can be found at:

CW Balloon Books All.jpg

http://www.civilwarballooncorp.com/books.html
 
I ran across this letter a few days ago that mentions a balloon in Charleston. Can anyone add some detail to this reference? Any idea if it was deployed by boat like several others? Given the time of its writing (May 1863) it seems likely that it was used to spy on the Union naval vessels (assuming it was deployed).

This letter references the third (3rd) balloon used by the Confederates which only operated out of Charlston, the home of it's builder and aeronaut.
 
Don't forget CSS Teaser was carrying an observation balloon when captured by the USN.

The second balloon used by the Confederates - the Gazelle, more commonly known (and misnamed) as the "Silk Dress Balloon" - was captured by the crew of the USS Maratanza on July 4th, 1862 when the CSS Teaser ran aground on a James River sand bar.

CSS Teaser sketch.jpg
 
I wonder how the Confederates tried to destroy his balloon. Artillery?

The Confederates placed a bounty on the balloons and aeronauts and did everything they could to capture or bring them down. That said, NO Union Balloon was ever brought down by enemy fire, NOR were any aeronauts or observers shot wile aloft.

The Confederates developed the first aiti-aircraft weapons by digging a ditch under a cannon's tail to raise its elevation:

Antiaircraft.jpg

Thomas Lovell painted this beautiful picture of Confederate Soldiers firing at a balloon aloft:

Lowe's Balloon by Tom Lovell.jpg

And here are several 'reenactments' of Confederates shooting at balloons in my living history display:

003 Potomac Blocade ~ Confederates Shooting.jpg 012 Fairfax Civil War Day.jpg
 
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It's sort of neat to call it an aircraft carrier, but it isn't really-- not in the sense that the Langley, Lexington, or Saratoga were. If we expand the definition to include the G.W.P.C., we'd have to include seaplane tenders, catapult vessels, and what-not.
 
It's sort of neat to call it an aircraft carrier, but it isn't really-- not in the sense that the Langley, Lexington, or Saratoga were. If we expand the definition to include the G.W.P.C., we'd have to include seaplane tenders, catapult vessels, and what-not.

Definition of aircraft carrier
  1. : a warship with a flight deck on which aircraft can be launched and landed
The George Washington Parke Custis clearly meets this definition as balloons launched and landed on its deck . . . similar to aircraft launching from and landing on the decks of the Langley, Lexington, or Saratoga. *1.

As the aircraft they are designed for cannot returned to safely land on "seaplane tenders, catapult vessels, and what-not" I wouldn't even think to expand the definition to include them.

That said, I'll humbly defer to and acknowledge the United States Navy's recognition of the G.W.P.C. as our Nation's first dedicated aircraft carrier.

*1. Even today, the Federal Aviation Administration recognizes tethered balloon operations as "flight" as the aircraft launches, and lands - albeit from the same field or platform.

Respectfully submitted,
 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Fern%C3%A1ndez_Cavada

"Federico Fernández Cavada (1831 – July 1871) was an officer in the
Union Army during the American Civil War and a diplomat, as well as commanding forces in Cuba's Ten Years' War. Because of his artistic talents, he was assigned to the Hot Air Balloon unit of the Union Army. From the air he sketched what he observed of enemy positions and movements. On April 19, 1862, Fernández Cavada sketched enemy positions from Thaddeus Lowe's Constitution balloon during the Peninsular Campaign in Virginia."

Wrong thread - please move to http://civilwartalk.com/threads/civil-war-ballooning.88305/

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
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