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
"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 . . . .