Cast your vote: Battles Union balloons would have turned defeat to victory

clayfeeter

Private
Joined
Dec 15, 2015
Location
York, Maine
I've always wondered what would have happened had the Union Army continued their hot air balloon program.

Question #1
What battles can you list that would have been turned around very dramatically had the Union continued using hot air balloons?

My vote is:

1. Perryville -- where an acoustic shadow kept Sheridan on the far right from even knowing there was a battle he needed to help with on the far left -- and

2. Second Manassas, where with pre knowledge of Longstreet's pending flank attack, even Pope may have come out smelling like rises....(AND the Fitz Porter cashiering case may have never happened).. and

3. Antietam NO doubt.. cause McClellan's Pry House vantage wasn't terrific (plus AP Hill coming in from Harpers Ferry would have been spotted from a long ways away)

AND

Question #2
What battles would have been little affected by balloons in the air?

(I am going to suggest heavily treed Chickamauga and The Wilderness for starters in that category)
 
Last edited:
I definitely think they should've been used more. But once an observation was made in a balloon, without air to ground communications like a radio, by the time the observer came back down to earth and got word to the appropriate officers, the message may have become worthless as the Rebs may have moved men
 
I definitely think they should've been used more. But once an observation was made in a balloon, without air to ground communications like a radio, by the time the observer came back down to earth and got word to the appropriate officers, the message may have become worthless as the Rebs may have moved men
Hi Aussie,
actually -- because the balloons are almost always tethered to the ground --there were a couple of instant ways that the messages were sent

...one was simply slipping the message on to a ring and dropping it down a cable or rope to a person below the balloon

...another was they actually (as I learned on this very forum) had telegraph lines up there on occasion
 
I've always wondered what would have happened had the Union Army continued their hot air balloon program.

For the record, the Union did NOT have a "hot air" balloon program. Initially they were filled with "City Gas" - distilled coal, which produced a mixture of hydrogen, methane, and ammonia gas, all of which were lighter than air. Later they used pure hydrogen created in Lowe's portable generators by pouring a diluted solution of "oil of vitriol" - sulfuric acid - over iron shavings.

E.P. Alexander wrote after the war, "I have never understood why the enemy abandoned the use of military balloons early in 1863, after having used them extensively up to that time. Even if the observers never saw anything, they would have been worth all they cost for the annoyance and delays they caused us in trying to keep our movements out of their sight."

If you have questions about observation balloons - ask away. Until then I look forward to hearing your thoughts about speculative use in battles after the Balloon Corps disbanded in July 1863.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top