By telegraph or signal flags. Lowe had developed his own signal system which was not implemented. The larger Union balloons could carry telegraphers and their gear in the basket, thus speeding along information derived from aerial observations.
Both sides utilized naval vessels to help transport and support balloon operations during the war. Naval vessels greatly improved the ability to move and support cumbersome balloons in theaters that had navigable coasts and rivers. The
George Washington Parke Custis, a converted coal barge, was used by the Union army as an early aircraft carrier. And the
CSS Teaser was used by Confederate forces to deploy balloons on the James River. On July 4, 1862 the
CSS Teaser ran aground in the James and it and its balloon were captured by the
USS Maratanza
After witnessing a balloon demonstration near the White House in 1861, Abraham Lincoln became an active proponent of using balloons to assist the war effort. Maj. Gen. George McClellan greatly valued the intelligence derived from aerial observation and many senior Federal officers, including McClellan, Fitz John Porter, John Sedgwick, Baldy Smith, John Reynolds, Joe Hooker, and George Custer made ascents in balloons.
Famed Confederate artillerist Edward Porter Alexander made a number of ascents in the Confederate balloon
Gazelle during the Seven Days Campaign. Ordered by Robert E. Lee to observe Union movements in the theater, Alexander would later write that "skilled observers in balloons could give information of priceless value." He also described the Union decision to abandon military ballooning as a "decided mistake."
If balloons were so valuable, why did the Union army stop using them during the war?
This is a complicated question. A variety of factors led to the abandonment of the balloon corps in 1863. As a civilian, Lowe had a difficult time integrating his operation into Army bureaucracy. Lowe, while politically astute and conscious of the need for good public relations, had a difficult time with the officers overseeing his operation. The communication of balloon intelligence to a commander engaged in battle was sometimes difficult. The Corps faced difficult logistical problems that sometimes prevented it from moving as quickly as desired.
Is it true that Ferdinand von Zeppelin came to America to observe Civil War balloons in operation?
No, he did not come to the U.S. to observe balloon operations. He served with Federal cavalry units in Northern Virginia. At the end of his visit, he wanted to see some more of the country. He travelled to New York City, up the Hudson, across the state on the Erie Canal, across the Great Lakes and out into Minnesota, where he met John Steiner, one of Lowe's aeronauts, who had returned to his pre-war profession as an exhibition balloonist. Zeppelin flew with him and listened to his dreams of a navigable airship. Many years later the Count explained that the experience with Steiner had marked the beginning of his own interest in flight.
http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-war-ballooning/civil-war-ballooning.html
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