Can anyone else see a practical use of paratroopers during the Civil War?
As the resident Balloon Guy (and former U.S. Army Paratrooper) it's time I chimed in. The simple answer given the technology of the time is NO, there is/was no practical use of paratroopers during the Civil War.
The two largest Union Balloons were 32,000 cubic feet of volume and could only carry 4 to 5 people aloft . . . and would have to be significantly larger to carry a squad behind enemy lines as
@Robin Lesjovitch suggests. The Confederate Balloon "Gazelle" was half the size of the Union's smallest balloon at 7,500 cubic feet of volume. It leaked like a sieve and could only carry 1 person aloft for a short period.
While the length of each of the Union Balloon tether lines was about one mile long, the highest recorded tether during the Civil War was +- 3,000 feet (0.56 mile). With favorable winds the balloon would have to be very close to the front lines in order to drop troops behind them. As 'Civilian Contractors' the Aeronauts would be shot on sight and not given POW status so they preferred to make their observations near the Commanders' HQs so information collected and reported could be timely and actionable.
@WJC Fitz John Porter convinced the Union Aeronaut James Allen to allow him to go aloft solo near Yorktown early on a morning of April 1862. As it was only going to be a "quick ascent" they violated Lowe's minimum 3 point tether requirement and only used 1. Unfortunately one or more drops of acid used in making hydrogen got on that line causing it to break when tension occurred. Porter 'free flew' over Confederate lines but coastal winds brought him back over Union territory as the balloon descended.
@Carronade I respectfully disagree: Gas Balloons had been around for 78 years prior to the Civil War and the basic skills of piloting them are similar to this very day (I have 1,600 Lighter Than Air Hours and 34 gas flights in my log book and am the co-pilot for the winning team of the 2006 Americas Challenges Gas Balloon Race flying from Albuquerque, NM to Citra, FL; 1,478 miles in 60h45min). As Lowe and the Aerounauts he hired to operate the Union Balloons were experienced, I'd argue piloting was very well developed - just prior to the war Lowe flew 900+- miles from Cincinnati, OH to Unionville, SC on April 20, 1861 where he was captured and detained not once but three times as a Yankee Spy as he made his way back north. Unfortunately for the Confederates, they did not have trained Aeronauts to operate either of their balloons.
@major bill and
@2nd Alabama Cavalry: NO Balloon carried a parachute aloft nor did anyone jump from a balloon operated by either side during the Civil War.
@2nd Alabama Cavalry: U.S. Army Captain Albert Berry made the first American parachute jump from an airplane at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri on March 1, 1912.
Respectfully Submitted,
TSC Lowe, Aeronaut