How Thaddeus Lowe provided the first aerial reconnaissance and the connection with Lincoln, Illinois

 

[August 13, 2018] 

LINCOLN 

Saturday afternoon the Logan County Genealogical & Historical Society hosted “The Intrepid, discovering Lincoln’s Balloon Corps” by Terry Lowe. The program held at Lincoln College Johnston Center for Performing Arts was very well attended as people came to hear about the Intrepid, a hydrogen gas inflated balloon. The balloon was the brain child of Terry Lowe’s Great-great-great Uncle Thaddeus S.C. Lowe.

Lowe became acquainted with the folks at the LCG&HS when searching for information for his family history. He noted that the local genealogical society had provided him with a key piece of information as a result of vigorous research within the local histories.

Though the Lowe family has no specific background in Logan County, the name and birthday Terry Lowe was seeking was still found in one of the many reference books the LCG&HS have and use in researching local genealogy as well as Abraham Lincoln history.

After the facts were acquired Lowe maintained some communication with the LCG&HS offering to come to Lincoln and share information he had gathered regarding his distant relative and that man’s connection to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War efforts.

Diane Farmer, who leads the Program and Event Committee at the LCG&HS said that it had taken a while to get everything coordinated, but she was happy that Lowe had been patient, and had agreed to work the trip to Lincoln, Illinois from Lincoln, Nebraska into his schedule.

Local Lincoln Mayor Seth Goodman was called on to offer up the introduction of Lowe at the assembly. Afterward, Lowe presented Goodman with a “Lincoln” street sign autographed by the Mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska. Lowe said that the two towns share a number of things in common. Both places have a love for President Abraham Lincoln, both are namesake cities, and while Lincoln, Illinois has the Lincoln College Lynx; Lincoln, Nebraska has the Lincoln Community High School Links.

Lowe said he also understood that Goodman was a balloonist. A few Years ago, there had been a replica of the original Intrepid balloon built and inflated. At the celebration of that inflation, lapel pins of the Intrepid were made available. Lowe said he was pleased to gift one of those pins to the Illinois Mayor and pilot.

Thaddeus S. C. Lowe often referred to himself as an inventor, but on Saturday Terry Lowe said that his great-great-great uncle was as much a chemist as he was an inventor. At a young age T.S.C. was interested in chemistry and though his beloved balloon was the focus of much of his work, he created other chemical-based inventions such as artificial refrigeration. Terry Lowe explained that it was T.S.C. that formed the Lowe Refrigerated Steamship Company. Within that company, Lowe invented a method of refrigerating fresh foods for transport. The artificial refrigeration was used in rail cars in the United States and also in steam ships. But, the concept may have been a little before its time, because it ultimately failed. Terry Lowe explained that while the refrigeration units worked for transporting midwest produce to the southwest and southwest meats back east, consumers were not trusting in the safety of the products. Up until then, shoppers primary options were preserved foods, and fresh foods traveling long distances made them wary.

Another successful venture of T.S.C. Lowe was that of a railway system to ascend what is today known as Mount Lowe in California. Utilizing an urban transit system, Lowe designed trolley-like cars that would ascend the mountain in stages. At the end of each stage hotels were built, and in the end the mountain could be fully ascended with stops and stays along the way.

A successful venture for Lowe was that of perfecting a means of delivering Hydrogen generated gas for home lighting and heating.

In spite of T.S.C. intelligence, Terry Lowe also related that like Abraham Lincoln, T.S.C. was self-educated. He completed only the fourth grade in formal education, but studied constantly throughout his life, and earned the title of Professor.

Terry Lowe said that while many of T.S.C.’s ventures were not successful, he died a very wealthy man while living in California. Through all of his accomplishments though, there were a couple of things that he dreamed to do, but never accomplished.

First, he dreamed of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon. It was a task he was convinced he could accomplish, but he needed the support and backing of someone. He worked to get that support from the city of New York, and his first balloon was named the City of New York. He sought support from that town, but was met with skepticism that he could actually make it all the way across the Atlantic.

Lowe changed his game plan and the name of the balloon. Calling it ‘Enterprise,’ he traveled with his balloon to Cincinnati, Ohio where he planned to inflate it and fly eastward to Washington, D.C.

Lowe worked with the theory that the jet stream (then not widely understood) would carry him eastward if he reached the right altitude, something science in that day was not convinced of. None-the less, he noted that when the wind was coming from the east on the ground, he could ascend his balloon and the air would be moving in the opposite direction, toward the east. On the right day, he would ascend, and fly the 650 miles from Cincinnati to Washington.

That day came in April of 1861, less than a week after the beginning of the Civil War. Lowe inflated his balloon and true to his beliefs, eventually headed eastward. However, the wind currents at elevation were not flowing in a true eastward movement. Lowe, who didn’t know where he was over land, only that he was going east, eventually landed his balloon far off target, in Carolina. The airstream had been moving in a southeasterly direction and when he came down, he was behind the enemy lines, in Confederate territory.

Lowe was considered to be a spy for the union army and became the first prisoner of war in the Civil War. However, he wasn’t held long, as people in the northern territory vouched for him that he was not a spy, and he was released along with his balloon.

However, the incident spurred a new ambition for Lowe. He realized that from such a lofty height, he could indeed be a spy for the Union Army, seeing for miles, he could report back to troops on the ground, the movement of confederate forces, giving the Union days of lead time to prepare for Confederate encounters.

Lowe took his balloon to Washington, D.C., where he inflated and ascended over the city with a telegraph and a cable connected to the ground 5,000 feet below. From his basket, he sent a telegraph to be delivered to President Abraham Lincoln. The act got Lowe the attention he needed from the President and he became the Chief Aeronaut of Lincoln’s Civil War Balloon Corps. Lowe was commissioned as a civilian, which was his second ambition not realized. He wanted to be a member of the Army, an officer to be specific, but that never happened. He was offered officer pay for his work, but never got that official army recognition that he wanted.

Though it took time for Army leaders to warm up to the idea of a balloon spy, it did eventually happen, and the team of balloons consisting of the Intrepid, Constitution, Union, United States, Washington, Eagle, and Excelsior, served Union Armies for the better part of the Civil War.

Eventually, the Balloon Corp was taken from Lowe, and manned by Union soldiers. From that point forward, there was a decline in the success of the balloons as spying objects on the battlefront. However, before that point in time, the balloons, and Lowe served the Union Army very well, and offered a great deal of intel about the confederate troops.

Terry Lowe recounted the details of the battle at Fair Oaks in Maryland. That story can be found in its entirety at this link: “The Drones of the Civil War - Meet the hot air balloonist who convinced Lincoln to use aerial reconnaissance,” by Richard Holmes.

The first balloons Lowe used were powered by “city gas” produced in each community through coal gasification. But to get the balloon inflated it had to be taken to town and inflated then “walked” to a clearing for lift-off.

Lowe engineered a hydrogen gas distilling method that was mobile. Combining iron shavings, and sulfuric acid, he created a gas that was too “hot” and acidic to be placed inside the silk envelope of the balloon, but then added a cooling unit to the process which made the gas less caustic and allowed him to become much more mobile with his balloon.

Terry Lowe also played a 30 minute video of the re-enactment of an Intrepid inflation using helium.

At the end of the meeting on Saturday, guests were encouraged to view the collection of Abraham Lincoln and Thaddeus Lowe documents and collectibles that Terry Lowe had brought with him. Guests were also encouraged to enjoy refreshments in the lobby furnished by the LCG&HS.

[Nila Smith]