Existing comment:
Balloons:
Aerial View:
Long before airplanes filled the skies, gas-filled balloons lifted Union and Confederate observers over Civil War battlefield. From 300 feet above the ground, balloonists sketched terrain maps and reported on enemy activity and locations. Information was instantly transmitted over telegraph lines to ground troops.
Stitched by seamstresses -- sometimes of silk recycled from dresses -- balloons were assembled by both Union and Confederate armies. But fog, wind, wooded terrain and bulky equipment limited the effectiveness of the operation and grounded balloon "fly-bys" before the end of the war. |