Union Army Balloon Corps Aeronaut

Operated seven hydrogen-filled tethered observation balloons over Civil War battlefields, transmitting reconnaissance reports by telegraph wire run down the tether — Yorktown, Seven Pines, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville.

The Story

In 1861 Lowe ascended from the National Mall, telegraphed President Lincoln directly from 500 feet aloft — the first telegram ever sent from the air — and got invited to the White House the next day. America's first air force was funded by a stunt.