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Subject: Dead Media Working Note 02.6
Dead Media: Military Telegraphy, Balloon Semaphore
From: boneill_AT_allinux1.alliance.net (Bradley O'Neill)
Source: French Inventions of the Eighteenth Century by
Shelby T. McCloy, Kernel Press, 1952. # T26.F8.M2 1952
page 22
BALLOON SIGNAL CORPS: "Balloons were used for observation
in the sieges of Conde (1793), Maubeuge (1794), and
Charleroi (1784); in the battle of Fleurs (1794) and
Gosselins (1794); and later in the campaign along the
Rhine (1795).... In each instance two balloonist officers
went aloft in a balloon held captive with two ropes by
sixteen men.
"Messages to the ground crew were communicated by the
use of red, yellow, and green flags some eighteen inches
square; messages to the general were dropped in bags
weighed down with ballast and marked by a pennant or
streamer. No one might handle these last save one of the
Ballooning Corps officers. The balloon made a great
impression on the Austrians, who on one occassion
attempted with near success to shoot it down, but oddly
enough did not attempt to imitate it."
[Author's footnote to page 22 : At Valenciennes
(1793) a French balloon was captured by the Allies, and
with it a pigeon carrying dispatches. The enemy indulged
their humor by eating the pigeon and by firing the balloon
back into the town from a cannon.]
Source: The Military Telegraph during the Civil War in
the United States: with an exposition.... by William
Rattle Plum, 1882; Dewey 973.7 P73M. or microfiche (MIC)
LAC 22395
(((This book is a real trip! Plum's headspace seems
pretty visionary for his time. The first paragraph has all
the gushy sweep of an Alvin Toffler book-on-tape or a
speech by Labor Secretary Reich:)))
"Ours is an age of rapid achievements. Cultivated
aptitude has revolutionized the world. Performance has
been reduced to a minimum of time and space to a question
of time. Long lives are compassed in an ordinary span:
distances are no longer appall: we are making the most of
time and least of space...the opinion of the world has
become a powerful international factor."
Then Plum takes us through an expository evolution of
speed in warfare via several advancements: running, fires,
trumpets, reflections, posts, semaphore, balloon, cipher,
and telegraph.
(((Of particular historical interest to those of us in DMP:)))
pages16-17
HOT-AIR BALLOON RECON: "In 1794, two companies of
French military aeronauts were first deployed in balloons
at Fleurs, Maubeage, Charleroi, Mannheim, Ehrenhreitstein,
Solferino, and elsewhere...
"They were not used as couriers, but to observe an enemy
below, and sometimes flag signals were used to telegraph
from [balloon locations]. This was done in the United
States Army on the Potomac and during the Peninsular
campaign, in the [US Civil War]. On all such
reconnaissances, the balloon was held by ropes.
"On several occasions, electrical telegraphic
connection was had with the aeronaut in the sky. This was
first accomplished June 17, 1861, when the War Department
in Washington, was placed in instant communication with
Professor Lowe, who, from his 'high estate', caused the
operator at his side to telegraph as follows:
BALLOON [codename] 'ENTERPRISE' WASHINGTON, JUNE 17, 1861.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
Sir: This point of observation commands an area of
fifty miles in diameter. The city, with its girdle of
encampments, presents a superb scene. I take great
pleasure in sending you the first dispatch ever
telegraphed from an aerial station, and in acknowledging
my indebtedness to your encouragement, for the opportunity
of demonstrating the availability of the science of
aeronautics in the military service of country.
Yours Respectfully,
T.S.C. Lowe"
(((Note that the Yankee tradition of naming
war/exploration machines "Enterprise" even extended to a
balloon.)))
Cheers,
Brad
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