Balloons Over the Battlefield

Balloons Over the Battlefield. . “The view I had of the field of battle from the balloon for the first time that afternoon showed me how serious it was…..I was up half an hour in all, when I saw certain movements of our forces which made me hurry down and gallop up to Genl. McClellan.” , Brig. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys, Union staff officer, From this vantage point the Chickahominy Valley opens in front of you. Before June 27, McClellan’s engineers built 10 different bridges across the Chickahominy River connecting the two wings of the Union army. Porter’s reinforcements crossed three of those bridges: Woodbury’s, Alexander’s, and the more famous Grapevine Bridge. If you had been posted here with binoculars on June 27, you would have witnessed a historical first., Near the Union headquarters at Trent House, two miles to the south, Professor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe launched his balloon and observed Lee massing to attack Porter here. Closer to Richmond another balloon could be seen rising above the horizon. In its basket was famed Confederate artilleryman E. Porter Alexander, who reported the crossing of Porter’s Union reinforcements. For the first and only time during the war, both sides used aerial reconnaissance at the same time., “My first afternoon in the balloon was during the terrible battle of Gaines’s Mill….[and] while I could seldom see the troops, the smoke of the firings gave a very fair idea of the action, and I saw and signalled the crossing of Slocum’s division to reinforce Porter during the action.” Lt. Col. E. Porter Alexander, Confederate staff officer